[Asceticism and Mystical Theology.doc]

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of martyrdom for the development of Christian asceticism.  Later “professional ascetics”, monks and nuns, would be popularly regarded, and would indeed see themselves as successors of the martyrs, as spiritual athletes whose ascetical practices throughout life substituted for the “red martyrdom” of death that characterized the eras of Christian persecution.  Origen (d. 254) who was both an exemplar and early Christian theorist of asceticism extolled martyrdom and regretted having escaped it in his youth (Origen, Exhortation to Martyrdom, Greer 1979: 1-41).

     On one level the martyrs’ willingness to die rather than deny the Christian faith was a vivid, regularly-renewed reenactment of Christ’s salvific suffering. Popular early accounts of the martyrs’ trials and death were often deliberately modeled on the biblical passion narratives. (Martyrdom of Polycarp 6, 2; Roberts 1885a: 40)  And at a deeper level the martyr was not only a symbol but also an alter Christus whose prayers for both the living and the dead were thought to be especially efficacious and were thus particularly sought-after.  Moreover, the martyr could be gifted with mystical vision.  Just before his death the protomartyr Stephen received a vision of the person of Jesus and the glory of God: “Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at God’s right hand” (Acts 7.55-56).  The martyr Polycarp (d.c. 153) was granted a vision that confirmed his imminent death (Martyrdom of Polycarp 5, 2; Roberts 1885a: 40).  The martyr was popularly regarded as a powerful intercessor whose self-sacrifice not only guaranteed the martyr a heavenly reward, but which also had the power to atone for the sins of others. Thus the prayers of the martyr Perpetua (d.c. 203) were rewarded with a vision of her deceased brother released from torment in the afterlife; and both she and her companion Saturus were granted visions of their triumph over suffering and of the delights of heaven (Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity, 1-4; Wallace 1885: 700-703).

     Yet martyrdom has also been an ambivalent ascetical ideal.  While one could legitimately aspire to it, and indeed all early Christians were supposed to be prepared for it as a possibility, deliberately provoking authorities or aggressively seeking out martyrdom was regarded with suspicion and often condemned in popular Christian texts (Martyrdom of Polycarp 4; Roberts 1885a: 40). Both the value and the caution that must be exercised with regard to martyrdom are well-summarized in the Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium:

By martyrdom disciples are transformed (assimilatur) into an image of their Master by freely accepting death for the salvation of the world—as well as their conformity to Christ in the shedding of their blood. Though few are presented such an opportunity, nevertheless all must be prepared to confess Christ before humankind.

Lumen Gentium 42, Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church; Paul VI 1964.

     From the perspective of mystical theology the goals of martyrdom include the following.  First the  martyrs’ willingness to suffer and die for a religious belief was itself a powerful, non-verbal form of evangelization, a “witness” (martyria) to membership in a transcendent, eschatological community that claimed a higher loyalty than obedience to Roman cultural norms.  The example of virgin-martyrs who claimed a mystical relationship with a heavenly bridegroom challenged traditional Roman definitions of “self” in terms of familial and political status and obligation (see Brown 1988: 67-69, 71-73).  Second, the martyr’s suffering and death made Christ’s expiatory sacrifice personal and immediate: to behold the martyr was, in a sense, to contemplate Christ.  Third and finally, the martyrs’ death was universally regarded among Christians as a guarantee of salvation and sanctity, bestowing the power of intercession and sometimes of prophecy.  In an age characterized by increasing anxiety concerning post-baptismal sin, the martyr’s heroism and power of intercession was a consoling assurance of the nearness of salvation.

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