anyone, not hasty in judgment, knowing that we are all debtors in the matter of
sin.”
7, 1
“Everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is an
Antichrist; whoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and
whoever perverts the sayings of the Lord for his own desires, and says that there is
neither resurrection nor judgment, such a one is the first-born of Satan.”
The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp (C. 155-157 AD):
Address
“The Church of God which sojourns in Smyrna, to the Church of God which
sojourns in Philomelium, and to all the dioceses of the holy and Catholic Church
in every place...”
8, 1
“When finally he had finished his prayer, in which he remembered everyone with
whom he had ever been acquainted, the small and the great, the renowned and the
unknown, and the whole Catholic Church throughout the world, and the moment of
departure had arrived, they seated him on an ass and led him into the city. It was
the great Sabbath.”
9, 3
“When the Proconsul urged him and said, ‘Take the oath and I will release you;
revile Christ,’ Polycarp answered: ‘Eighty-six years I have served him, and He has
never done me wrong. How, then, should I be able to blaspheme my King who has
saved me.”
12, 2
“That teacher of Asia! That father-figure of the Christians! That destroyer of our
gods!”
14, 3
“...In this way and for all things I do praise you, I do bless you, I do glorify you
through the eternal and heavenly High Priest Jesus Christ, your beloved child:
through whom be glory to you with Him and with the Holy Spirit, both now and
through ages yet to come. Amen.”
15, 1; 16
“And then we who were privileged to witness it saw a wonderous sight; and we
have been spared to tell it to the rest of you. The fire took on the shape of a hollow
chamber, like a ship’s sail when the wind fills it, and formed a wall round about
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