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The term 'martyr' (Greek μάρτυς "witness") initially signified a witness in the forensic sense, a person called to bear witness in legal proceedings. With this meaning it was used in the secular sphere as well as in both the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible.^[1] The process of bearing witness was not intended to lead to the death of the witness, although it is known from ancient writers (e.g. Josephus) that witnesses, especially of the lower classes, were tortured routinely before being interrogated as a means of forcing them to disclose the truth. During the early Christian centuries the term acquired the extended meaning of a believer who witnesses to his or her religious belief and on account of this witness endures suffering and death. The term in the English language is a loanword and used only with the extended meaning of someone who has been killed for their religious belief. The death of a martyr or the value attributed to it is called 'martyrdom'.
In the context of church history, from the time of the persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire, being a martyr indicates a person who is killed for maintaining his or her religious belief, ''knowing'' that this will almost certainly result in imminent death (though without intentionally seeking death). Christian martyrs sometimes declined to defend themselves at all, in what they see as an imitation of Jesus' willing sacrifice.
Usage of "martyr" is also not uncommon among Arab Christians (i.e. anyone killed in relation to Christianity or a Christian community, e.g. Pierre Amine Gemayel), indicating that the English word "martyr" may not actually be a proper equivalent of its commonly ascribed Arabic translation.
Though often religious in nature, martyrdom can be applied to a secular context as well. The term is sometimes applied to those who use violence, such as those who die for a nation's glory during wartime. It may also apply to nonviolent individuals who are killed or hurt in the struggle for independence, civil rights etc (eg. Mahatma Gandhi).
The word "martyr" is also used ironically in casual conversation to refer to someone who seeks attention or sympathy by exaggerating the impact upon himself of some deprivation or work.

Contents

Term

In religion

Judaism

Christianity

Martyrs before the Legalization of Christianity

Theological significance of martyrs

Martyred missionaries and converts after 312 AD

Persecution of dissenters and heretics

Martyrdom in the 20th century

Islam

Bahá'í Faith

Notes

References

See also

External links

Term

During the early Roman Empire, the independent cities of Asia Minor made efforts to reward benefactors for their services, and to promote further civic generosity by means of public acclamations, eulogistic honorific decrees were addressed to the Roman authorities and read in public places before an audience. Such commendations are usually referred to in epigraphic sources as ''martyriai''. Christians adopted the phrase "martyrs" in the "testimonies" for the act, suffering and self-sacrifice of the persecuted. The meaning that 'martyr' has today first appeared around 150 AD in Christian documents. The first instance is in the ''Martyrdom of Polycarp''.

In religion

Judaism

Martyrdom in Judaism is referred to by the Hebrew phrase Kiddush Hashem, meaning sanctification of God's name.
1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees recount numerous martyrdoms suffered by Jews resisting the Hellenizing of their Seleucid overlords, being executed for such crimes as observing the Sabbath, circumcising their children or refusing to eat pork or meat sacrificed to idols.
First and Second Maccabees arose from the Pharisaic tradition, from which Christianity later diverged.
The accounts of martyrs in these books influenced early Christianity's understanding of martyrs.
:But not long after the king sent a certain old man of Antioch, to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and of God:
:And to defile the temple that was in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympius: and that in Gazarim of Jupiter Hospitalis, according as they were that inhabited the place.
:And very bad was this invasion of evils and grievous to all.

:For the temple was full of the riot and revellings of the Gentiles: and of men lying with lewd women. And women thrust themselves of their accord into the holy places, and brought in things that were not lawful.
:The altar also was filled with unlawful things, which were forbidden by the laws.

:And neither were the sabbaths kept, nor the solemn days of the fathers observed, neither did any man plainly profess himself to be a Jew.
:But they were led by bitter constraint on the king's birthday to the sacrifices: and when the feast of Bacchus was kept, they were compelled to go about crowned with ivy in honour of Bacchus.
:And there went out a decree into the neighbouring cities of the Gentiles, by the suggestion of the Ptolemeans, that they also should act in like manner against the Jews, to oblige them to sacrifice:
:And whosoever would not conform themselves to the ways of the Gentiles, should be put to death: then was misery to be seen.
:For two women were accused to have circumcised their children: whom, when they had openly led about through the city with the infants hanging at their breasts, they threw down headlong from the walls.
:And others that had met together in caves that were near, and were keeping the sabbath day privately, being discovered by Philip, were burnt with fire, because they made a conscience to help themselves with their hands, by reason of the religious observance of the day.
A historical account by Rabbi Ephraim ben Yaakov (1132 - AD. 1200) describes Crusaders' massacres of Jews, including the massacre at Blois, where approximately forty Jews were killed following an accusation of ritual murder:
:"As they were led forth, they were told, 'You can save your lives if you will leave your religion and accept ours.' The Jews refused. They were beaten and tortured to make them accept the Christian religion, but still they refused. Rather, they encouraged each other to remain steadfast and die for the sanctification of God's Name." [1]
During the Spanish Inquisition, many of those executed were Jews who refused to convert to Christianity.
Specifically, they were cryptic Jews, who had pretended to adopt Christianity in an attempt to avoid persecution.

Christianity

Martyrs before the Legalization of Christianity

Other than Jesus, John the Baptist, and the Holy Innocents, Eastern and western liturgical Christians revere Saint Stephen as the first martyr, or ''protomartyr''. This term is also applied, with an appropriate description, to the first martyr of a given region: Saint Alban as the protomartyr of England or St. Francis Ferdinand de Capillas as the protomartyr of China.
During periods of persecution in early Christianity, Christians were crucified in the same manner as Roman political prisoners or fed to lions as a games spectacle.
Accounts of these martyrdoms are found in Eusebius of Caesarea's ''Ecclesiastical History'' and in various ''Acts of the Martyrs''.
Some accounts describe these deaths as reenactments of mythological scenes; The First Epistle of Clement recounts how Christian women were martyred:
:Through envy, those women, the Danaids and Dircae, being persecuted, after they had suffered terrible and unspeakable torments, finished the course of their faith with steadfastness, and though weak in body, received a noble reward.
The reenactment is clear for Dirce — she was killed by being tied to a wild bull. However, the Danaids' fate in Tartarus, of endlessly pouring water into a jug with holes, would not result in martyrdom. It has been suggested that the women, like the Danaids, were handed out to the victors in a footrace and therefore suffered rape prior to death.

Christians who were also Roman citizens were often beheaded; this was the fate of Saint Agnes and Saint Paul.
Although at all points Christians were in violation of the law for failure to worship the gods of the state, persecution was not consistent. In the Acts of Perpetua and Felicity, the raid to capture the Christians was not made to wipe out the Christians but explicitly to capture prisoners for a spectacle in the games; the capture of the patrician Perpetua was, in fact, an embarrassment, but her testimony made it impossible for the authorities to release her. Various Roman Emperors — Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian — ordered Christians to perform pagan sacrifices, but between the persecutions, Christians lived and worshipped unmolested. Orthodox Christian practice forbade the deliberate seeking out of martyrdom, but many Christians attempted to achieve martyrdom by turning themselves into the authorities, who did not always enforce the law.
Christians embraced their martyrdom:
:"Allow me to be eaten by the beasts—that is how I can reach God; I am God's wheat and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread of Christ.... Pray to Christ for me, that by these means I may become a sacrifice." —''Ignatius to the Romans'', Ignatius of Antioch.
The degree to which martyrdom might be invited while skirting the sin of suicide became a matter of debate among theologians. The ''Martyrdom of Polycarp'', for instance, carefully pointed out that Polycarp had not sought out martyrdom but been arrested; another man, Quintus, had voluntarily come forward and had apostatized, which the writer cites as a warning against seeking martyrdom.

Theological significance of martyrs

Martyrs were recognized as such because they preferred to die than to renounce their faith (i.e.apostatize). The Christian writer Tertullian (AD. 200) asserted that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church." The term ''martyr'' only slowly became identified with those who ''died'' for the faith; in the earlier centuries, it was often used for anyone persecuted, even those who survived, but in time, ''martyr'' came to indicate someone who died from persecution, whereas the term ''confessor'' was used for those whose sufferings had not been fatal.
The acts of the early Christian martyrs are important historical sources; for example, the ''Passio Sanctorum Scilitanorum'' is regarded as the oldest Christian text in Latin (text).
The names of martyrs were enrolled in martyrologies, and the Feast of All Saints originally commemorated specifically all martyrs. Christians also preserved the physical remains of martyrs as relics, and commemorated the specific days of their deaths; both these practices were noted in the death of St. Polycarp.
Roman Catholics^[2] and the Eastern Orthodox^[3] hold that those who witness to their Christian faith to the point of letting themselves be killed rather than renounce it are assured of salvation and access to heaven.
In the faith of these two traditions, which together represent the great majority of Christians, "Baptism of blood" brings about the same effects as "Baptism of water", namely, "By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin. In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam's sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God."^[4] Accordingly, Saint Augustine of Hippo commented: "He does an injury to a martyr who prays for him."^[5]
Even some who die without explicitly witnessing for Christ are considered to be martyrs. The Holy Innocents "are considered to be martyrs because they not only died for Christ but instead of Christ",^[6] "martyrs in fact though not in will."^[7] Somewhat similarly, Saint Maximilian Kolbe is also considered a martyr.^[8] He is one of the twentieth-century martyrs represented by statues over the Great West Door of Anglican Westminster Abbey, London.^[9]

Martyred missionaries and converts after 312 AD

There was a renewal of Christian martyrdom after Julian the Apostate took the Roman throne in 361. Julian opposed the Christian religion in the empire and attempted to re-establish paganism in the form of Neoplatonism as the state religion. Among others, John and Paul were martyred under Emperor Julian.
As the new religion expanded beyond the area of the derelict Roman Empire, the spread of Christianity entailed the spread of martyrdom. Martyrdom was suffered both by missionaries and by converts, for instance:

★ Rajden the First-Martyr, in the Persian empire, died 457.

★ Saint Boniface in Frisia, died 752.

★ Adalbert of Prague, the Baltic Prussians, died 997

★ Mikhail of Chernigov, the Mongols, died 1248.

★ Roque González de Santa Cruz, Paraguay, died 1628.

★ Isaac Jogues and companions in North America, died 1642 - 1649,

★ the Martyrs of Japan, died 1597

★ Pedro Calungsod, Guam, died 1672

★ the Martyrs of Korea, died 1839, 1846 and 1866, and

★ the Martyrs of Uganda, died 1885 and 1887.
Although a number of pagans were killed during the Northern Crusades and other violent campaigns aimed at imposing Christianity on non-Christian societies, these victims are normally not viewed within the context of martyrdom. Many Eastern Orthodox christians where also victims of these crusades as well as the Fourth Crusade.

Persecution of dissenters and heretics

In the High Middle Ages, many prominent cases of "martyrdom" had pronounced political overtones, as the Church used the concept to gain moral advantage in its ongoing struggle against the State. Some prominent examples include Thomas Becket (killed at the behest of King Henry II), Philip of Moscow (strangled on the orders of Ivan the Terrible), and the latter's son Tsarevich Demetrius (whose death was popularly attributed to Boris Godunov). Persecution of dissidents and the martyrdom that sometimes went with it (e.g., Albigensian Crusade) became institutionalised in the office of the inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church, and in the political systems of the State.
The violent clashes of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation resulted in a new wave of atrocities and executions that were branded as "martyrdoms" by one of the sides:

★ John Calvin, taking power in Geneva, authorized the death of Michael Servetus and others.

★ Henry VIII of England executed those who did not accept him as the head of the Church of England, including both the Catholic Thomas More and the Protestant William Tyndale.

★ The English Queen Mary I (who became known as Bloody Mary), when she had nearly three hundred Protestants tortured and killed (recorded in Foxe's Book of Martyrs) for refusing to denounce their reformist beliefs and for refusing to revert to Roman Catholicism.

★ The Martyrs of Gorcum were hanged "amid cruel mutilations" during the Dutch Revolt in the Netherlands.

★ In Eastern Europe, Catholics such as Melichar Grodecki, Štefan Pongrác, and Marek Križin were tried and executed by Protestants in 1619 in Košice, and John Sarkander in 1620 in Olomouc, while the Orthodox Patriarch Hermogenes was beaten and starved to death by the Catholic invaders of Moscow in 1612.

★ Puritan Massachusetts imposed the death penalty on Quaker missionaries, such as Mary Dyer.

Among the Orthodox, Patriarch Nikon's attempts to reform the Russian Orthodox Church led to the schism between it and the Old Believers, whose persecutions included execution. A peculiar form of martyrdom was the so-called "baptism by fire", a term which denotes the practice of mass self-immolations on the part of the Old Believers. Archpriest Avvakum and Boyarynya Morozova have been viewed as martyrs by the Old Believer community and as heretics by the official church.

Apart from the Old Believers, some other Christian and non-Christian sects originated in times of widespread persecution and martyrdom at the hands of other Christians trying to suppress their break-away sects. The Anabaptists, for instance, have embraced this part of their heritage to such an extent that Thieleman J. van Braght's book ''Martyrs Mirror'', which describes the deaths of Anabaptist Martyrs in the 16th and 17th century, is still widely owned and read in Mennonite and Amish households (see Anabaptist persecution for more).
In Latter-Day Saint belief, Joseph Smith, Jr. and Hyrum Smith are considered martyrs. The Smith brothers were viciously shot by an armed mob while in Carthage Jail in 1844. The Latter-day Saints themselves suffered many persecutions in Missouri, with several men, women and children suffering death at the hands of Missourian mobs. The most infamous incident occurred at Haun's Mill, which resulted in the death of 17 men and a nine year old boy. Persecution followed the Latter-day Saints as they headed out to the State of Deseret in 1845.

Martyrdom in the 20th century

The 20th century again saw large numbers of Christians martyred by non-Christians, in persecutions by political authorities that have antipathy directed towards particular faiths, or religion in general. believe that there were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in the first nineteen centuries combined:

★ The Turkish persecution of the Armenians during World War I.

★ Pope John Paul II canonized hundreds of martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, mostly priests and nuns shot by irregular leftist militias.

★ The persecution of Christians by the Communist authorities in the Soviet Union and early People's Republic of China. The Russian Orthodox Church in post-Soviet times termed many of those who died for this faith "New Martyrs", meaning that it was the second greatest persecution of Christians since the early centuries of the Christian era.

★ The Muslim persecution of Christians saw many New Martyrs created. The Taliban regime is known to have mounted a wave of persecutions. Many Christians died in southern Sudan during a long and bloody civil war with religious overtones.

★ the Cistercian Martyrs of Atlas, died 1996.
;Soviet Union
Main articles: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union


After the Russian Revolution, the sixth sector of the OGPU, led by Eugene Tuchkov, began arresting and executing bishops, priests, and devout worshippers, such as Metropolitan Veniamin in Petrograd in 1922 for refusing to accede to the demand to hand over church valuables (including sacred relics). Between 1917 and 1935, 130,000 Orthodox priests were arrested. Of these, 95,000 were put to death, executed by firing squad. Patriarch Tikhon anathematized the communist government, which further antagonized relations.
In 1959 Nikita Khrushchev initiated his own campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. By 1985 fewer than 7,000 churches remained active. It is estimated that 50,000 clergy were executed by the end of the Khrushchev era. ^[10] Many thousands of victims of persecution became recognized in a special canon of saints known as the "new martyrs and confessors of Russia", including the family of the last Russian Tsar (see Romanov sainthood for details).
;Fascist Regimes
During the reign of Adolf Hitler's National Socialism in Germany, and the Axis powers of World War II a large number of Christians, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant were martyred, most remain nameless. Amongst the martyrs known to us are Maximilian Kolbe, Paul Schneider, Edith Stein, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Dusty Miller.
;Commemoration
A chapel of modern martyrs is maintained in the Corona at Canterbury Cathedral. There are many churches to the "new martyrs" in Russia, including a large neo-Byzantine complex in Butovo, Moscow and the Cathedral "on the Blood" in Yekaterinburg which commemorates the spot where the Ipatiev House used to stand.

Islam

Main articles: Martyr (shahid)

In Arabic, a martyr is termed "shaheed" (literally, "witness"). The concept of the ''shaheed'' is discussed in the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad; the term does not appear in the Qur'an in the technical sense, but the later exegetical tradition has read it to mean martyr in the few passages that it does appear in. The first martyr in Islam was the old woman Sumayyah bint Khabbab[2], the first Muslim to die at the hands of the polytheists of Mecca (specifically, Abu Jahl). A famous person widely regarded as a martyr - indeed, an archetypal martyr for the Shia - is Husayn bin Ali, who died at the hands of the forces of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I at Karbala. The Shia commemorate this event each year at Aashurah.
Muslims who die in a legitimate ''jihad bis saif'' (''struggle with the sword'', or Islamic holy war) are typically considered ''shahid''. This usage became controversial in the late 20th century (due to the Islamic strictures against suicide), when it was sometimes applied to suicide bombers by various groups. There a huge controversy about the meaning of jihad in Islam, since Muhammad never claimed that suicide is equal to jihad; Jihad is an act of fighting for the Dar al Islam, either to defend it against an aggressor or to bring about its expansion. Where Muhammad explained, in hadith, that those who commit suicide are forbidden to even smell heaven. Many contend that these murders are contrary to the spirit of Islam.

Bahá'í Faith

Main articles: Persecution of Bahá'ís

In the Bahá'í Faith, a martyr is one who sacrifices his or her life in the service of humanity in the name of God.^[11] However, Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, discouraged the literal meaning of sacrificing one's life, and instead explained that martyrdom is devoting oneself to service to humanity.¹¹ `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son and appointed interpreter, explained that the truest form of martyrdom is a life-long sacrifice to serve humanity in the name of God.¹¹ While the Bahá'í Faith exalts the station of its martyrs, martyrdom is not something that Bahá'ís are encouraged to pursue; instead one is urged to protect one's life.^[12]
During the history of the Bahá'í Faith there are many who are considered martyrs. The Bahá'í Faith grew out of a separate religion, Bábism, which Bahá'ís see as part of their own history. In Bábism, martyrdom had the literal meaning of sacrificing one's life and was seen as a public declaration of sincerity.^[13]
During the 1840s and 1850s the Báb claimed that he was the return of the Mahdi and gained a strong following.^[14] The Persian clergy tried to stop the spread of the Bábí movement by denouncing the Bábís as apostates; these denouncements led to public executions of the Bábís, troop engagements against the Bábís, and an extensive pogrom where thousands of Bábís were killed.¹⁴ In addition, the Báb himself was publicly executed in 1850.¹⁴ The Bábís that were killed during these times are seen as martyrs by Bahá'ís, and the date of execution of the Báb, who Bahá'ís see as a Manifestation of God equal to that of Bahá'u'lláh, is considered a holy day in the Bahá'í calendar, as the ''Martyrdom of the Báb''.^13[15] Also among the Bábí executions was the poetess Táhirih, who Bahá'ís consider the first woman suffrage martyr.^[16]
After Bahá'u'lláh abstracted the meaning of martyrdom, gave it a new meaning, and abolished holy war, the Bábís who became Bahá'ís stopped seeking martyrdom as a public declaration of sincerity.¹¹ However, Bahá'ís continue to be persecuted in predominantly Muslim countries, especially in Iran where over 200 Bahá'ís were executed between 1978 and 1998.^[17] Among these executions include two sets of nine people who were part of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Iran, the national governing body of the Bahá'ís, who were arrested and killed only for their religious beliefs.^[18] The people who are killed just because they are Bahá'ís are also considered martyrs.^[19][20]

Notes

1. See e.g. Alison A. Trites, ''The New Testament Concept of Witness'', ISBN 9780521609340.
2. "The baptism of blood (''baptismus sanguinis'') is the obtaining of the grace of justification by suffering martyrdom for the faith of Christ. ... martyrdom is believed to remit all sin and all punishment due to sin" (''Baptism'' in Catholic Encyclopedia).
3. "If any man receive not Baptism, he hath not salvation; except only Martyrs, who even without the water receive the kingdom. For when the Saviour, in redeeming the world by His Cross, was pierced in the side, He shed forth blood and water; that men, living in times of peace, might be baptized in water, and, in times of persecution, in their own blood. For martyrdom also the Saviour is wont to call a baptism, saying, Can ye drink the cup which I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"(Cyril of Jerusalem quoted in Is There Salvation Outside of Orthodoxy?)
4. ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', 1263
5. Tr. lxxiv in Ioannem, quoted in ''Baptism'' in Catholic Encyclopedia
6. Feast of the Holy Innocents
7. Anglican site
8.
9. [http://www.westminster-abbey.org/tour/martyrs/1_mk.htm
10. Ostling, Richard. "Cross meets Kremlin" TIME Magazine. June 24, 2001. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,150718,00.html
11. Dying for God: Martyrdom in the Shii and Babi Religions, , Jonah, Winters, M.A. Thesis, ,
12. The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 4: Mazra'ih & Bahji 877-92, , Adib, Taherzadeh, George Ronald, 1987, ISBN 0853982708
13. Dying for God: Martyrdom in the Shii and Babi Religions, , Jonah, Winters, M.A. Thesis, ,
14. The Specter of Ideological Genocide: The Bahá'ís of Iran, , Friedrich W., Affolter, War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, 2005
15. The Badi Calendar National Spiritual Assembly of the United States
16. God Passes By, , Shoghi, Effendi, Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1944, ISBN 0877430209
17. Discrimination against religious minorities in Iran International Federation for Human Rights
18. A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Bahá'ís of Iran, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, , , Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, ,
19. Bahais Mourn Iranian Jailed for His Faith
20. A Dress for Mona

References

★ ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' "Martyrs"

★ Foster, Claude R. jr.: Paul Schneider, the Buchenwald apostle : a Christian martyr in Nazi Germany ; a sourcebook on the German Church struggle; Westchester, Pennsylvania: SSI Bookstore, West Chester University, 1995; ISBN 1-887732-01-2

See also

★ Christian anarchism

★ Christian martyrs
:
★ Carthusian Martyrs
:
★ Chinese Martyrs - Chinese Christian Martyrs
:
★ Martyrs of cordoba - 9th century
:
★ Marian martyr - Protestants martyred under Queen Mary I of England
:
★ Martyrs of Thailand
:
★ Thomasian Martyrs - Japan & Vietnam Christian Martyrs

★ Foxe's Book of Martyrs - 1653 book of Christian martyrdom stories, also spelled "Fox".

★ History of Christianity - Andrew & Peter (brothers & Disciples), Stephen, Paul, et al.

★ Martyr (shahid) - Islam (with controversy, also recently used to describe suicide attacks on others)

★ Martyrology - Christian

★ Martyrology (Judaism)

★ Martyrs of Moody Bible Institute

★ Oxford martyrs

★ Christian pacifism

★ Religious persecution

★ Silence (novel)

★ Voice of the martyrs - international organization re current Christian persecution and martyrdom

External links

★ ''Fox's Book of Martyrs'' 16th century classic book, accounts of martyrdoms, full text.