BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS

Blood of the Martyrs  

Phil. 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

The "name" of Christianity was banned, and any Christian was, at any moment, vulnerable to accusation by anyone who took offense against him for any reason. This situation made for sporadic periods of trouble and caused the churches to live defensively, so as not to endanger their members. As more and more Christians died rather than renounce their faith, the importance of their sacrifice grew in the eyes of other believers. The legacy of Paul's teaching—that the heart of Christian faith lay in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and that, as he wrote in Philippians 3:10, Christians could "know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death"—became a focal point of courage and of faith for all. Like Paul, the martyrs took joy in sharing Christ's sacrifice, and there were even those who welcomed death in order to achieve closeness with Him. Year after year, decade after decade, they walked erect to their executions. In later years, the martyrs' lives were considered appropriate material for sermons and homilies, and selections from the "acts" of the martyrs—accounts drawn from trial records, eyewitness testimony, and often pious imaginations—were read out at annual memorial services. There were other ways to remember the holy dead; in many places churches were later built at martyrs' graves, reminiscent of the old shrines to local heroes. Sometimes a shrine displayed a relic of its saint: a fragment of a tunic, a splinter of bone, an object he or she had used.   A contemporary view of the martyrs is given by the Greek satirist Lucian. For him, as for many in the Roman world, the actions of such people spoke less of bravery than of irrationality. "The poor wretches," he sneered, "have convinced themselves, first and foremost, that they are going to be immortal and live for all time. Therefore, they despise death and even willingly give themselves into custody, most of them. Furthermore, their first lawgiver persuaded them that they are all brothers of one another after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshiping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws. Therefore they despise all things indiscriminately and consider them common property."