On the Contrary Workings of Nature and Grace

[Rich]

On the Contrary Workings of Nature and Grace  [VII]

Nature takes pleasure in a host of friends and relations; she boasts
of noble rank and high birth; makes herself agreeable to the powerful,
flatters the rich, and acclaims those who are like herself. But Grace
loves even her enemies, (Matt.5:44; Luke 6:27) takes no pride in the
number of her friends, and thinks little of high birth unless it be
allied to the greater virtue. She favours the poor rather than the
rich, and has more in common with the honourable than with the
powerful. She takes pleasure in an honest man, not in a deceiver ; she
constantly encourages good men to labour earnestly for the better
gifts, (1 Cor.12:31) and by means of these virtues to become like the
Son of God.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 54

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February 23rd - Polycarp of Smyrna BM (RM)

The earliest record of Christian martyrdom outside the Bible is that
of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. It speaks of the sufferings of the
Christians: "Who can fail to admire their nobleness of mind, and their
patience, with that love towards their Lord which they displayed?— who
when they were so torn with scourges, that the frame of their bodies,
even to the very inward veins and arteries, was laid open, still
patiently endured, while even those that stood by pitied and bewailed
them." Polycarp had known those who had known Jesus and was a disciple
of the beloved Apostle John the Divine, who had converted him about 80
AD. He taught, says his own pupil Irenaeus of Lyons, the things that
he learned from the Apostles, which the Church hands down, which are
true. Irenaeus, who as a young boy knew Polycarp, praised his gravity,
holiness, and majesty of countenance.

He kissed the chains of Saint Ignatius of Antioch on his way to
martyrdom in Rome. Saint Ignatius wrote a special letter to encourage
Polycarp when he was a young bishop and asked him to watch over his
church at Antioch and to write in his name to the churches of Asia
that he could not attend himself. Polycarp was probably the leading
Christian in Roman Asia in the second century and an important link
between the apostolic age and the great Christian writers of the
second century.

He had lived near Jerusalem and was proud of his early associations
with the Apostles. "I can tell," he wrote, "the very place in which
the blessed Saint Paul used to sit when he discoursed, and his goings
out and his comings in, and the stamp of his life, and his bodily
appearance, and the discourses which he held towards the congregation,
and how he would describe his intercourse with those who had seen the
Lord, and how he would relate their words."

Polycarp became bishop of Smyrna c. 96 and ruled the see for 70 years.
He was a staunch defender of orthodoxy and an energetic opponent of
heresy, especially Marcionism and Valentinianism (the most influential
of the Gnostic sects). A letter to him from Saint John has survived,
as has his Epistle to the Philippians, in which he quotes from 1 John
4:3 and warns the Philippians against the false teachings of Marcion,
whom he once called "the first-born of Satan," and which was so
esteemed that it was widely read in Asian churches even during Saint
Jerome's lifetime, but was not included in the canon of Scripture.

Toward the end of his life he visited Pope Saint Anicetus in Rome, and
when they could not agree on a date for Easter decided each would
observe his own date. To testify his respect and ensure that the bonds
of charity were unbroken, Anicetus invited Polycarp to celebrate the
Eucharist in the papal chapel on this occasion.

Soon after he returned to Smyrna, a youth called Germanicus was killed
at a pagan festival. The crowd cried out: "Away with the atheists
[meaning the Christians who refused to worship the state gods]. Fetch
Polycarp." And so, at age 90 (or 80 according to Eusebius), when the
persecution under Marcus Aurelius was at its height and men marveled
at the incredible resistance of the Christians, he suffered
grievously, despite his great age and feebleness, at the hands of the
mob. He had refused to sacrifice to the gods and acknowledge the
emperor's divinity.

He had been warned that they would arrest him, and had been persuaded
to retire to a farm outside the city, where he was betrayed by one of
his own household, who had been threatened with torture. The police
came armed as against a robber, and when they saw him marveled at his
age and calmness. "Was so much effort needed," they said, "to capture
such a venerable man?" It was the evening and Polycarp had retired to
rest, but he came down and, with great courtesy and hospitality,
offered them food and wine. He then asked leave that he might pray,
and stood and prayed for all whom he had known and for the whole
Church throughout the world.

Seating him on an ass, they brought him to Smyrna, where the governor,
on meeting him, took him into his own chariot, begging him to recant,
and on his refusal cast him out upon the road so that he dislocated
his leg. Lame and exhausted, he was dragged to the crowded arena and
was met by the deafening tumult of the spectators, who, seeing before
them the most eminent of the Christians, called upon him to blaspheme.

To this he replied: "For eighty and six years I have served Christ and
he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and my
Savior now! If you require of me to swear by the genius of Caesar, as
you call it, hear my free confession: I am a Christian; if you wish to
learn the Christian doctrine, choose a day and hear me." The proconsul
said, "Persuade the people." To which Polycarp joyfully and
confidently answered, "I address myself to you; for we are taught to
give due honor to princes, so far as it is consistent with religion.
But before these people I cannot justify myself."

The proconsul admired his courage, but already the herald had thrice
proclaimed in the stadium: "Polycarp has confessed that he is a
Christian," and the crowd called for him to be thrown to the lions,
but the time of the games was already over. The Roman proconsul
threatened to throw him into a fire. To which Polycarp responded, "You
threaten me with a fire that will certainly die out. You know nothing
of the eternal fire that is reserved for the wicked." So, as he had
already foretold, Polycarp was ordered to be burned alive. He uttered
a prayer of praise and glory to God, and offered up himself.

In 155 AD the Christians of Smyrna described the attempted execution
of Saint Polycarp by burning. ...


The Martyrium Polycarpi, written in the name of the church of Smyrna,
addressed to the church of Philomelius in Pisidia, and evidently from
eyewitness accounts of his arrest, trial, and martyrdom, is the oldest
authentic example of the acta of a martyr (introductory note to the
epistle)... The account of his martyrdom is precious evidence for the
cultus of saints as early as the 2nd century; and his vita of the
variation in the dates of Easter from an early period (Attwater,
Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer, Gill, Harrison, Walsh, White).


"To change your mind from good to bad is the height of absurdity. True
goodness changes from evil to righteousness."
--Saint Polycarp


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"God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, increase us in faith and
truth and gentleness, and grant us part and lot among His saints."
--Prayer of Saint Polycarp.