A simple reading of the New Testament reveals Jesus left a lot of authority to the apostles – those 12-then-11 that followed Him in His three-year ministry. But what about the next generation after the apostles were martyred? One of the next generation church leaders was Polycarp, the bishop of the church at Smyrna. He was under the tutelage of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved and (unlike John) was martyred on February 23, 155 AD. Polycarp would take up the mantle John started in battling heresies.
