This week my Christian Spirit class here at Regent College looked at martyrdom in Christianity; specifically in the early church. The early church often saw martyrdom as a means of connecting with the crucified Christ. The ultimate act of devotion and service was to imitate Christ by dying for their faith. Martyrdom is still present in Christianity although those of us in the western world will very rarely have to deal with this (persecution, maybe, martyrdom, probably not). Martyrdom specifically marked the early church before c. 312AD when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman world. Before 312AD Christians had to suffer harsh persecution (up to and including martyrdom) through such Roman rulers as (among others) Nero and Domitian (at the local level) as well as Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian (at the state sponsored level). What grasped the Spiritual imagination of Christians of this era was the thought of martyrdom.
A few specific examples arose that exemplified Christian martyrdom. One that is particularly interesting is the story of St. Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius was the third bishop (that is after St. Peter and St. Evodius) and was arrested in Syria (presumably because he would not offer allegiance to the pagan gods) and transported to Rome to be handed over to the lions of the arena. Ignatius was martyred in the Flavian Amphitheatre around 100AD.
While on his way to Rome, Ignatius wrote letters to many of his churches and I would especially like to point out his letter to the Roman church. In this letter Ignatius clearly spells out his desire to die as a martyr in the arena. The question that arises out of this letter (that was posed by professor Bruce Hindmarsh) is: did Ignatius have a holy longing for martyrdom or a neurotic deathwish?
Even after reading some background on Christian martyrdom as well as the specific context of Ignatius himself (see references), it is still difficult to come to an answer. Without the background and just reading his letter to the Romans, I would say that Ignatius was insane. Even with the background, I still lean that way. This is not to say that God did not use him and that he is somehow less “saintly”. In discussion, one thing that came out is what the nature of serving God is. Serving God will look like different things to different people. But I would say seeking death is not necessarily serving God even if you are doing that in the process. Serving God may end in martyrdom (or in today’s context, persecution), but martyrdom shouldn’t be the goal. The amount of sacrifice that persisted in Ignatius’ life could very easily conclude with martyrdom, it would have been completely consistent with his faith and works. But in reading his letter to the Romans, it seemed as though he was seeking martyrdom and not necessarily the service that may happen to lead to martyrdom.
That being said, I also want to mention two things that suggest Ignatius’ intentions were indeed holy. Firstly, Ignatius could have also been looking at the larger issue of church cohesiveness. There were lots of different things going on in the early church (of which many of Ignatius’ other letters address), many of them bad. Ignatius could have been using his martyrdom as a means to unite the churches around him, even in his death. He may have been at the point where he was not able to do anything for the ecumenical church so felt that his martyrdom and imitation of Christ could reinvigorate the early church. Secondly, the letter to the Romans could have been (as one student suggested in discussion) a pep-talk for himself. Essentially to build up the courage to follow his words with deeds. At one point he even says
Even if I were to come and implore you in person, do not yield to my pleading; keep your compliance for this written entreaty instead. Here and now, as I write in the fullness of life, I am yearning for death with al the passion of a lover. Earthly longings have been crucified (literally “my love has been crucified”); in me there is left no spark of desire for mundane things, but only a murmur of living water that whispers within me, ‘Come to the Father.’
This, of course, raises more questions. I do think this clearly shows Ignatius trying to prepare himself for martyrdom. He knows that if he sees the members of his church, he might not be able to follow through in deed what he has said in words so begs them to keep him on the path. But it is also clear that Ignatius wants to imitate Christ’s crucifixion at whatever cost. This still makes me think Ignatius had a neurotic deathwish that would disregard any other possibility for service in order to be like Christ in martyrdom.
As another student pointed out “if he is insane, I want to be as crazy as he is.” Amen to that.
What say you?
Ή χάρις του κυρίου ημων Ίησου Χριστου μεθ’ υμων.
Resources:
Ignatius, “Epistle to the Romans,” in Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, ed. Maxwell Staniforth (London: Penguin, 1987), 81-89.
Kenneth R. Morris, “’Pure Wheat of God’ or Neurotic Deathwish?: A Historical and Theological Analysis of Ignatius of Antioch’s Zeal for Martyrdom,” Fides et Historia 26 (1994): 24-41.
Louis Bouyer, “Martyrdom,” in The Spirituality of the New Testament and the Fathers (London:Burns & Oates, 1963), 190-210.
I heard about this a few weeks ago, but refused to believe it. 
