Name a Day and Give me a Hearing

One of the great leaders of the first generation after the apostles was a man named Polycarp. Polycarp, it is believed, was discipled by the apostle John and carried out a long and fruitful ministry in Smyrna, in present-day Turkey. Towards the end of his life, a persecution to.ok place in his native country, eventually leading to his arrest and transportation to Rome to be killed in the Colosseum.

On the journey to Rome, some of his followers came in the middle of the night and freed him from his impending death. But Polycarp had already made peace with this next step in his…