The Old Bishop's Prayer at the Stake

On February 23, 155 AD, the Roman authorities led eighty-six-year-old Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, to the arena to be burned alive. He had been a disciple of the Apostle John himself, and for decades he had faithfully shepherded his congregation through waves of persecution. When soldiers came for him, he fed them dinner first. Standing before the pyre, Polycarp refused the magistrate's demand to renounce Christ.…