Would Martyrs' Deaths Ignite Our Hearts with Courage or Hatred?

In February 2015, 21 Christian construction workers sat on a beach in Libya. Across the bay stood a silent hotel, a reminder of a different age. Clad in orange jumpsuits, with hoods over their heads, they heard the leader of their captors speak in English to the camera, declaring a death sentence upon them. As so many martyrs before them, they were offered the chance to renounce their faith in Christ, but they refused to do so. On the 12th of February, the footage was released to a horrified world.

These martyrs, 20 Egyptians and 1 Ghanian were promptly canonised by the Coptic Church. Much later, with the power of IS broken in Libya, Pope Francis announced his intention that the 21 Martyrs of Libya (as they are now known) be remembered in the calendar of the Roman Church. This summer, the General Synod of the Church of England will consider this too. Many, however, will wonder whether this is wise. In a world where religious tensions still dominate the news and where the deaths of innocent people are used as political capital, does remembering this atrocity not simply add fuel to the fire? Is there a danger that we fixate on the perpetrators (and people we associate with them), rather than the martyrs? Perhaps some will look to the way in which all Jews have been blamed en masse for the death of Jesus Christ in the terrible history of antisemitism as an example of this.

Christians have always remembered martyrs. In general, the focus has remained on the martyrs themselves, with the identity of their oppressors largely forgotten. With the threat of death looming over him, Paul reminded the Church in Philippi that ‘to live is Christ and to die is gain’ (Phil 1.21). This was no glorification of death, or hatred of the world, but a desire to be faithful whatever the cost. At no point does Paul characterise his captors as enemies. When Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the Church in Rome whilst being transported to his death, he describes his captors as ‘leopards’ intent on causing him harm, but at no point does he identify them or invite his readers to be afraid of them (or people they think are like them).

Some of the earliest Christians in Antioch found great inspiration in the Maccabean fanfiction known as 4 Maccabees. I don’t recommend reading it: it is so violent it makes Game of Thrones look like Peppa Pig. Particularly galling is the execution of seven Jewish martyr brothers by Seleucid Greek soldiers. No detail is too graphic to be remembered. However, this popular text (strangely more popular among Christians than Jews) did not lead early Christians to despise Greek culture. Far from it. Indeed, 4 Maccabees itself is full of Greek philosophy and the latest Greek literary style.

It is possible to remember the noble army of martyrs who gave their lives proclaiming that Jesus died and rose without fixating upon the killers, or extending the blame for their deaths to others.

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Ben Sargent is Vicar of New Forest Edge Churches: Bransgore, Burley, Hinton Admiral, Sopley and Thorney Hill & Member of the Church of England General Synod. He has written various articles and some of his books published by Latimer can be found here.

Views expressed in blogs published by the Latimer Trust are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Latimer Trust.