After the ApostlesEarly church writer
Polycarp of Smyrna
Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna, in what is now Turkey. Irenaeus, who knew him as a boy, wrote later that Polycarp had listened to the apostle John and others who had seen the Lord; scholars weigh how much to rely on that memory. Polycarp is one of the main links between the first generation of Christians and the next.
He is the recipient of one of Ignatius's letters and the author of one surviving letter, to the church at Philippi. A separate letter from the church at Smyrna, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, describes his arrest and death. The traditional date is about AD 155 to 160, though some scholars argue for a later one. In the Martyrdom he is said to have been 86 years a servant of Christ.
Irenaeus also reports that Polycarp travelled to Rome to talk with its bishop, Anicetus, about differences over the date of Easter, and that the two parted at peace.
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The Martyrdom of Polycarp
The church at Smyrna · About AD 155 to 160 (traditional)
One of the earliest accounts of a Christian martyr: an elderly bishop who is said to have known the apostle John.
Polycarp to the Philippians
Polycarp of Smyrna · Probably early to mid 2nd century (debated)
A short pastoral letter from a bishop who knew Ignatius, full of echoes of the New Testament.
Dates are traditional or approximate, and scholars debate many of them. Who were the church fathers?