Martyrdom
To witness with one's blood — the supreme likeness to Christ
Martyrdom is witness to Christ unto death, regarded as the highest conformity to him. The book of Acts records Stephen's death, Ignatius of Antioch wrote of his longing to bear witness, and the Martyrdom of Polycarp recounts an early martyr's faithfulness. The Greek root of the word means 'witness.' Across Christian traditions, those who die rather than deny Christ are honored as sharing most fully in his own self-offering.
How it traveled
- MatthewAntioch · 80applies
- ActsRome · 84explains
- RevelationPatmos · 100explains
- The Martyrdom of PolycarpSmyrna · 155explains
- Scorpiace.— · 220explains
- Apology.— · 220explains
- The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras.— · 220explains
- The Instructions of Commodianus.— · 220redefines
- The Epistles of Cyprian.Carthage · 258explains
- Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died— · 325explains
- The Church History of EusebiusCaesarea · 339explains
- The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and EusebiusCaesarea · 339explains
- Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.)Alexandria · 373explains
- The LettersCaesarea (Cappadocia) · 379explains
- The Catechetical Lectures of S. CyrilJerusalem · 386explains
- Select Orations of Saint Gregory NazianzenNazianzus · 390explains
- Selections from the Letters of St. AmbroseMilan · 397explains
- Concerning VirginsMilan · 397explains
- A Commentary on the Acts of the ApostlesConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and ThessaloniansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Homilies on First CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the RomansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407applies
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and PhilemonConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies on the Statues to the People of AntiochConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Homilies on Second CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the HebrewsConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and EphesiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious MenBethlehem · 420explains
- The Letters of St. JeromeBethlehem · 420explains
- Expositions on the Book of PsalmsHippo Regius · 430explains
- City of GodHippo Regius · 430explains
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · 430explains
- Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. JohnHippo Regius · 430explains
- Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the DonatistHippo Regius · 430applies
- The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates ScholasticusConstantinople (Istanbul) · 439explains
- The Ecclesiastical History of SozomenConstantinople (Istanbul) · 450explains
- The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of TheodoretCyrrhus · 458explains
- Seventeen Occasional SermonsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- A History of the Work of RedemptionNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
Letters and Papers from Prison · Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Pseud-Irenæus. [a.d. 177.] This letter should have been made a preface to the works of Irenæus, or at least an appendix. It is worthy of his great name; “the finest thing of the kind in all antiquity
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
48. “And Christ was glorified greatly in those who had formerly denied him, for, contrary to the expectation of the heathen, they confessed. For they were examined by themselves, as about to be set fr
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The Life and Passion of Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr. By Pontius the Deacon. · Cyprian
The Life and Passion of Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr. By Pontius the Deacon. ———————————— 1. Although Cyprian, the devout priest 2. At what point, then, shall I begin,—from what direction shall I
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Book V · Constitutions of the Holy Apostles
I. If any Christian, on account of the name of Christ, and love and faith towards God, be condemned by the ungodly to the games, to the beasts, or to the mines, do not ye overlook him; but send to him
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Epistle to the Romans: Shorter and Longer Versions · Ignatius of Antioch
I write to the Churches, and impress on them all, that I shall willingly die for God, unless ye hinder me. I beseech of you not to show an unseasonable good-will towards me. Suffer me to become food f
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
16. And when they failed to persuade him, they uttered dreadful words, and thrust him down with violence, so that as he descended from the carriage he lacerated his shin. But without turning round, he
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
30. But when the pile was ready, taking off all his upper garments, and loosing his girdle, he attempted also to remove his shoes, although he had never before done this, because of the effort which e
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
Chapter IV. 1. Maximinus Cæsar having come at that time into the government, as if to manifest to all the evidences of his reborn enmity against God, and of his impiety, armed himself for persecution
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
Chapter VIII. 1. Up to the sixth year the storm had been incessantly raging against us. Before this time there had been a very large number of confessors of religion in the so-called Porphyry quarry
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
Chapter XIII. 1. The seventh year of our conflict was completed; and the hostile measures which 2. Thereupon, being appointed superintendent of the mines, he divided the band of confessors as if by
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The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas. · Ethical
Chapter VI.—Argument. From the Prison They are Led Forth with Joy into the Amphitheatre, Especially Perpetua and Felicitas. All Refuse to Put on Profane Garments. They are Scourged, They are Thrown to
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The Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs. · The Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs
The Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs. ———————————— When Præsens, for the second time, and Claudianus were the consuls, on the seventeenth day of July, at Carthage, there were set in the judgment-hal
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The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
Chapter VII. 1. For whereas we are composed of two distinct natures, I mean of body and spirit, of which the one is visible to all, the other invisible, against both these natures two kinds of barbar
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Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious Men · Jerome
Chapter XVII. Polycarp disciple of the apostle John and by him ordained bishop of Smyrna was chief of all Asia, where he saw and had as teachers some of the apostles and of those who had seen the Lor
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The Genuine Acts of Peter. ———————————— Were all the limbs of my body to be turned into tongues, and all the joints of my limbs to utter articulate sounds, it would noways be sufficient to express w
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A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles · John Chrysostom
Edd. from E. οὕτω δὲ αὐτῷ λέγει φανῆναι, ὥς που διέξεισιν, ἵνα κἂν οὕτω δέξωνται τὸν λόγον. “And Stephen describes Christ as appearing to Him in this manner, as one somewhere relates at large, in orde
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Acts of Paul and Thecla. · Apocrypha of the New Testament
Acts of Paul and Thecla. ———————————— As Paul was going up to Iconium after the flight from Antioch, his fellow-travellers were Demas and Ermogenes, full of hypocrisy; and they were importunate with
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Acts of Sharbil, Who Was a Priest of Idols, and Was Converted to the Confession of Christianity in Christ. · Memoirs of Edessa and Other Ancient Syriac Documents
Further, the Martyrdom of Barsamya, In the year four hundred and sixteen of the kingdom of the Greeks, that is the fifteenth year of the reign of the sovereign ruler, our lord, Trajan Cæsar, in the c
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Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. · Apocrypha of the New Testament
Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. ———————————— It came to pass, after Paul went out of the island Gaudomeleta, Having therefore made an assembly against Paul, and having considered many pro
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up Martyrdom. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- Dietrich BonhoefferLetters and Papers from Prison(1951)View on Amazon→