Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, Apostolic Father

Today we will learn and reflect on Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians.
This epistle is similar to the epistles to the various churches by the martyr
St Ignatius of Antioch, and like St Ignatius, Polycarp will also be martyred
as a very elderly bishop, that is a subject of another video.
He also has advice on following several of the Ten Commandments which
we will review.

At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources used for this video, and
my blogs, and you follow along in our script shared on SlideShare. Please,
we welcome interesting questions in the comments. Let us learn and reflect
together!

YouTube Video:
Philokalia, St Diadochos of Photiki
Read ending slides for comments on sources.
Blogs:
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/
NOTE: YouTube video corrections may not be
reflected on the slides, and the blog may
differ somewhat in content.
© Copyright 2021
Purchase from Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3eCtqBo
YouTube Channel (please subscribe):
Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLqDkfFbWhXOnzdjp__YZtg
Purchase from Amazon:
https://amzn.to/2V1dhhQ

https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/after-the-new-testament-the-writings-of-the-apostolic-fathers
https://amzn.to/3qRiYMQ

https://amzn.to/36S0UHV
www.christianbook.com
https://amzn.to/3hXiBfq
The Didache is in Volume 1
of the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
https://amzn.to/3eRbZgK Early Christian Writings, Maxwell Staniforth,
(Andrew Louth has a similar compilation)
The Apostolic Fathers, Greek and English, Michael
Holmes, translator, Bruce Metzger’s Doctoral Student
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7
(1870’s translation), Excellent Introductions
Eusebius, Ancient Church Historian
History of Early Christian Literature, Edgar Goodspeed
The Early Church, Henry Chadwick
https://amzn.to/2V84r1S
Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians
© Copyright 2021
Become a patron:
https://www.patreon.com/seekingvirtueandwisdom
https://amzn.to/36W9OUB
https://youtu.be/wmZ8A9R0ngE

We know more about Polycarp than most second-generation Church
Fathers. “Irenaeus tells us that the youthful Polycarp had been ‘instructed
by the Apostles, and many of his acquaintances had seen
Christ.’” Polycarp’s name could be translated as very fruitful, in his Epistle to
Polycarp St Ignatius said his beliefs were ‘anchored to an unshakable
rock.’ Irenaeus also tells us that Polycarp had many fond memories of his
years of his years as disciple to St John the Apostle.
St Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna, which claimed to be the birthplace of
Homer, and was the recipient of one of the church letters in the Book of
Revelations. With a rich pagan tradition, Smyrna was also a center of the
cult of emperor worship. The authorities complied with Rome’s request for
unrepentant Christians to sacrifice in the arena, as recorded in the
Martyrdom of Polycarp.

Eusebius quotes Irenaeus from the third book
in Against Heresies, “Polycarp was not only
instructed by the apostles and conversant
with many who had seen the Lord, but was
appointed by apostles to serve in Asia as
Bishop of Smyrna. I (Irenaeus) myself saw
him in my early years, for he lived a long time
and was very old indeed when he laid down
his life by a glorious and most splendid
martyrdom. At all times he taught what he
had learned from the apostles, which the
Church transmits, which alone are true.”

St Paul in First Corinthians tells us that “faith,
hope, and love abide, these three; and the
greatest of these is love.” Faith, hope and
love are the core of the Christian message,
Polycarp teaches us that “Faith is the mother
of us all, with Hope following in her train,
and Love of God and Christ and our neighbor
leading the way. Let a man’s mind be wholly
bent on these, and he has fulfilled all the
demands of holiness; for to possess Love is
to be beyond the reach of sin.”
This reminds us of St Augustine’s admonition
that if we truly Love God and love our
neighbor we can do as we will.

St Polycarp advises us,
“when it is in your power to
perform an act of kindness,
never put it off to another
time, for ‘charity is death’s
reprieve.’”
The wedding of Tobias and Sarah: Raphael binds the demon. Jan Steen, c.1660

This verse is quoted from Tobit, which is unfamiliar to many
Christians, so we will quote this section, which is an
exhortation from the Angel Raphael to the God-fearing
newlyweds Tobias and Sarah:

Raphael exhorts, “Do
good and evil will not
overtake you. Prayer
with fasting is good, but
better than both is
almsgiving with
righteousness. A little
wealth with
righteousness is better
than great wealth with
wrongdoing. It is better
to give alms than to lay
up gold. For almsgiving
saves from death and
purges away every sin.
Those who give alms will
enjoy a full life, but
those who commit sin
and do wrong are their
own worst enemies.”
The wedding of Tobias and Sarah: Raphael binds the demon. Jan Steen, c.1660

Endurance in the faith is a theme for
Polycarp. Polycarp teaches us, “Jesus
Christ steadfastly endured all things for
our sakes, that we might have life in
Him. Let us imitate that patient
endurance of His; and if we do have to
suffer for His Name’s sake, let us give
glory to Him.” We often prefer to pray
for relief from our suffering, and become
angry at God when suffering comes our
way, when life is not fair, when we should
rather pray for endurance so we can not
only endure our suffering, but through
our suffering give glory to God!

St Polycarp’s advice to widows shows a deep
understanding of the commandment, Do not
bear false witness, from which is also derived
the commandments, Do not gossip, Do not
damage your neighbor’s reputation, Do not be
eager to retell prattle that might be true when
it harms your neighbor. St Polycarp teaches us,
“widows should be discreet in practicing our
Lord’s faith; they should constantly intercede
for everyone, and be careful to avoid any tale-
bearing, spiteful tittle-tattle, false allegations,
over-eagerness for money, or misconduct of
any description.”

Gossip damages your reputation, when you talk about others not in the
room, when does this talk cross over to gossip? Those who live godly lives
praise their neighbor, it is always good to build up your neighbor’s
reputation. But when news about your neighbor is not so good, what do
you do? It is best when you don’t have anything good to say about
someone to not say anything at all. Sometimes you are justified in frank
talk when you are a manager talking about an employee, or you are
parents talking about their children, or teachers talking about their
students.
When you confer with others to plans how you can improve the situation
of your neighbor, when you talk about their faults out of love when you
can possibly influence them to improve, that possibly can be okay. It is
better to be discreet than to tell the truth that hurts your neighbor, that
violates the commandment, this hatefulness does not pass muster.

St Polycarp teaches us, “Let us have a real
ardor for goodness, taking every care to
avoid giving offense.”
There is a footnote for the passage, “we
should keep ourselves from wrongdoing,
overreaching, penny-pinching, tale-telling,
and prevaricating.” The translator says that
in Greek the word for overreaching can also
mean committing adultery, in the Scriptures
and adultery and unfaithfulness are often
interchangeable.

The church of the Philippians, even in the age of the
martyrs to the faith, has a problem that many of our
churches today face, the problem of the clergy dipping
their hands into the till. St Polycarp warns us “against
any excessive fondness for money,” that “eagerness for
money should be entirely alien to the clergy.”
But Polycarp is also compassionate to the
transgressors. “I feel the deepest sorrow for that man
and his wife, may the Lord grant them real
repentance. You must not be over-severe with them,
for they are not your enemies, you must restore them,
like parts of your own person that are ailing, so your
whole body can be healthy. Do this, and you will be
promoting your own spiritual welfare at the same
time.”
The Fall of Man by Peter Paul Rubens, 1628–29

People tend to be very defensive against thieves, regarding them
to be in the same category as murderers and rapists, although
robbing you of your possessions is not as great a calamity as
robbing you of your life or dignity or chastity. The past few
decades have unfortunately taught us that molesters are so prone
to repeat offenses that we have to put the welfare of others over
that of the offender and urge them to make a living in a profession
that does not put them in contact with potential victims. But we
can afford to be more generous with thieves, for they cannot steal
from us our treasures in Heaven, which is our true wealth.

My cousin told me of a sad case many years ago of a high church
official that redirected a rather large contribution into a slush fund
that financed fancy vacations, gambling trips, home
improvements, and frequent withdrawals of large amounts of
cash. The sad part of the story was this high church official was
widely admired for his generosity, he was known handing wads of
cash to destitute clergy, and for paying the tab for dozens of local
parishioners at fancy restaurants on his many church
travels. These local church members were only too happy to
benefit from his generosity and rarely questioned how a modestly
paid church official could afford such largesse.

Even in the age of martyrs, when
anytime Christians could be drug before
the local governors, Polycarp teaches us
that we should “pray for all God’s
people. Pray too for our sovereign
lords, and for all governors and rulers,
for any who abuse you or dislike you,
and for the enemies of the Cross. Thus
the fruits of your faith will be plain for
all to see, and you will be perfected in
Jesus Christ.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
YouTube Description has links for:
• Script PDF file
• Blog
• Amazon Bookstore
© Copyright 2021
Blog, Script, and YouTube
Description include links for
Amazon books and lectures
mentioned, please support our
channel with these affiliate
commissions.
Link to blog: https://wp.me/pachSU-aq

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLqDkfFbWhXOnzdjp__YZtg/

Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, Apostolic Father

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, Apostolic Father

Similar to Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, Apostolic Father (20)

More from Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History

More from Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, Apostolic Father