I am reading Early Christian Readings, by Andrew Louth. A couple of his statements confused me. (He is very Roman in his leaning). First, he refers to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, claiming that since Polycarp said to Caesar, "Eighty-six years have I served him Jesus, and he has done me no wrong," this shows Polycarp was 86 at the time, and therefore could only have been baptized as an infant. Secondly, he talks of Polycarp going to Rome to meet Anicetus the Pope (c.154 AD) to discuss the date of Easter. I thought the papacy didn't start until circa 230 A.D. And was Easter really instituted this early? -- Kevin Anderton (Los Angeles)
The full-blown papacy arrived by the 400s, with claims to universal dominion by 606 AD (Boniface III). But this is not to say that the "bishops of Rome" didn't tend to be quite controlling even as early as the late 2nd century! (You know politics!)
At any rate, Easter was a huge topic of disagreement in the 180s! People argued over whether it should be determined by pegging it to the date of Passover (the Jewish calendar).
As for the 86 years, some take this to mean his age at that time. Yet it's also possible he was around 100 years old. There isn't enough evidence to decide. At best, this is flimsy evidence in support of infant baptism, which does not seem to have been practiced until the late 100s--and then only occasionally.
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