O God, the maker of heaven and earth, who didst give to thy venerable servant, the holy and gentle Polycarp, boldness to confess Jesus Christ as King and Saviour, and steadfastness to die for his faith: Give us grace, after his example, to share the cup of Christ and rise to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
I love the story of Polycarp, and the sheer boldness and indominatable courage of the elderly bishop. “[i]Away with the atheists![/i]” indeed.
We comfortable Global North Christians are pitifully ignorant on the whole about the magnitude of the suffering for Christ that is being inflicted on our brothers and sisters in the Global South today. Christians are being harassed and even slaughtered in many countries around the world. Not least, this feast day should spur us to pray for endangered Christians in Muslim countries. Such as Iranian evangelical pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who has now been officially condemned by an Iranian court to be hung for the supposed crime of apostasy from Islam. See the story on Cranmer’s blog.
David Handy+
Amen.