c. 155 or 156. These earlier dates better fit the tradition of his association with Ignatius and John the Apostle.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp states that Polycarp was taken on the Sabbath and killed on "the Great Sabbath". English patristic scholar William Cave wrote that this was evidence that the Smyrnaeans under Polycarp observed the seventh-day Sabbath (i.e. assembled on Saturdays). J. B. Lightfoot