Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians

[2] It is widely believed to be a composite of material written at two different times (see § Unity), in the first half of the second century.

[1]: 28  In Chapter 9, I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to the word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience, such as you have seen [set] before your eyes, not only in the case of the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus... they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered.

Traditionally, the Ignatian epistles are dated to around the year 108 AD during the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan, based on the writings of the 4th century church historian Eusebius of Caesarea.

[12] However, some modern scholars have questioned this view, arguing for a date in the 130s or 140s AD[13][14] (see Ignatius of Antioch).

[15] Polycarp speaks of the proper living of wives, widows, deacons, younger men, virgins and elders (4–6) and offers prescriptions for how a Christian community ought to be organized and to conduct itself.

This in itself is notable because he seems to presume that his audience will understand why he employs this particular figure of speech and will know upon what discourses he draws in so doing.

This is one of a number of such references in eight early Christian texts generally dated to the second through the fifth centuries AD.

Phil., these texts are: Tertullian Ad uxorem, Methodius' Symposium, the Didascalia Apostolorum, the Apostolic Constitutions, Pseudo-Ignatius’ letter To the Tarsians, Gregory of Nazianzus Funeral Oration on His Father, and the Testamentum Domini.

[15] Margaret Butterfield concludes the following: The text here allows for the possibility of widows as attending to the conduct of community members, perhaps in order to ensure their worthiness for intercession.

What is perhaps even more striking is that when we step back and look at this entire shifting set of identifications, the cast of characters remains the same: God, the widows, and the community.

[15]The epistle warns against a number of disorders in the church and against apostasy, and encourages the Christians to persevere in good works.

[6][16] Here is one quotation from the epistle: Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood, and being attached to one another, joined together in the truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in your intercourse with one another, and despising no one.One of the epistle's more important features is its use and citation of other early Christian writings, many of which later came to be part of the New Testament.

[16] The epistle has even been described as "pastiche-like"[1]: 61  due to its heavy use of allusions and citations to other writings, which make up a large portion of the text.

[17] He also attacks unnamed individuals who claim that "there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment," calling them "the first-born of Satan" (Pol.