"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
I went to Mass at lunch today and was thinking about the common concern among Protestants that Catholics and Eastern Orthodox worship the Saints.
Let me just say up front that we don’t worship the Saints, we honour them. Now, that’s a fine and dandy thing to say, but really, is there a difference between “worship” and “honour”?
Today is the Feast Day of probably my favourite Early Church Father, St. Ignatius of Antioch:
Today in the Office of Readings we read a section of one of the letters he wrote on his way to martyrdom sometime around AD 107:
“I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.
“No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire. The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on.”
– Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans
Here is a diagram showing the relationships between Jesus, His Apostles, Ignatius of Antioch and some of the other Early Church Fathers:
If you would like to read more of St. Ignatius’ writings, or listen to them free on MP3, be sure to check out the Church History section of this blog.
I was looking at my post from a couple of days ago and noticed something about the icon of Polycarp that I didn’t initially notice…
If you look carefully, you will see on the left the emblem of a bird, peaking out from underneath Polycarp’s robes. I believe this bird is the Phoenix. If you don’t know the mythology surrounding the Phoenix, it is described in the letter of St. Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (96 AD):
“Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years.
Yesterday I outlined the various parallels which can be found between Jesus’ Passion and Polycarp’s Martyrdom. I ended the entry by asking:
“But what does this all mean? Why are there these similarities between the deaths of Jesus and Polycarp?”
The martyrdom account itself ascribes these similarities to the providence of God:
“By almost every step that led up to Polycarp’s martyrdom, the Lord intended to show us anew the type of martyrdom narrated in the Gospel…” – Mart. Pol., 1.1
But that then raises the question: why might God wish to present to His Church a death like that of Christ?
In the introduction to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, the author tells us that “By almost every step that led up to Polycarp’s martyrdom, the Lord intended to show us anew the type of martyrdom narrated in the Gospel” (Mart. Pol 2.1).
We’re currently working our way through this martyrdom account in the JP2 Group so I thought I’d put together a post highlighting all the parallels I’ve found between Jesus’ death and Polycarp’s witness (martyrdom) to his Lord.
The full text and audio of the Martyrdom is available here.
Some of these parallels are much stronger than others (I put a star rating next to each one of them). In many ways, the fact that there are many inexact parallels actually adds to the credibility of the martyrdom account. Were it fabricated, one would expect the parallels to be “tidied up” a bit more and closer to that of our account of Jesus’ Passion.
Both foretold their deaths (Rating: *****)
In the Martyrdom of Polycarp, after seeing a vision of his pillow aflame, Polycarp turns to his companions and states “I must be burnt alive” (Mart. Pol 5.2). Jesus, likewise, foretold his own death saying “We are going up to Jerusalem, and [I] will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will…hand [me] over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified” (Matt 20:18-19).
Both were betrayed (Rating: **)
Jesus was betrayed, of course, by Judas (Matt. 26:15). The author of the Martyrdom points out that “those who betrayed [Polycarp] were of his own household” and directly compares the betrayer to Judas (Mart. Pol 6.2). Both betrayers accompany the arresting party. However, I can’t help but think that this comparison is a little unfair. Polycarp’s betrayal was neither malicious nor for profit. The slave didn’t reveal Polycarp’s location until he had suffered abuse at the hands of the policemen. In fact, you might call this a “tortured” parallel… 😉
Both begin in an upper room (Rating: *)
When the police arrive for Polycarp he’s in the “upper room of a certain little house” (Mart. Pol. 7.1). Jesus’ Passion was preceded by the Last Supper held also in an Upper Room (Luke 22:12).
Amy Donahue (http://www.thisisamy.com)
I’ve previously written about one of my favourite Early Church Fathers, St. Polycarp and I’ve just finished preparing the account of his martyrdom that we’re going to be reading in the JP2 Group, starting next week.
Whenever we read documents from the Early Church I always work hard to try and produce the most readable translation for us to study. I do this by comparing many of the different translations and I do this in an attempt to eliminate all possible barriers to people reading, engaging with and actually enjoying these early Christian writers.
If you would like to view this document, links are provided below. The document is available in both Microsoft Word (.docx) and Adobe Reader formats (.pdf).
I’ve also recorded this document in an MP3 fjle because I personally learn best when I use audio. So…if you’re looking for something to listen to while you’re sunbathing at Pacific Beach over Memorial Day Weekend, look no further!
Martyrdom of Polycarp (DOCX | PDF | MP3)
If you would like to join us in our study, we will begin on 2nd June at St. John the Evangelist.
I’m currently preparing the next document we’re going to be reading in the JP2 Group: “The Martyrdom of Polycarp”. Polycarp was a 2nd Century Bishop in Smyrna about whom I’ve written before. I’ve got a lot to do, so I need to get back to my books soon, but before that, I just wanted to share with you something rather cool I’ve just found…
The account of Polycarp’s martyrdom begins with a covering letter:
“From the Church of God which resides as a stranger at Smyrna, to the Church of God temporarily sojourning in Philomelium, and to all the congregations of the Holy and Catholic Church in every place: may mercy, peace, and love from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be yours in abundance”
– The Martyrdom of Polycarp (Greeting)
The author, a chap called Marcus/Marcion, describes Smyrna’s church as “resid[ing] as a stranger” and Philomelium’s church as “temporarily sojourning” in that city. This concept often comes up in the writings of the Early Church (Clement, Ignatius, …) and draws from an idea we also find expressed in Sacred Scripture:
“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, …”
– 1 Peter 2:11
The early Christians were keenly aware that they did not permanently belong on this earth, but rather, were citizens of heaven, temporarily away from their homeland. As someone with a blog entitled “Restless Pilgrim”, who has traveled quite a bit and is currently living away from his native country, I find it quite easy to relate to this viewpoint.
So, in the martyrdom’s introduction, the author is simply expressing a deeply ingrained, Early Church mindset – that we reside here temporarily. However, what makes this really cool is that I’ve now seen the Greek. The noun which is used here is “παροικια”, or, in our alphabet, “paroikia” (pa-roy-kee-a) and it literally means “a sojourning” or “a dwelling in a strange land”.
“So what?” I hear you say.
“I’m glad you asked!” I reply.
“Paroikia” is the root of the word which was later used by Christians to describe the local assembly and its location: “parish”… This etymology tells us a profound spiritual truth. Particularly if you haven’t moved around much, it’s easy to think of your parish as your “home” – we even refer to our “home parish”. To an extent, this is true, but really, our parish, our “paroikia” is only a temporary dwelling, an outpost of Heaven. One day we will have to leave and head to our true and everlasting home.
“Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind by either country, speech, or customs; the fact is, they nowhere settle in cities of their own… They reside in their respective countries, but only as aliens. They take part in everything as citizens and put up with everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their home, and every home a foreign land… They spend their days on earth, but hold citizenship in heaven.”
– The Epistle To Diognetus, 2nd Century