Martyrs

Throughout the history of the Church there has been much persecution. Starting as far back as the martydom of Steven (Acts 7:54-8:3) and Christ’s disciples. Even today in many countries (China, Cuba, Egypt,Iran, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, etc.), most of which are Muslim, there is much persecution of Christians. Today we may think we are persecuted, but our persecution pales greatly in comparison to these others. They are tortured and put to death in the cruelest of ways. There is no freedom of religion like we have. Often that is something we take for granted.

The martyrs in the past were godly men and women who were willing to set aside their lives for the sake of Christ. We must remember also that they weren’t just shot in the head and that was it. They withstood cruel, cruel torture of the worst kind. But by God’s grace they stood firm.

I’ll just mention a couple of them here that Eusebius describes in his Church History and what tortures they endured.

                                           Polycarp

Polycarp lived from 70 – 155A.D. and was said to be a pupil of the Apostle John. He was the Bishop of Smyrna and spent a lot of his time combatting heresy.

The emperors of Rome unleashed bitter attacks against the Christians during Polycarp’s life. One day as he was about to have lunch, Roman guards knocked on his door. They brought the message that Polycarp was to stand before the proconsul and be tortured and killed unless he proclaimed Caesar to be Lord. On hearing this Polycarp invited them in for lunch. He served them and was very hospitible. He had had a dream that this would happen the night before. He knew that it was the Lord’s will for him to be burned at the stake so he offered no resistance. He went willingly. Though his friends begged him to escape he stayed in the city. He was arrested on the charge of being a Christian — a member of a politically dangerous cult whose rapid growth needed to be stopped.(The emperors of Rome saw Christianity as a huge threat.) Amidst an angry mob, the Roman proconsul took pity on such a gentle old man and urged Polycarp to proclaim, “Caesar is Lord”. If only Polycarp would make this declaration and offer a small pinch of incense to Caesar’s statue he would escape torture and death. To this Polycarp responded, “Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” He was then burned at the stake. The story goes that Polycarp refused to be tied to the stake so they left him unbound. And yet he still stood there showing the strength of Christ in him. To make sure that he was dead the guard stabbed him with a spear. It is said that Polycarp died because of the spear, not the fire and that once stabbed so much blood poured from hid body that it quenched the flames. There were numerous witnessess who testified to that fact.

And thus Polycarp was martyred for the truth.             

                                      Germanicus

Not much is known about who Germanicus was. All that has been recorded is his martyrdom.

He was thrown into a stadium filled with wild beasts. Eusebius says, “He was so overcome with the grace and strenght of God that instead of running, he lured the beasts toward him so that he might sooner be freed from their unrighteous and lawless life.”

He was then torn to shreds by the beasts standing firm for the sake of Christ.

On seeing this happen to Germanicus some of the Christians were struck with cowardice and denied Christ. Some of these Christians though later repented and were martyred.

                                             Tortures

                                     

Here is a section from Eusebius’s Church History that describes some of the tortures that the early Christians went through under the Roman emperors.

“For they say that the bystanders were struck with amazement when they saw them lacerated with scourges even to the inmost vains and arteries, so that the hidden inward parts of the body, both their bowels and their members, were exposed to view; and then laid upon sea-shells and certain pointed spits, and subjected to every kind of punishment and torture, and finnaly thrown as food to wild beasts.”

The Romans were cruel people and invented numerous ways of torturing people. Some were scraped to death with shells. It was slow and painful. Others were tied to elephants tusks, mauled and smashed to death. Others were smothered. They would be placed under an iron slab. More and more weight would be added until eventually the person was crushed to death. Some would be dipped in tar and set alight. This was one of Nero’s favourite “tricks”.

All of these were cruel tortures, but the early Christian martyrs were not at all daunted. They relied on Christ to be their strength. 

Eusebius describes all of these martyrs as being victorious over the world in the greatest way. The world could do absolutely nothing to make them deny Christ. These martyrs feared God more than man. They obeyed God’s command: “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”(Matt.10:28 NIV) They relied on Christ to bring them through these tortures and into paradise.

What I find most amazing is that these men and women showed no fear whatsoever. They were courageous and bold. God gave them strength, comforted their souls and gave them peace. There was no fear of man in them. They went willingly to die for Christ just as Christ went willingly to die for them. What an honour to be given the privelage to die for Christ and be counted by God as worthy to do so!

So the question is then: Are we ready and willing to die for Christ? If persecution comes on us and we are facing death will we willingly lay down our lives? Will we trust God enough to give us the strength? We cannot realy on ourselves. If we do we will surely falter. It is easy to say now that we will never deny Christ, but then we are not being persecuted. Just think of Peter. He denied Christ three times and he was even warned that he would! (Matt. 26: 31-35;69-75, Mark 14:27-31 ;66-72, Luke 22:54-62, John 13:31-38; 18:15-27). 

Now most likely persecution will not come on us in the way it did in history, but there are other things that we need to lay aside other than our lives. For example our reputation. Are we even willing to lay that aside for the sake of Christ? Are we willing to have our name slandered for Christ’s sake?

Thanks be to God for raising up these men and women to be salt and light to the nations. We must be encouraged by them and strive to be bold and courageous in our Christian walk as they were.

There are many places where you can read about martyrs on the web plus a lot of great books. A couple books that I would recommend are Foxe’s Book of Martyrs which you can read here: http://www.ccel.org/f/foxe/martyrs/home.html
and also Eusebius’s Church History.

    

Faith of Our Fathers – The Athenasian Creed

This is by far the largest of all the creeds and is vitally important to our understanding of the Trinity which is what the Athenasian Creed explains. It is attributed of course to St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, who lived in the 4th century A.D. It was designed to overcome Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, and Macedonianism. You can look those up yourself to see what they are . However St. Athenasius might not have written this creed. There are some other possibilities. Never-the-less it is a great creed:

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic* faith;  Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance.  For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.  So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; So are we forbidden by the catholic* religion to say: There are three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after another; none is greater, or less than another. But the whole three persons are co-eternal, and co-equal. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. 

 Furthermore is it necessary to everlasting salvation than he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.  God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.  For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead; He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; And shall give account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. 

This is the catholic* faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

*please note that the term “catholic” means “universal” and does not refer to the Roman Catholic Church.

Faith of Our Fathers – The Definition of Chalcedon

The Definition of Chalcedon was written at the Fourth Ecumenical Council in A.D. 451. Ecumenical means that there were representitive bishops from all around Europe. It was written to show who Jesus really was. Also there were many heretics who claimed that God was only man and others that said he was only “a god”. The Definition of Chalcedon proves that Christ was fully God and fully man. Although that can never be fully explained this creed does a good job:

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us. Amen.