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A Word From Our Associate&
Martyrs: The Seed of the Church
We have just celebrated the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, a great bishop of the early Church, one who probably knew some of the Apostles, and whose martyrdom inflamed the faith of the early Church and has continued to inspire her children down the ages.
In the opening scene from the old classic movie "Patton," you may remember that famous general as he strides bigger than life back and forth before a huge American flag and harangues his troops before going into battle. "Now I've heard it said," he growls at one point, "that it's a glorious thing to die for your country. But that's a lot of rot. I don't want you to die for your country. I want you to make that other poor idiot die for his country." Patton here is making good this-worldly sense. Better maybe for a soldier to die than to run, but better by far simply to vanquish your enemy, and to get away both with your life and the victory.
But in contending against our true enemy, in the real battle, it is not so. "We know," said St. John, "that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the Evil One." Christianity is an assault on enemy territory, behind enemy lines, a kind of resistance movement from within. Christ showed us the true outlines of battle and the true nature of victory: we are to witness to the truth of heaven, and not abandon the light though the devil do his worst. The highest victory the Christian can win, the true triumph over the dark powers that rule this world, is the imitation of Christ's victory: martyrdom. This is why the Church has always portrayed the martyr as wearing a "victor's crown." Precisely by defying the darkness, by "not loving their lives even unto death," the martyrs gained the greatest possible victory over Hell. This makes no sense in this-worldly terms; but the wisdom of God makes foolish the wisdom of this world. In seeming weakness is strength; in seeming defeat is glorious victory.
Ignatius wrote a number of letters to various Churches along the road to his martyrdom in Rome. He knew what was coming, and not only was he not afraid, he went so far as to beg his fellow Christians not to rob him of his crown, not to attempt to get in the way of his martyrdom. "I am God's wheat," he said, "being ground by the teeth of the lions." He longed with passionate longing to be able to stand witness for his faith even to the shedding of his blood.
Not all of us are called to shed our blood this way for Christ. But the martyr's life is the pattern for all of us. Whether by the teeth of lions or by the steady flow of events, we die to this world, we witness to the light in the midst of darkness, we remain faithful to Christ no matter what it may cost us. The long slow road of martyrdom is the one most of us take, the daily self-denial, the readiness to abandon our lives in this world for the sake of the life to come. May St. Ignatius, that glorious martyr, give us a share of his joy and longing for martyrdom, the joy of uniting our lives to the One we love, Christ our King.
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