Daily Archives: 01/11/2022

When the aged Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna was condemned for his faith at the games, his persecutors urged him to spare his years and denounce the atheists. By this, of course, they meant the Christians who denied all the pagan deities and believed in just one God, a novel one claiming to tower over all others. Polycarp famously gestured to the baying crowds and said, “Away with the atheists!”