On Feb. 23, the Catholic Church will remember the life and martyrdom of St. Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle and evangelist St. John. Polycarp is celebrated on the same date by Eastern Orthodox ...
Polycarp was a disciple of St John the Evangelist, and as a young man of 37 was consecrated bishop of Smyrna - present-day Izmir, in Turkey. This was shortly before John himself went into exile at ...