apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

DATE OF THE MARTYRDOM. 709
Here the secret is revealed. The last mentioned Polycarp
is a local
saint, a Roman presbyter and confessor, a companion of S. Sebastian, who
was martyred under Diocletian (see BoUand Act. Sand. Februarius iii. p.
369). He would naturally occupy a large space in the field of view with
Romans in the succeeding centuries; and, finding a Polycarp's festival
in some calendar which fell into their hands, they would not unnaturally
assign the day to him. But when they came afterwards to commemorate
the great Polycarp of Smyrna, his day was preoccupied, and another
time must be found for him. What more natural than that he should
be identified with or substituted for the first
person of the name who
met their eye in the calendar These substitutions and interchanges of
namesakes are a very common feature in calendars, and we shall
come across instances (see below, 11. pp. 420 sq, 429). In this way the
of the Roman
Polycarp of Nicsa is altogether excluded in the final stage
calendar. Who he was, and when he suffered, I am unable to say.
Judging from the place of martyrdom and from the fact that he is not
designated an '
ancient martyr', we may infer that he suffered under one
of the later heathen emperors, perhaps Diocletian. The displacement
of a day (Jan. 26 for Jan. 27) is frequent in the Hieronymian Martyrology,
as indeed elsewhere.
The first of the three Martyrologies therefore exhibits the original
Eastern, the last the final Western arrangement; while the middle one
presents an intermediate stage, a dissolving view where the Polycarp of
Niccea is fading away and the Polycarp of Smyrna is emerging to take
his place.
It has been shown, if I mistake not, that the traditional day of the
martyrdom, February 23, has the highest claims on our acceptance, and
that its authority remains unshaken by any rival theories. But the difficulty
of the ' great sabbath ' still remains to be explained.
'
The great sabbath ' in the Christian Church was the Saturday intervening
between Good Friday and Easter Day. As the whole week was
called -q fxeydXi] e/38o/xas (Chrysost. Op. IV. p. 294), so this Saturday was
TO fxiya adpfiaTOv. Thus Chrysostom {Oj>.
V. p. 525) writes, wa-n-ep avT-r]
K€cf)dXaLov Twi' A-oiTTwi/ e/38o/xa8wv, ouTws TavTr]ost. Const. V. 19 it occurs only in the heading of the chapter, -n-epl
but not in the document itself
rrjs TravvuxtSos to5 fxeydXov (rafS/Sdrov,
Again in Can. Apost. 66 et tis KXrjptKos evpeOrj rrjv KvpcaKyv rjixipav vrjarevoiv