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Biography

Germanicus of Smyrna

Portrait of Germanicus of Smyrna

About Germanicus of Smyrna

Germanicus appears in the Martyrdom of Polycarp as one of the Christians who suffered at Smyrna. The account remembers him encouraging others through his endurance.

When the proconsul urged him to consider his age, he drew the wild beast toward himself. The narrative presents his death as a witness of faith and says that the crowd then demanded a search for Polycarp.

Eusebius later repeated this episode and described Germanicus as young.

The French bishops’ Nominis calendar commemorates him on January 19. That brief episode does not establish his childhood, occupation or an exact birth year.

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