Polycarp was the 2nd-century bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of John the Apostle who was martyred by fire.
Polycarp led the Christian community at Smyrna, in Roman Asia Minor, probably during the first half of the second century. Early Christian tradition connects him with John the Apostle, and his younger contemporary Irenaeus remembered meeting him and hearing him recount conversations with people who had known Jesus.
The account of his death appears in the *Martyrdom of Polycarp*, a letter from the church at Smyrna. It says that the elderly bishop was arrested, refused to deny Christ or sacrifice to the Roman emperor, and was taken to the stadium. He was tied to a stake and burned; the text then reports that, when the flames did not consume him, he was stabbed.
Polycarp is also remembered as one of the Apostolic Fathers and for his *Epistle to the Philippians*. Ignatius of Antioch was another early bishop and martyr, but he is associated with execution in Rome, not Polycarp’s martyrdom at Smyrna.