Martyrology: a simple perspective

ndoubtedly, if one hears the word martyrology or the phrase martyr book, initially he will think of the most popularized work by John Foxe, Actes and Monuments (commonly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs). Next to come to mind may be the more extensive work by Thieleman J. Van Braght, The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians (commonly known as The Martyr's Mirror). Yet these were only two of a handful of major martyr books to come out of the Reformation era (sixteenth thru seventeenth centuries). Foxe's Actes and Monuments was not even the first martyrology of the Reformation, contrary to general thought; Ludwig Rabus's The History of God's Chosen Witnesses, Confessors, and Martyrs holds that distinguished title.¹ But, outside of these martyr books--and we can include the work of Jean Crespin and Adriaen van Haemstede--do any others come to mind? What about Eusebius or Bede? Did they write any martyrologies?

The study of martyrdom is inextricably linked to an intimate study of Christian Church History. While martyrologies may be in the forefront of everyone's mind as the sources of martyr tales, they are only a fragment of the sources used to understand the history of "the cup of salvation."² If we go back in time, centuries before Rabus and Foxe came to prominence, martyrs were not separated from their historical context. The histories written to tell of the developement and proliferation of the Christian faith never told of the lives and deaths of men, women and children who God chose and enabled to confess the truth in such a special way. The martyrs were a central part of the history of the Church.

The main reason this happened, of course, is that the first three centuries of our Church's history is filled with persecution and execution. History was martyrdom, and martyrdom was history. Care must be taken, when studying martyrdom and specific martyrs, not to have martyrologies and histories as two distinct categories. Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History, for example, is filled almost to the brim with martyr tales; not only the stories, but also commentary on the idea of martyrdom as the years and persecutions went on. As I was reading Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (tr. Ecclesiastical History of the English People) I found many parallel ideas between Bede and Eusebius in telling an early history of the Church in a land, and martyrdoms tied directly into the historical developements. The Martyrdom of Polycarp does not exist as the sole martyrology of the early Church. All early histories, in the sense I am discussing, are martyrologies. They can all supply information and ideas toward a thorough and intimate study of martyrdom. My own studies would be incomplete if I looked only for specific works on martyrs.

None of that, however, even touches the importance of works like An Exhortation to Martyrdom by the third century theologian Origen, or more than a few of Cyprian's letters, including the excellent On the Glory of Martyrdom. Works like these were more like sermons, exhortations and teachings. They served a purpose within the greater context and help greatly in understanding Christian martyrdom.

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¹ Titled translated from the German Historien Der Heylugen Auβerwolten Gottes Zeugen, Bekennern und Martyrern. I consider this "distinguised" because, as I will mention in a later article, the first martyrs of the reformation were two German, Augustinian monks.
² Origen, An Exhortation to Martyrdom, xxviii.