By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Saint Polycarp was a disciple of John the Theologian and Evangelist together with Saint Ignatius the God-bearer. After Boukolos, the most holy Bishop of Smyrna, he was ordained by the bishops, for the blessed Boukolos had foretold his entry into the priesthood. He was arrested during the persecution of Decius and was brought before the proconsul. He endured his martyric contest through fire and became the worker of sublime miracles. For even before his ordination he filled, by his prayer, the grain stores of the woman who had raised him — stores which he had previously emptied in order to provide for the needs of the poor. Moreover, after his elevation to the priesthood he halted the force of a wildfire; and by his supplication to the Lord he brought rain down upon the parched earth, and again stopped it when it rained without ceasing.
The Christ-centeredness of the life of Saint Polycarp is the principal element highlighted by the hymnography of his feast. Making use of his very name — Polycarp (“much-fruited”) — the Hymnographer sees the Saint as the richly-fruited ear of grain that sprang up from the seed planted in the earth by Christ, and also as the richly-fruited branch extending from Christ the Vine. Already in the first stichera of Vespers we hear:
“When the Fruit of the Virgin and life-originating Seed fell to the earth, then He caused you to spring forth as a richly-fruited ear of grain.”
“When the true Vine that was hung upon the wood of the Cross was lifted up, then He extended you as a heavily-laden branch, cut by the sickle of august martyrdom.”
In other words, the Hymnographer understands Saint Polycarp not merely as a hero of the faith, but as an extension of the life and crucifixion of the Lord, as an honorable member of His holy Body, as one with Him; consequently, in the person of Saint Polycarp he beholds the Lord Himself.
For this reason he insists on this reality with other images as well. In the first ode, for example, he presents the Saint as a pillar inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of God, bearing the Gospel of divine grace. Saint Polycarp is a living Gospel: merely by seeing him, one seems to behold the life of Christ.
“You have become a pillar-inscription of the new Law, O Father, having inscribed upon yourself, not with ink but with the divine Spirit, the Gospel of divine grace.”
The observation here of Saint Theophanes the Hymnographer — that the Gospel is written upon the Saint by the Spirit of God, that is, that he manifests Christ through the Spirit of God — is exceedingly significant. For it reminds us that no one knows or is united to Christ apart from the Holy Spirit, and therefore outside the Church. Only one who lives within the Church and is energized by the Holy Spirit can also be with Christ. “No one can say ‘Lord Jesus’ except by the Holy Spirit,” according to the word of the Apostle Paul.
Saint Theophanes does not cease to emphasize Polycarp’s discipleship under Saint John the Theologian, from whom, he says, he received the streams of life as from a torrent:
“You received the stream of life as from a torrent of delight, O holy one, because you were a disciple of the beloved disciple who drew from Christ the abyss of wisdom” (Ode 5) — the saint’s martyrdom of blood.
Indeed, we should not forget that the martyrdom of Saint Polycarp was recorded from the beginning in a small text, shortly after the cutting off of his head, by a Christian of Smyrna named Marcion, and it had a decisive influence upon the subsequent Tradition of the Church regarding the understanding of martyrdom in general and its theology. The Saint’s martyrdom, therefore, is sufficiently emphasized by the Holy Hymnographer. Yet he also gives its deeper dimensions: Saint Polycarp indeed bore witness in martyrdom, but before his martyrdom he was already bearing witness in his conscience, that is, by keeping the commandments of the Lord. This means that no one reaches the point of total sacrifice without being inwardly prepared for it.
“You offered your whole self to Christ as a living sacrifice through the exercise of your martyrdom, all-blessed one, having first contended in the martyrdom of conscience” (Ode 3).
And again: Before he was cast into the fire to be burned, the flame of the glory of the Holy Spirit was already burning within him. Thus the sensible fire completed his perfection, which was already progressing through the Spirit of God.
“Illumined in mind by the radiance of the Spirit, O holy one, as though symbolically burning with that Fire, you were clearly initiated, O God-minded one, into your perfection through fire” (Ode 5).
We are therefore not surprised that our Hymnography, on the one hand, stands in reverence before the paradox of seeing youthful courage and lofty resolve in extreme old age (“You displayed youthful bravery in deepest old age, by the power of the Cross, and you raised up your resolve for divine struggles” - Ode 8) — a sign that youth is found not primarily in age but in the heart — and, on the other hand, compares him with the Three Holy Children in the furnace and calls him “equal in rank with the angels and fellow-dweller with the apostles” (Exapostilarion).
“With steadfast mind you stepped into the burning flame, O glorious one, like the three youths who refreshed the furnace with immaterial fire” (Ode 7).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
