apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

POLYCARP THE ELDER.
IN the days of Bucolus the bishop there Hved at Smyrna a certain
pious widow, Callisto by name, rich in worldly substance, but
richer still in good works. One night in a vision she saw an angel of
the Lord, who bade her go to the Ephesian Gate, where she would
meet two men, having with them a young lad called '
Polycarp. Ask
them', said the angel, 'if he is for sale; and when they say Yes, give
them the price which they demand and take and keep him by thy side ;
the child is an Eastern by birth'. She arose and did as she was bidden.
It came to pass even as the angel had said. She brought the boy home
and reared him carefully;
all her substance.
and as he grew up, she gave him charge over
At length
it befel that she must leave home for a long time, and
she placed Polycarp as steward over her household. Beset by widows
and orphans and by
all the needy of the neighbourhood, he dispensed
to everyone freely corn and wine and oil and whatsoever they asked, so
that the stores were emptied. After a time, when Callisto returned, one
of her servants met her and charged Polycarp with robbing her of her
substance; and she, full of anger (for she knew not that he had distributed
her goods in charity), demanded of him the keys of the store-rooms.
Then he, groaning and lifting up his voice, prayed to the Lord God
who replenished the vessels of the widow of Sarepta, entreating Him in
the name of Christ that this widow's stores also might be found full.
His prayer was answered. The miracle sunk deep into the heart of
Callisto. She treated Polycarp thenceforward as her son, and when she
died, she left him heir of all she possessed.
After Callisto's death, Polycarp grew daily in faith and godly living.
The love of knowledge and the fondness for the scriptures, which
distinguishes the people of the East, bore rich fruit in him. He offered
IGN. I. 28