"Away With the Atheists!"

The earliest eyewitness account of a Christian martyr's death (outside of the New Testament) is The Martyrdom of Polycarp, circa 155. Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor and had been discipled by St. John the Apostle. By the middle 2nd century Christians had come to be called "atheists" because they worshipped neither Caesar nor the many gods of Rome. In the moving account of his martyrdom, Polycarp is granted by the proconsul overseeing his execution an opportunity to recant of his "atheism" by saying, "Away with the atheists!" The acount continues, "but Polycarp, with a stern countenance looked on all the crowd of lawless heathen in the arena, and waving his hand at them, he groaned and looked up to heaven and said: 'Away with the Atheists.'" Polycarp had turned his recantation onto the crowd of true atheists assembled to revel in his death. Given another chance to "revile Christ" and be let go, Polycarp replied, "For eighty and six years have I been his servant, and he has done me no wrong, and how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

The proconsul continued to threaten with beast and fire, but had no effect on Polycarp. His final prayer is recorded this way:

"O Lord God Almighty, Father of thy beloved and blessed Son, Jesus Christ, through Whom we have received full knowledge of thee, the God of Angels and powers, and of all creation, and of the whole family of the righteous, who live before thee! I bless thee, that Thou hast granted me this day and hour, that I may share, among the number of the martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, for the Resurrection to everlasting life, both of soul and body in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. And may I, today, be received among them before Thee, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as Thou, the God who lies not and is truth, hast prepared beforehand, and shown forth, and fulfilled. For this reason I also praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee through the everlasting and heavenly high Priest, Jesus Christ, thy beloved Child, through whom be glory to Thee with him and the Holy Spirit, both now and for the ages that are to come, Amen."

Seeing that his body could not be consumed by the fire, his executioners stabbed him. His blood extinguished the flames and a dove was seen, and so Polycarp shared in the cup of his Lord.

"And they have conquered him (the great dragon, Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."~Revelation 12:11

• Read the full account of The Martyrdom of Polycarp here.