Polycarp (c. 70–c. 156 CE; the name means “much fruit”) was a 2nd-century CE church leader in Smyrna, and two literary works affiliated with him appear among the Apostolic Fathers (his Epistle to the Philippians and the Martyrdom of Polycarp). While Ignatius of Antioch addressed Polycarp as a “bishop of the church of the Smyrnaeans” (Ign. Pol. inscrip.), Polycarp’s own letter simply references “Polycarp and the elders with him” (Pol. Phil. inscrip.).

Irenaeus of Lyon’s (Irenaeus of Lyon) Advers…