The Martyrdom of Polycarp
The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at Smyrna
20 min · Early Church · Greek and Byzantine
The earliest surviving Christian martyrology, written by the church of Smyrna to the church of Philomelium within a year of Polycarp's death. The eyewitness account of his arrest, his "eighty and six years I have served Him" before the proconsul, his prayer at the pyre, and the burning that became the model for every Christian martyrdom thereafter. The first known use of "birthday" for a martyr's day of death.