apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

POLYCARP THE ELDER. 475
'
relaxing unwavering hold of the word that was delivered to him from the
beginning'— this, so far as we can read the man from his own utterances
or from the notices of others, was the characteristic of Polycarp. His
religious convictions were seen to be ' founded as ', Ignatius had said
long before {Polyc. i),
'on an immoveable rock'. He was not dismayed
by the plausibilities of false teachers, but ' stood firm as an anvil under
the hammer's stroke' {ib. 3).
But, if the position of Polycarp was important to the early Church
as a guarantee of continuity, it is not without its value to ourselves
from this same point of view. Certain modern theories of early
Christian history are built upon the hypothesis
of an entire discontinuity,
a complete dislocation, in the spiritual and intellectual
life of Christendom,
so that the Church of Irenseus was in the most
vital points, whether of doctrine or of practice, a direct contrast to the
Church of S. John. To these shadowy reconstructions of the Church,
which overlook the broader facts of history and fasten on fragmentary
notices and questionable interpretations, the position of Polycarp gives
a direct denial. If Irenseus is only fairly honest in his representations of
his master (and there is no reason to question this),
all such theories of
discontinuity must fall to the ground. There might be growth, progress,
development, but there could be no dislocation or reversal, such as these
theories postulate.
While the oral tradition of the Lord's life and of the Apostolic teaching
was still fresh, the believers of succeeding generations not unnaturally
appealed to it for confirmation against the many counterfeits of the
Gospel which offered themselves for acceptance. The authorities for
this tradition were ' the elders '. To the testimony of these elders
appeal was made by Papias in the first, and by Irenseus in the second
generation after the Apostles. With Papias the elders were those who
themselves had seen the Lord or had been eye-witnesses of the Apostolic
history; with Irenseus the term included likewise persons who, Hke
Among
Papias himself, had been acquainted with these eye-witnesses.
these Polycarp held the foremost place. It is not therefore as the
martyr nor as the ruler nor as the writer, but as 'the elder', that he
claims the attention of the Church.