Polycarp of Smyrna

Attested. Attested; the link to John rests on Irenaeus.

Polycarp was an elder statesman of the Asian churches. Irenaeus claimed to remember him. A near-contemporary martyrdom account describes his execution in Smyrna for refusing to curse Christ. The year is calculated from the proconsul named in that account and is still argued.

Bishop of Smyrna who, Irenaeus says, had known John. He visited Rome over the Easter date and was burned at Smyrna aged 86; the Martyrdom of Polycarp is the earliest martyr account outside the New Testament.

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