Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutesPolycrates of Ephesus was the bishop of Ephesus in the late second century AD and one of the most important Christian leaders of Asia Minor of his day. He is remembered above all for a single bold act: when the bishop of Rome tried to force every church to celebrate Easter on a Sunday, Polycrates wrote a fearless letter defending the ancient tradition of Asia — a tradition he traced all the way back to the apostles John and Philip, who lay buried in his own region. His stand is one of the most revealing episodes in the early history of the Church.