2. Impacted other peoples lives.
How has St Polycarp fulfilled this criteria?
There is sufficient evidence to confirm that St Polycarp has indeed fulfilled criteria two. Firstly, as mentioned before, St Polycarp lived amongst many pagans and under a government that opposed Christianity. Many people, including St Polycarp were persecuted for being Christian. It is described that St Polycarp followed Jesus' footsteps and "led and fed his flock", by giving his life to save his people from persecution in Smyrna. It is clear that by doing this, St Polycarp impacted, and potentially saved many lives.
In addition, St Polycarp, as bishop of Smyrna, taught Christians many valuable life lessons. St Polycarp taught that Christians must do God’s will, walk in truth, keep all of God's commandments, and love whatever He loved. He also taught Christians to refrain from all fraud, greed, detraction, and rash judgment. He instructed that one must repay evil with forgiveness and mercy, to pray all the time, so as not to be led into temptation, fast, persevere and be joyful. St Polycarp's teachings would have taught others to live in a way that brought them closer to God, and influenced them to lead a more joyous life. These teachings changed peoples lives for the better.
Therefore, it is clearly evident that St Polycarp changed the life of many people around him, fulfilling the second criteria.
In addition, St Polycarp, as bishop of Smyrna, taught Christians many valuable life lessons. St Polycarp taught that Christians must do God’s will, walk in truth, keep all of God's commandments, and love whatever He loved. He also taught Christians to refrain from all fraud, greed, detraction, and rash judgment. He instructed that one must repay evil with forgiveness and mercy, to pray all the time, so as not to be led into temptation, fast, persevere and be joyful. St Polycarp's teachings would have taught others to live in a way that brought them closer to God, and influenced them to lead a more joyous life. These teachings changed peoples lives for the better.
Therefore, it is clearly evident that St Polycarp changed the life of many people around him, fulfilling the second criteria.