Christian Martyrdom

Research Paper # 75194

History > Religion
Religion and Theology > Christianity

Christian Martyrdom

This paper discusses the lives and tribulations of early Christians martyrs during and after Christian persecution.

1,060 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2006 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that canonization of sainthood for a Christian in antiquity was achieved either by living piously and being recognized as a holy person within the church after natural death or by leading a virtuous life though the Christian faith and consequentially being killed for those beliefs, which is known as becoming a martyr. The author points out that the early Christians were mainly martyred because of their refusal to perform actions that contradicted a Christian lifestyle and violated church doctrines such as St. Perpetua. The paper relates that, throughout the stories of the martyr's lives and the lives of the Desert Fathers, the essential designs are similar: The pious lifestyle leads to sainthood and heaven.

From the Paper:

"In 303CE, the Emperor of Rome issued an edict, which called for the destruction of churches, the burning of scripts and the arrests and eventual deaths of Christians. The reason for the edict was not because of ritual wrong-doing, but to reorder the hierarchy of the population of Rome. The Christian faith had started to spread at a phenomenal rate (at one point reaching to almost 25% of the population of Rome), and started to threaten the bureaucratic stability. Using the provisions already in place, Diocletian used his military power to reorder the Roman socio-economic class to his liking."