Saturday 9 February 2013

SHORT BREAK

Due to a sudden influx of work, I've decided to take a couple of weeks' break from the blog. I'll probably resume at the beginning of March. In the meantime, if anyone wants to add any comments or queries to the existing postings, I should be able to respond.

Saturday 2 February 2013


MARTYRS

“He who would valiant be ...”


Because of an accident of birth date and place, I have never been called on to test my courage in war or under political repression. Equally, in the second half of the 20th century in western Europe, my Christian faith has never been tested by torture or fire, only by the temptations of the modern world and by indifference. Christians in England are not imprisoned or killed, just ignored or mocked as oddities. In recent years, there have admittedly been relatively mild acts of persecution. The eccentric English preacher Philip Howard was given an Antisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO) for reading the Bible through a loudspeaker to passers by in Oxford Circus – a ‘breach of the peace’! A couple of years back, a community nurse in the UK was sacked for offering to pray for the recovery of an elderly sick patient. The local Health Trust accuse her of ‘failing to show a commitment to equality and diversity.’ Eventually common sense prevailed and she was reinstated. However, in general, few Christians in the west are severely tested and it is from my privileged position that I have always had a sort of envious fascination for the way so many people are prepared to suffer or die for their beliefs.

Nicephoros
So what makes a martyr? The first point to make is that nobody can ever be sure how they will react in any given situation. Martyrs are not always people of great courage; their courage arises from their deep faith and often arrives at the last minute. I have always admired Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and prime mover of the Protestant Reformation in England. He was actually a pretty timid man and, when he was tortured, recanted his Protestant beliefs and ‘returned to the fold’ of Catholicism. Sentenced to death anyway, he withdrew his recantation on the pyre and thrust his right hand into the flames first, saying that this was the hand that had betrayed his faith. Another 'spontaneous' martyr was St. Nicephoros of Antioch. He and a priest called Sapricius had been close friends from boyhood but at some stage they quarrelled. In spite of Nicephorus's repeated attempts at reconciliation, Sapricius remained unmoved. Then, during the persecution under Valerian,  Sapricius was arrested as a Christian and condemned to death. On his way to execution, Nicephorus stopped him and made one last attempt to ask his forgiveness but Salpricius merely turned his back. When he was about to be beheaded, however, the priest lost his nerve and offered to sacrifice to the gods in order to save his life. He was immediately released, whereupon Nicephorus openly declared himself to be a Christian and was executed in place of Salpricius.