Prayer And Politics-The Martyrdom Of Polycarp
The spirituality and politics of Christ’s disciples has always been inseparable from Jesus the Lord and His Spirit. At the time of Christ and the early church the word religiare from which we get the word religion meant in the Roman empire that there was a religious bond between a nation’s citizens and their State. This religion guaranteed an absolute allegiance to the Roman Empire among all her citizens.
Christians wanted nothing to do with religiare. Rather, disciples of Jesus lived within a community of believers bound by a singular allegiance to Jesus as Lord with her own beliefs, spirituality and practices. This Community was utterly independent of a particular state or nation. Nobody had ever seen such a spirituality and politics before. It was suspicioned and labeled as a danger to the State by many.
This allegiance inevitably lead then and now to persecution and martyrdom for disciples. The most famous ancient confrontation occurred in Smyrna on February 22, 156, the day the beloved Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, discipled by the apostle John, was publicly martyred. In a 2nd century letter from the Church at Smyrna to the church at Philomelium witnesses to the martyrdom of their Bishop at Smyrna described what happened the day of Polycarp’s martyrdom.
Quadratus, the Roman Proconsul in Smyrna, attempted to compel Polycarp to swear that Caesar is Lord. In the Proconsul’s mind he was only insisting on simple ordinary patriotism. No big deal. Polycarp resisted. The proconsul insisted, just “curse Christ, take the oath to Rome and I will release you.“ Polycarp responded: ”Eighty-six years I have served him and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?” Polycarp went on,” If you vainly suppose that I swear by the fortunes of Caesar as you say and pretend that you do not know who I am, listen plainly, I am a Christian.” Later Polycarp clarified his allegiances: ”For we have been taught to render honor, as is befitting, to rulers and authorities appointed by God so far as it does us no harm.”
Polycarp’s resistance came from a sovereign distinct from Caesar, namely Christ the Lord. Polycarp, a citizen of Rome, but also a citizen of heaven, says he believes the proconsul and Caesar are authorities appointed by God to whom honor, but not worship, is due. Only Jesus the Lord is worthy of our worship. The authority of Christ and the Emperor were not only intersecting, they were colliding. One must give way to the other. Polycarp knew that Christ who is God had given Quadratus authority and that Quadratus was demanding that Polycarp renounce the King who gave Quadratus authority! Polycarp’s prayers revealed to him the magnitude of the issue: “Who is in charge of the world?”
Polycarp believed political authority mediates divine authority while being limited and placed under judgment by divine authority. Nationalists in Rome and around the world believe absolute authority resides in the State and is mediated by the designated authorities.
The confrontation was also a confrontation between Polycarp, a member of the Church and a Bishop over the church, exercising Christ’s authority and a Roman Proconsul exercising Caesar’s authority , the emperor of the known world. One person-Polycarp-dual memberships in two distinct authority structures—a clash of church and state. The Christian as a citizen of the state is under it’s limited and derived authority; as a member of the church he/she is under Christ’s absolute authority and Christ is divine.
Christians have since Jesus fervently prayed for the “kingdom of God to come on earth right now as it is in heaven.” That prayer makes absolute allegiance to any national or human authority figure utterly impossible for followers of Christ the Lord. Polycarp’s profound and prayerful discernment of the competing authorities and his witness “unto death” embodied faithfulness to Jesus the King and the prayer he taught us.
True spirituality and politics go together because Jesus is now the world’s only true Lord. On February 22, 156, it all seemed rather suspicious and unpatriotic and definitely dangerous. It still is.