The St Shenouda Podcast explores the ultimate act of faith recorded in the earliest chronicle of Christian martyrdom outside of the New Testament: The Martyrdom of Polycarp.

Join us as we dive into the letter written by the Church in Smyrna, detailing the final hours of the blessed Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp was an apostolic and prophetic teacher who, at 86 years of age, had been discipled by the Apostle John. The account is recognized as taking on the literary form of both a letter and the earliest of the martyr acts as a genre in the ancient Christian tradition.

Facing intense persecution around 155 AD, Polycarp, after being urged to hide, had a prophetic vision that he "must be burnt alive". Following his betrayal by a member of his own household, he was brought befor ...