#martyrdom

But its exclusive character and irreconcileable hostility to the religious cults and ceremonies with which the whole social life of the city-state and the empire were inseparably connected at every turn, brought the Christians into inevitable conflict with the government and with public opinion. To the man in the street, the Christian was an anti-social atheist who would take no part in the public feasts and the games, which played such a large part in city life. To the authorities he was a passive rebel, who would neither take his share of municipal offices nor pay loyal homage to the Emperor. Hence the rise of persecution, and the driving of the Christians into an underground existence, as a proscribed sect. The Church grew under the shadow of the executioner's rods and axes, and every Christian lived in the peril of physical torture and death. The thought of martyrdom coloured the whole outlook of early Christianity. But it was not only a fear, it was also an ideal and a hope. For the martyr was the complete Christian, he was the champion and hero of the new society and its conflict with the old, and even the Christians who failed in the moment of the trial - the lapsi - looked on the martyrs as their saviours and protectors ↗

— Christopher Henry Dawson

#martyrdom #roman-empire #death

Those who endlessly praise the rank of martyrdom must first attain that rank! No invented rank is superior to the life! You stick to the life and let the fools stick to the death. ↗

— Mehmet Murat ildan

#death

The only difference between a suicide and a martyrdom really is the amount of press coverage. ↗

— Chuck Palahniuk

#suicide #different

There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for. ↗

— Albert Camus

#pacifism #principles #war #die

Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability. ↗

— Arthur Schopenhauer

#ability #become #man #martyrdom #only

You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know. ↗

— George Eliot

#best #happen #history #kind #know

For the church, the many abuses of human life, liberty, and dignity are a heartfelt suffering. The church, entrusted with the earth’s glory, believes that in each person is the Creator’s image and that everyone who tramples it offends God. As holy defender of God’s rights and of his images, the church must cry out. It takes as spittle in its face, as lashes on its back, as the cross in its passion, all that human beings suffer, even though they be unbelievers. They suffer as God’s images. There is no dichotomy between man and God’s image. Whoever tortures a human being, whoever abuses a human being, whoever outrages a human being abuses God’s image, and the church takes as its own that cross, that martyrdom. ↗

— Oscar A. Romero

#christian-living #church #cross #god #martyrdom

The anarch sticks to facts, not ideas. He suffers not for facts but because of them, and usually through his own fault, as in a traffic accident. Certainly, there are unforeseeable things – maltreatments. However, I believe I have attained a certain degree of self-distancing that allows me to regard this as an accident. ↗

— Ernst Jünger

#chivalry #ernst-jünger #martyrdom #patriotism #self-distancing

When the Christians, upon these occasions, received martyrdom, they were ornamented, and crowned with garlands of flowers; for which they, in heaven, received eternal crowns of glory. ↗

— John Foxe

#crowned #crowns #eternal #flowers #garlands