[marshmallow]

How I wish that all our Evangelical brethren who want their church to be 'just like the early church' would take the trouble to read these letters so they would learn just what the early church was really like. Here you find a clear and uncompromising insistence on the centrality of the episcopacy, an established priesthood and diaconate, a clear understanding of our Lord's divinity and the doctrine of the Real Presence.

Er..........a loud *ahem* to the usual suspects......... :-)

[agere_contra]

Fascinating, thanks for posting!

[BelegStrongbow]

I don’t know about being a suspect, but these are two of my favority Apostolic Fathers and I have enjoyed many evenings meditating with them about how to maintain the Spirit in myself and others. Truly great and inspirational saintly men.

[Dutchboy88]

The passage from Ignatius where he claims he was the disciple of John?

[Salvation]

Great article! Thanks!

Two Fathers [Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna]

ST POLYCARP, BISHOP OF SMYRNA, MARTYR—7?-166

St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr[Disciple of St John,the Evangelist]

[Salvation]

The Father's Gift In Christ [by Saint Hilary of Poitiers, bishop]

St. Hilary of Poitiers

The Life and Writings of Saint Hilary of Poitiers[Bishop and Martyr]

[narses]

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[Erskine Childers]

Polycarp was a disciple of John the Evangelist. This according to Irenaeus, so we have it on good authority. It makes sense - their lives overlapped (John would have been an old man while Polycarp was a young man) and they were in the same part of the world (what is now Izmir, Turkey).

So by all means we should listen to Polycarp and take his writings seriously to heart, as his writings breath the spirit of the Disciple whom Jesus Loved.