Saint Polycarp

It’s just six weeks since we returned from our time in Chantilly – an enjoyable and rewarding experience – and now we are preparing for our next ‘assignment’, returning to Izmir, to look after St John’s Church.

It seems appropriate to write this first instalment of our Turkish ‘blog’ today (23 February) , as it is the feast of St Polycarp, who was bishop of Smyrna/Izmir for many years, until his martyrdom in 155 AD. Christian Smyrna had two distinctive features in the early years: they, with Philadelphia, are the only communities to receive no rebuke from the Lord in the Book of Revelation, and their letter to other churches about Polycarp’s trial and death stands as the first example of such a writing. Polycarp was a significant church leader, having known some of the apostles, particularly John the Evangelist (who was buried at nearby Ephesus.) He was acquainted with Irenaeus of Lyons and Ignatius of Antioch. (In St John’s Church there is a stained-glass window depicting his meeting with the latter on his way to Rome where he was martyred.) When he was encouraged to renounce his faith, Polycarp said, “For 86 years I have been his servant, and he has never done me wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me.”

This reminds that the Church is built on the witness of the martyrs, and that we are all, in one way or another, called to be martyrs (the Greek word martus originally simply meant ‘witness.’) A cost-free Christian faith is suspect, which is one of the main objections to the obnoxious heresy of the ‘prosperity’ gospel. As we approach Lent, we are reminded that we, who dare to call ourselves Christian, are followers of the Lord Jesus, who invites all would-be disciples to take up their cross as they follow him.

We shall be sharing Lent and Easter with the believers of St John’s. A number of people have said we are ‘brave’ to be going there, given the security issues in Turkey. It’s true that since we were there last summer there have been more terrorist attacks – including one in Izmir. But nowhere is completely safe these days! There have been some cases, mostly in eastern Turkey, of Christians being attacked for their faith, but on the whole there is a tolerant and welcoming attitude on the part of the majority of Muslims; Izmir in particular has not fully cast off the label given it in the Ottoman empire: ‘infidel Smyrna’ (partly because of the large number of Christians and Jews then; they are a minority now.)

We believe that it’s right to go and minister to the good people, who are continuing faithfully to maintain their witness and to worship the Lord week after week. And we are looking forward to our return visit, and seeing again some of the friends we made last time.

Please pray for Jo and me as we prepare to travel.

We fly from Gatwick on Monday 27 January, and will be in Izmir until the Wednesday after Easter.

In particular, pray:

For our physical protection in travelling, and in Izmir itself.

For spiritual protection.

For good health and energy.

That we may be able quickly to discern the needs of the congregation.

For our Lent sermon course on the Seven Last Words of Christ, and the Bible study on Ephesians.

For the people of St John’s and for the process of appointing a permanent chaplain (the post has recently been advertised.)