It would have served as a short Cover Letter for the epistles of Ignatius, to which it refers explicitly: The second letter, written many years later, would constitute the bulk of the epistle (Chapters 1–12). Harrison named this letter the Crisis Letter, because it seems to have been written in response to a crisis in the Philippian church, in which its presbyter Valens was removed from his post for "covetousness" (Chapter 11). These two letters would have been compiled together, either accidentally or intentionally, by a later editor. This view, or some variation of it, continues to enjoy widespread support among scholars, although some continue to argue for the unity of the epistle, while a few others argue that the Cover Letter is a late forgery and only the Crisis Letter is authentic. Date Scholars' estimates for the Cover Letter (Pol. Phil. 13) are largely dependent on the dating of the epistles of Ignatius, to which they explicitly refer. Traditionally, the Ignatian epistles are dated to around the year 108 CE during the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan, based on the writings of the 4th century church historian Eusebius of Caesarea. However, some modern scholars have questioned this view, arguing for a date in the 130s or 140s CE (see Ignatius of Antioch). In that case, the Cover Letter would be dated correspondingly later. The Crisis Letter (Pol. Phil. 1–12) would date some time after Ignatius' death, but it is unclear precisely how much later it might have been written. Polycarp's death, which occurred around 155-167 CE, sets an upper limit. P. N. Harrison, who accepted the traditional Trajanic date of the epistles of Ignatius, dated the Crisis Letter to around 135-137 CE If one accepts the minority view that Pol. Phil. is a unified letter, then the epistle as a whole would date to around the same time as the epistles of Ignatius of Antioch. Content Polycarp speaks of the proper living of wives, widows, deacons, younger men, virgins and elders (4–6) and offers prescriptions for how a Christian community ought to be organized and to conduct itself. Wives: [Being taught in] faith given them Love Purity Feeling affection for husbands ‘in all truth’ Loving all equally ‘with all self-restraint’ To teach children in ‘the reverential fear of God’ Widows: Being self-controlled ‘concerning the faith of the Lord’ Interceding incessantly concerning everyone Knowing that they are an altar