Why are people martyred

Every year now it probably should go down. So it's probably decreasing year by year right now, but the method is not exact enough to [make those adjustments], so I've just kept it at , the last couple of years but I'm likely going to have to lower it unless something comes to our attention. And the number of Christians who are killed each year because they are Christians is more likely to be in that order of magnitude, according to Professor Thomas Schirrmacher from the International Society for Human Rights.

It has not been researched and all experts in this area are very hesitant to give a figure," he says. But to some extent this number crunching is besides the point for author John Allen. They are often poor. They often belong to ethnic, linguistic and cultural minorities.

And they are often at risk. So how widespread is anti-Christian violence? But how do they reach that figure of one million? Over 10 years, that averages out at 90, per year. In her book Virgin Martyrs , author Karen A. Winstead explains the notion of female saints and virgin martyrs. One subject of particular interest is a painting of Mary cradling baby Jesus and eleven female saints are gathered around them. Of the eleven women shown, at least nine endured great suffering in order to uphold their personal convictions of Christianity.

For example Saints Margaret and Cecilia were boiled; Agnes was burned; Katherine was mangled by spiked wheels; Agatha and Barbara had their breasts torn off; Apollonia had her teeth pulled out; Lucy gouged her own eyes out in order to deter an admirer; and Saint Ursula was butchered.

Each of these women's pain and suffering is depicted in this portrait through objects and symbols either on their clothing or in their hands. These examples demonstrate the association between brutality, sexual purity, endurance of brutality and the virtues of female sainthood. In each case, a pagan fell in love with a Christian saint, attempted to woo her and, after discovering that she would not comply, tortured the woman. This not only emphasizes the purity of the female martyr, but also the stresses the sexual obsession and frustration of the male pagan figure.

In this case, human bloodshed could be considered sacred. On the other hand, the gender and power implications of this issue are not as supportive of the female figure.

It seems that female saints and martyrs are held to different standards than male saints, because the importance of males' virginity is not as emphasized in throughout the many accounts of martyrdom.

Click here for more on Christian saints and the implications of saintly power. Protestants and Martyrdom. The Anabaptists re-baptizers , so-named because they believed only in adult baptism and hence re-baptized new adult members, called for a complete separation between church and state.

Many Anabaptists also called for a return to the simplicity of the apostolic era, refused to pay taxes or serve in the military, and advocated separation from the secular world.

The sixteenth-century Anabaptist movement was severely repressed by both Protestant and Catholic authorities. In general, the Protestant movement denied the intermediary power of saints and the efficacy of martyrs' relics.

Groups like the Anabaptists and the English Puritans saw themselves as set apart from the world. Therefore, they regarded all members as saints, and had no hierarchy of sanctity.

Nevertheless, Anabaptists collected stories of their martyrs and preserved them as a witness for the faith. Like Perpetua, she was a young married woman who gave birth in prison.

Like Perpetua, she saw her martyrdom as an imitation of Christ's martyrdom and a requirement for her faith. The language, if not the ritual veneration, of martyrdom, thus continued to provide a powerful model for Protestant believers. Testament Written to Jannekin my own dearest daughter, Antwerp The true love of God and wisdom of the Father strengthen you in virtue my dearest child. I, who am imprisoned and bound here for the Lord's sake, can help you in no other way; I had to leave your father for the Lord's sake, and could keep him only for a short time.

We were permitted to live together only half a year, after which we were apprehended because we sought the salvation of our souls. They took him from me, not knowing my condition, and I had to remain in imprisonment, and see him go before me; and it was a great grief to him, that I had to remain here in prison. And now that I have abided the time, and borne you under my heart with great sorrow for nine months, and given birth to you here in prison, in great pain, they have taken you from me.

Here I lie, expecting death every morning, and shall now soon follow your dear father. And I your dear mother, write you, my dearest daughter, something for a remembrance, that you will thereby remember your dear father and mother. Since I am now delivered up to death, and must leave you here alone, I must through these lines cause you to remember, that when you have attained your understanding, you endeavor to fear God, and see and examine why and for whose name we both died; and be not ashamed to confess us before the world, for you must know that it is not for the sake of any evil.

Hence, be not ashamed of us; it is the way which the prophets and the apostles went, and the narrow way which leads into eternal life, for there shall no other way be found by which to be saved. Hence, my young lamb, for whose sake I still have, and have had, great sorrow, seek, when you have attained your understanding, this narrow way, though there is sometimes much danger in it, according to the flesh, as we may see and read, if we diligently examine and read the Scriptures, that much is said concerning the cross of Christ.

And there are many in this world who are enemies of the cross, who seek to be free from it among the world, and to escape it. But, my dear child, if we would with Christ seek and inherit salvation, we must also help bear His cross; and this is the cross which He would have us bear; to follow his footsteps, and to help bear His reproach, for Christ Himself says, 'Ye shall be persecuted, killed, and dispersed for my name's sake.

As I am now soon to offer up my sacrifice, by the help of the Lord, I leave you this:. Let it be your glory, that we did not die for any evil doing, and strive do to likewise, though they should also seek to kill you. And on no account cease to love God above all, for no one can prevent you from fearing God.

If you follow that which is good, and seek peace, and pursue it, you shall receive the crown of eternal life; this crown I wish you and the crucified, bleeding, naked, despised, rejected, and slain Jesus Christ for your bridegroom.

Source: Hans J. Hillebrand, ed. The Protestant Reformation. New York: Harper Books, Cunningham, Lawrence S. The Meaning of Saints. Harper and Row Publishers, San Francisco, Polycarp and St. Catholic online saints The Murder of Thomas Becket. PBS online. Catholic Saints Online: Perpetua. Holy Innocents as a prototype of martyrdom St. Early Martyrs: Saints Polycarp and Perpetua. Martyrdom and Power. Elizabeth , a Flemish Protestant Martyr.

Christians were not alone in their admiration of those willing to die for their principles. There was, however, a striking difference between Socrates and those martyred in the arenas. The philosopher hoped for, but was not sure of, an afterlife. The martyr, however, was very certain of an afterlife. Indeed, the martyr was certain not just of an afterlife but of salvation and reward in heaven. Their example in this belief was the Holy Maccabees, the second-century Jewish family executed for refusing to break Jewish law by the king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes.

In death, the Maccabees claimed victory and said:. Then arose the possibility that those who desired such a reward might volunteer for martyrdom. Roman persecution of Christians, at least before the middle of the third-century, was usually sporadic. Christians were widely despised and scapegoated for natural disasters and urban fires. Some Christians, however, pursued martyrdom. Having executed a number without having stifled the clamour, Arrius finally declared:.

The close relationship between the sinful act of suicide and voluntary martyrdom was a matter of fierce controversy within the church. St Cyprian , bishop of Carthage, was one critic of voluntary martyrdom but his own story reveals the depth of disagreement among Christians over how to behave in the face of persecution.

In the third-century, successive emperors made efforts to compel all subjects to participate in the sacrificial rituals thought necessary to retain the favour of the gods. Christians who refused became victims of renewed persecution.