St. Ignatius of Antioch - Letter to Polycarp

"Copy the ways of God in speaking to each as an individual person... Not every wound is healed by the same salve."

This episode features a letter written from one to saint to another: St. Ignatius’ letter to St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. Alongside Ignatius of Antioch and Clement of Rome, Polycarp is regarded as one of the chief figures among the Apostolic Fathers.

Unlike other letters written by St. Ignatius and addressed to an entire Church community, this letter represents a personal correspondence from one early bishop to another. Polycarp so valued this letter, in fact, that he later had it copied in its entirety and sent to the Philippians.

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-marique/

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1634

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.