Bishop of Smyrna (c. AD 69-155), one of the earliest post-apostolic Christian leaders. According to Irenaeus — who knew Polycarp personally in his youth — Polycarp was taught by the Apostle John himself, making him a living bridge between the apostolic age and the wider Church. He was martyred in Smyrna around AD 155 at age 86 by being burned and then stabbed in the arena. The Martyrdom of Polycarp is the oldest preserved Christian martyrdom account outside the New Testament and the template for the entire genre.
Polycarp's martyrdom tells the story. Brought before the Roman proconsul and commanded to curse Christ and swear by Caesar, Polycarp replied: "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" When threatened with wild beasts, he said, "Let them come." When threatened with fire, he said the fire of the wicked lasts only a little while but the fire to come lasts forever. The crowd gathered wood; Polycarp asked to be left unbound, saying that the God who gave him strength to face the fire would give him strength to stand in it. The fire bulged around him without consuming him, so a soldier stabbed him. The account says the blood "quenched the fire." Polycarp's surviving letter to the Philippians is modest, pastoral, and saturated with Scripture — the pattern of post-apostolic discipleship is one of faithfulness, not innovation. "Eighty and six years have I served Him" is the line every long-term Christian aspires to.