Of all the Catholic martyrs, 85-year-old Polycarp heads my list of inspirational heroes of the faith. In refusing to burn a pinch of incense to the deity of the Roman Emperor, Polycarp said: “86 years have I served Jesus and He has done me no wrong. How can I then blaspheme my king and saviour?” He wasn’t asked to do much. Just sprinkle some incense as a recognition of the crazed emperor’s ego-mania spilling over into a divinity complex. But he refused.
The unwillingness of the early Church to bow down and worship state gods is part of the rich inspiring myth and history of the Church. It set Christians apart. Their morals and their ideals were pitched so differently from their “bread and circuses” neighbours. But they had to take a stand. And from time to time, as Jesus said it would, it cost some of them their lives.
Source: Gavin Ashenden - Catholic Herald