Thursday, January 18, 2007

Early Church Fathers

Really cool church father for the day: Polycarp of Smyrna (69-155 A.D.)

Reasons I'm a fan:

1. His name is Polycarp. Believe it or not, that does not mean "many ugly fish". Still, it's just a great name.

2. Here's the real reason: Standing before a Roman official, Polycarp was commanded to acknowledge Caesar as lord and king, and to curse Christ. (This command was at the threat of being burned at the stake.) His reply was this: "For eighty-six years I have been the servant of Jesus Christ and he never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

Polycarp was matryred that day, but he left a legacy so profound that a seminary student 1,852 years later is giving him props on her blog.

1 comment:

Olin said...

So your studying the martyrs in a church history class? If its anything like reading through "Jesus Freaks" I totally have to take that class.