Andrew Marcec » Martyrdom

Martyrdom

Oct 28, 2009 | No Comments

martyr

Though not always religious, a martyr is someone who has suffered intense persecution, and normally dies because of their beliefs. Granted religious martyrs seem to be the only association with the word due to widespread religious beliefs, there are several that everyone knows that are considered martyrs to this very day, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi are just a few.

However death was not always intended for the martyr. Literally translating to “witness”, the martyr was usually heavily beaten and tortured before questioning, so as to retrieve the sought information faster. It was when Christianity intervened that it took on the meaning it has today.

During the time that Christians were persecuted by the Romans a martyr became someone who knew they were going to die for their beliefs. Many times the belief in Christians was that of not fight against their captors, but turning a cold shoulder and becoming a reflection of the actions of Christ and his willing sacrifice.

All religions have martyrs though, not just Christianity.

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The Islamic martyrs, or shahid, refers to someone who is present as a witness. When the word is taken in reference to the Qur’an they are seen as on who bears witness to the truth. So long as the martyr is without sin in their actions before their death a martyr can be someone who presided of a financial transaction or even bearing witness to someone else’s righteousness. So long as they believed in the cause.

In Judaism it is simply the act of Kiddush Hashem, or the “satisfaction of God’s name” through public dedication to Jewish practice.

So what makes the Christian martyrs the most well known version?

It’s simple, the Christian martyr is a very gruesome one. It was also known as the “baptism of blood”, and the person killed was normally put to death by stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake, or other forms of torture. What was left of them after they had died was normally taken and praised as a relic. This could be anything from parts of the cross they hung on to bodily appendages.

The first known Christian martyr was St. Stephen who was stoned to death for his faith.

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There have been many, many other martyrs over the years, and people are still martyred everyday. Just recently in North Korean a woman, Ri Hyon Ok was executed for distributing bibles.

See a list of martyrs [here].

Source:

[Wiki]