apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

442 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
and from the sequel of the narrative we should infer that a considerable
interval elapsed before he was finally raised to the
— episcopate
not however by
S.
John, but by Bucolus. Irengeus is easily reconcilable
with Ignatius ;
but neither the one nor the other can be made
to harmonize with the Pionian account.
If Polycarp was appointed to
the episcopate by S.
John, he must have held the office more than
half a century. The other personal disciples of Christ with whom
Polycarp in early life was brought in contact are probably to be sought
among the persons known from other sources, more especially from
Papias, to have settled in these parts. But they may not have been
confined to this circle. If Polycarp really was born in Palestine or
Syria, his opportunities of intercourse with immediate hearers of Christ
might have been much wider.
(2) Among the contemporaries of Polycarp three names stand out
prominently as fathers of the sub-apostohc age, Clement, Ignatius, and
Papias. With Clement himself it is not probable that Polycarp ever
came into personal contact; but with his extant letter, written to the
Corinthians, he shows an intimate acquaintance. On the other hand,
for his personal intercourse with the other two we have direct evidence.
Irenaeus (v. s^. 4) speaks of Papias as ' the scholar of John and
companion of Polycarp' (o 'Iwdvvov /xev olkovctti]';, UoXvKdpTrov 8e eratpos
•yeyovws). This language
is precise, but nevertheless it cannot be
accepted with absolute confidence. Eusebius {H. E. iii. 39) criticizes
the statement that Papias was a disciple of the Apostle S. John ;
he
infers from the language of Papias himself that his master was not
the Apostle, but the Elder (7rpeo-^i;'T€pos) of the same name ;
and he
therefore charges Irenaeus with a confusion in this passage. If however
Irenaeus went astray on the one point, he may have gone astray on
the other also. The statement that Papias was a companion of Polycarp
might have been his own inference from the fact that they were
both disciples of the same master. But, whether Eusebius be correct
or not, it seems highly improbable that Polycarp and Papias should
have been unknown to each other. Being strictly contemporaries and
living at no greater distance than the interval which separates Smyrna
from Hierapolis, they could hardly fail— as the two most famous
Christian teachers in those parts
— to have been in frequent communication
the one with the other.
The evidence for the connexion of Polycarp with Ignatius is open to
no such question. Ignatius, now on his way to Rome and to martyrdom,
halts at Smyrna, where he receives assiduous attentions from the
Smyrnceans and from Polycarp their bishop. In the letters which he