What does it mean to die for your faith? What does it mean to wear the victor’s crown? How are we to remember those who paid the ultimate price? Often times in our culture today martyrdom can be reduced to a number or statistic in blog post or missionary newsletter: there were 1,200 of them just in the year 2012. How do we measure the weight of their glory or accord them the honor they are due? Since the time of Jesus many historians have tried to capture their stories and convey the gruesome details of their deaths. One such historian, known as the father of church history, was Eusebius of Caesarea (c. A.D. 260-339). It’s hard as westerners to imagine living in a time and place where one could loose their life so brutally for simply claiming to be a Christian. Some of his accounts sound so astonishing that they seem to almost leave the world we know and enter into the realm of the legendary.
Many of his critics have accused Eusebius as over dramatizing these stories and glorifying the act of martyrdom too greatly. One such critic wrote that Eusebius gave us “a colorless, defective, incoherent, fragmentary, yet interesting picture of the heroic youth of the church.” If this is true, is he justified in doing so? Perhaps as a historian he is not as unbiased as many would like, but as a Christian he is as much an evangelist as anything else. One author notes that, “in his day, he was as much a maker of history as a recorder of it.” Perhaps in some ways all historians are makers of history. No one can fully convey the entire truth of any situation objectively. If there is fault in Eusebius’ work it still serves to teach us and to pay tribute to those who gave their lives for the Gospel. The author of Hebrews comes to mind:
Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy.
Before we simply throw out Eusebius’ accounts and dismiss them as to fantastical, we should remember that the people who died, like those in the Bible were people of whom the world was not worthy.
Eusebius’ writing on church history is written less as a linear historical record and more as a celebration of Christendom developed from the collective memory of the church. Doron Mendels notes that, “Memories often reflect true events, and Eusebius no doubt reflects a great deal of reality, but he also included invented memories. This is natural in a commemoration process where the true and untrue mingle. When reading Eusebius it can be difficult to delineate where the lines should be drawn between reality and fiction, but everything can be read with a grain of salt. His work can perhaps be likened to a deuterocanonical work. It’s not completely accurate and historical but still helpful and based on true events. Eusebius also seems to organize his history around certain themes like martyrdom, bishops, heresies and the like. Based on this context it is now possible to look more closely at Eusebius’ depiction of martyrs in the church.
As Eusebius recounts the stories of Martyrs he does so in a way that encourages believers in the faith. Mendels writes that he. “uses the writing of history as an efficient medium for the promotion of the Christian mission” In that sense, he is framing the stories of the martyrs in a specific light to promote the faith. One of his first instances in recording the fate of martyrs deals with the first apostles themselves. Eusebius writes about the travels and deaths of several of them, including Paul of Tarsus. Of Paul he writes that he, “proclaimed the Gospel form Jerusalem to Illyricum and was later martyred in Rome.” While note much attention is given here to Paul’s martyrdom (since it occurs in a section about apostolic succession) the emphasis in detail seems to be in the fact that he was martyred for peaching the Gospel. The emphasis is on the spread of the good news and the cause of Christ.
When Eusebius actually turns to a discussion about martyrdom he begins with the account of Polycarp. About Polycarp he writes that, “he stood up and prayed, filled with the grace of the Lord, to the astonishment of those present, many of whom grew distressed that so dignified and godlike a man was going to his death.” Eusebius paints a vivid picture. Polycarp was first standing, (a symbol of strength and will) filled with grace, (implying he was empowered by God), dignified (and therefore not deserving of death) and godlike (serving as an example to all). Perhaps the most significant phrase is that it was to the astonishment of those present. Above all else, the people were amazed at what was happening before them. This is a good example of what Eusebius seems to be up to. Were the people present actually amazed? We do not know, but it seems doubtful that the people sent to kill him would have cared or expressed their thoughts later to others. The people meant to be astonished are the readers of this history and those Christians who hear the story. It is indeed we who should be astonished and therefore inspired by Polycarp’s example.
In a letter about martyrs from Gual that Eusebius uses, the writers expand on the typical greeting of grace and peace by adding the word glory. It’s subtle, but it connects to their introductory comments in which they also quote from Romans 8:18 comparing our present sufferings to the glory we receive upon death. While the words are not Eusebius’ own, his inclusion of them indicates his own mindset about the glorification of martyrdom. Mendels writes that according to Eusebius, “many Christians’ readiness to sacrifice themselves was motivated not only by eagerness to emulate Jesus (mimesis), but no less by a drive to achieve exposure in the outer public sphere.” For Eusebius the martyrdom was a method by which the gospel was preached, lived out and shared to the Roman Empire. As he writes about their stories it serves to honor the dead, critique the empire of the past but also to highlight the process by which Jesus own story was told.
In telling the story of Sanctus’ martyrdom the letter from Gual indicates that his strength to endure suffering came from the, “water of life that flows from Christ.” Eusebius has a view of the martyrs in which it is God who is at work in the people. God is the one arranging the circumstances, strengthening the faithful and glorifying the dead. For Eusebius the dead became an offering to God as well. Not all could withstand the pressure of torture and the threat of death, but many were given a second chance. He writes that those who were questioned again with the intention of being released glorified God greatly because, “they confessed and joined the ranks of the martyrs.” For Eusebius it didn’t matter if fear crept in and temporarily crippled these saints. The important part of their story was that it ended by glorifying Christ. Even those who were tortured but not killed insisted that they not be known as martyrs but only confessors, leaving the title of martyr to Christ himself.
Eusebius is able to accurately depict the heroism of the martyrs without necessarily painting them as super-human because his focus is far more concerned with God’s victory through them. Mendels writes that in Eusebius, “Martyrs and their memory became live monuments to the suffering of Jesus and the continuity of Christian existence in the public sphere.” Each Martyr points less to the heroics of the person and more to the power of Christ. From Eusebius’ perspective Christianity came in to power through Constantine through the divine power of God, but perhaps demonstrated a subversive power prior to his reign through the testimonies of the martyrs.
We live and minister in a culture that passes itself off as politically Christian. In America, despite some negative options and slander, it is relatively safe to be a Christian. There a re multiple problems with this in my mind. Why don’t we find persecution here? How can the church grow if it is not persecuted? How can we be more like Christ if we do not endure suffering? What should our role be in standing with the persecuted around the world? It’s quite a dilemma actually. I teach a high school missions class, and If I were to ask them what it means to be a Christian and live like Jesus, I doubt I would get any answers that included the idea of suffering. As Americans we don’t like to suffer and yet we somehow think we are brave enough and strong enough that if faced we death we would stand up for our faith. Eusebius provides us with stories of people who both failed and succeeded in laying down their life for the cause of Christ. We would do well to read those stories and look to them for courage. The day may yet come when it is no longer safe to be a Christian. Until that happens, my desire is that perhaps Christians here would choose to live out their faith a little more dangerously.
Bibliography
Galli, M., & Olsen, T. (2000). In 131 Christians everyone should know. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Maier, Paul L. Eusebius: The Church History. Translated by L. Maier Paul. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2007.
Mendels, D. (2004). Memory in Jewish, pagan, and Christian societies of the Graeco-Roman world (Vol. 45). London: T & T Clark International.
Schaff, P., & Schaff, D. S. (1910). History of the Christian church. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Zylstra, Sarah. "Counting the Cost (Accurately)." ChristianityToday.com. August 21, 2013. Accessed February 28, 2016. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/september/counting-cost-accurately.html.