Matthew 10:23

But when they persecute you in this city.

-They may go out of the way of danger, though they must not go out of the way of duty. (Matthew Henry.)

An exception to flight

Polycarp (the friend and pupil of St. John) was eighty-six years old at the date of his martyrdom, and this took place, it seems almost certain, in 155 or 156. There had been a long and bitter persecution of the Christians in the East, and the reports of martyrdom after martyrdom reached the aged man in his bishopric of Smyrna, “but,” we are quoting Mr. Holland, “he was not disturbed at the reports, and wished to stay in the city at home; but at the entreaties of his friends, he withdrew to a little field-house, not far from the town, and stopped there, with a few companions, praying continuously for all men, and for the Churches … as was was his habit. As he prayed, he saw a vision … his pillow seemed to him all burning in flames, and he turned to those with him, and said, ‘I shall be burnt alive.’ And to escape the pressure of his pursuers he moved to another field-house, and they, the pursuers, came just after to his first hiding-place, and caught two boys, one of whom, under torture, confessed where his hiding-place was … It was the hour of the evening meal … when the officer of the peace came with fourteen horse and arms, as if against a thief … Polycarp could have fled again, but he refused.” His prediction came true, he was burnt, but God caused his sufferings to be brought to a speedy end by a providential circumstance, which, on first reading it, one is inclined to think too miraculous to be true, but which seems well-authenticated, though the description given by his biographer is probably unintentionally exaggerated. The wind so caught the flames that were to consume him that they took the shape of a hollow, or a sail swollen by the wind, and they despatched him with a sword. Polycarp is thought to have been the angel (i.e., messenger)

of the Church of Smyrna addressed in Revelation 2:8.