“The
Blood of
Christians Is
Seed”.
Tertullian, a second-century Church Father,
expressed a profound and enduring reality when
he said, “The blood of Christians is seed.” As
he looked beyond the suffering of the early
Christian martyrs, he could see that their
brutal deaths were not in vain. They would be
like the mustard seed spoken of by Jesus
(Matthew 13:31). From their sacrifice, the
kingdom of God would blossom, strengthening
the church and the faith of countless
Christian believers.
Nearly two thousand years later, John Paul II
made a similar observation. “Be certain of
this,” he said. “The blood of martyrs is in
the church a force for renewal and of unity.”
His words were contained in a 1996 message to
the Trappist monks worldwide in response to
the slaying of seven monks by a militant
Islamic group in Algeria.
Since the resurrection of Jesus, Christians
have witnessed boldly to their faith in him as
the Son of God. Millions of men and women have
willingly suffered and died rather than deny
their Savior. They believed that in death,
they were not losers but victors, for “the
sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory that is to be
revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).
Reflecting this truth, Clement of Alexandria
wrote: “Martyrdom is fullness, not
because it finishes a human life but because
it brings love to the fullest point.” The
night before the German Lutheran pastor
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was to be executed by the
Nazis, he told another prisoner: “This is the
end – but for me, the beginning of life.”
Anticipating his murder in Tibet in 1949,
Maurice Tornay declared, “When we die, we have
conquered.”
A life of witness
The Christian calling is to a life of martyria,
which means “witness.” The word was first used
by Christians to describe a life lived in
conformity to Christ, in imitation of his
holiness and obedience to the Father. However,
over time the meaning was narrowed to denote
“red” martyrdom or the shedding of one's
blood, as Christ had done on the cross.
Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the
truth of the faith: it means bearing witness
even unto death.
The risk of martyrdom has always accompanied
the proclamation of the gospel. Stephen, the
first martyr, was stoned because his preaching
and testimony to Jesus as the Son of God
angered some of the Jews (Acts 6:8–8:1). Luke
the evangelist tells us that on “that day a
great persecution arose against the church in
Jerusalem” (Luke 8:1). Peter the apostle was
crucified head downward during the reign of
the emperor Nero in Rome (probably in A.D.
64), where he had gone to spread the gospel.
Church historians believe that Paul the
apostle was also in Rome when he was beheaded
several years later.
A wave of persecution
Following Nero, emperors of the pagan Roman
Empire unleashed a series of official
persecutions that reached their height at the
beginning of the fourth century. Religions
other than the state religion of the empire
were tolerated. However, when Christians
refused to offer sacrifice or pay homage to
Roman emperors who claimed to be divine, many
of them were beheaded, burned, or made the
sport of wild beasts in the arena.
Martyrs young and old attested to Christ
living in them as they imitated him in death.
Ignatius of Antioch, who was martyred in 107,
wrote that persecuted believers are “with the
help of Christ, to run to death, to imitate
his passion.” Just before Felicity was
to face the wild beasts in the arena in
Carthage early in the third century, she told
her jailer: “Another will be in me, who will
suffer for me because I also am about to
suffer for him.”
The Roman persecutions came to an end in 313
through an edict issued by the emperor
Constantine, and Christianity flourished.
Moreover, it grew into a force that shaped the
civilization and moral life of the Western
world. However, in many countries, Christian
missionaries continued to be martyred, along
with many indigenous people who had been
converted. For example, in 1597, native
converts were executed in Nagasaki, Japan, and
thousands of Japanese believers were killed
throughout the seventeenth century. In the
1640s, Jesuit priests and Christian Hurons
were killed by the Iroquois in North
America.
Modern challenges to
Christianity
In the last few centuries, tremendous social
and political upheavals have resulted in a
ruthless wave of martyrdom in lands all around
the globe. Thousands of Christians have been
killed because their faith conflicted directly
with the political leaders in power.
Unfortunately, in many places around the world
today, it is considered a crime to be a
Christian. Freedom of religion and basic human
rights are denied in some countries with
totalitarian governments and brutally
repressive regimes.
In addition, as the churches have responded
to the gospel call to protect the rights of
the poor, uphold the sanctity of life, and
promote just economic practices, Christians
have often found themselves involved in social
or political actions. Sometimes these actions
have cost them their lives.
A Christian martyr is someone who has
willingly died for refusing to deny the faith
or perform an act inconsistent with Christian
faith or morals, typically at the hands of
someone with a hatred for Christianity. In
contemporary times, it is sometimes difficult
to determine precisely what factors – ethnic
animosities, political ideologies, economic
advantage, or hatred for religious faith –
motivated those who were responsible for these
deaths. Churches worldwide cherish the
testimony of all believers who, by their deeds
in life and sacrifice in death, give
courageous witness to Christ and his
truth.
In 2000, John Paul II gathered leaders from
many Christian denominations at the ancient
Colosseum in Rome to celebrate the witness of
the martyrs. “The example of the heroic
witnesses to the faith is truly precious for
all Christians,” he reminded them. “It is a
heritage that speaks more powerfully than all
the causes of division. The ecumenism of the
martyrs and the witnesses of the faith are the
most convincing of all. To the Christians of
the twenty-first century, this shows the path
to unity.”
The global nature of
martyrdom
Recent studies have opened a window on the
vast number of martyrs of the past century.
The stories it has thus far been able to
document represent only a fraction of the
actual number of Christians martyred in the
twentieth century. Many of these martyrs were
members of local churches, communities, or
families who suffered collectively for their
loyalty to Christ and to the gospel. In the
Soviet Union alone, it is estimated that over
one million Christians went to their deaths,
many of whom will remain nameless. Even today
Christians are still persecuted.
The first years of the new millennium have
already produced considerable testimony about
Christians of various denominations martyred
in countries such as China, the Sudan,
Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, India, and
Colombia.
Not to be forgotten
During Lent 2000, John Paul II asked Cardinal
Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, who spent
thirteen years in a Vietnamese prison – nine
of them in solitary confinement – to present
meditations based on his own
experiences.
The cardinal related that, when he was in
prison, the police who were interrogating him
provided sheets of paper so that he could
write answers to their questions. Some of this
paper he was able to keep secretly for
himself. “So, little by little,” he explained,
“I managed to make a tiny notebook. Day by
day, I was able to write in Latin the more
than three hundred sentences of Sacred
Scripture that I recalled from memory. The
Word of God, thus reconstructed ... was my
precious jewel-case from which I drew strength
and nourishment” (Testimony of Hope,
2000, Pauline Books, pp. 62-63).
At this very moment, many of our brothers and
sisters are experiencing the same
discrimination, suffering, and persecution that
Cardinal Van Thuan endured. Some are also dying
for witnessing to their faith in Christ. Let us
remember that, in the body of Christ, “if one
member suffers, all suffer together” (1
Corinthians 12:26). May we speak out and work in
their defense, and may we lift up these
Christians in prayer, asking for our Father's
mercy on them. May we help sustain them through
our constant intercession. The witness of the
martyrs – past and present – must not be
forgotten.
Jeanne
Kun is a noted author and a senior woman
leader in the Word
of
Life Community, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
USA. This article excerpted from Jeanne's
book, Even Unto Death: Wisdom from
Modern Martyrs, published by The Word
Among Us Press. Copyright (c) 2002 by Jeanne
Kun. Used with permission.
