Quotes about Martyrdom

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

The first persecution of the Church took place in the year 67, under Nero, the sixth emperor of Rome.

Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

Study men laying down their lives without hurting anyone else in the cause of their country's freedom.

But those are truly gifts of the Holy Spirit which make drunk with the richest knowledge of the Son of God, just as when John Hus was led to martyrdom, he prayed with great and unbroken courage: "Jesus, Son of God, Thou who hast suffered for us, have mercy on me."63 This is not said without the Holy Spirit. No one else would have spoken this way unless he had been made drunk by that wine. He was one of the colts bound to the excellent vine.

martyrdom is not only not the same as suicide, it is the polar opposite of suicide, since the suicide loves nothing in life enough to keep living, while the martyr loves something so much that he gives up everything for it, even life. The suicide sees less value and meaning in life than anyone else, while the martyr sees more.

I maintain no doctrines of my own; what I preach are the doctrines of Christ, and for those I will forfeit my blood, and even think myself happy to suffer for the sake of my Redeemer.

I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace.

Wherever it pleases God to put man in this world, the Christian must be ready for martyrdom and death. It is only in this way that man learns faith.

The true martyr/witness testifies in word and deed, life and death. This is the cost of apologetics. Cheap apologetics is the defense of Christian truth without martyrdom.

More Christian blood has been shed by Christians than by heathens and Mohammedans.

Acts, with its many tales of confrontation, persecution, and martyrdom, takes forward exactly this agenda. This is what it looks like, Luke is saying, when Jesus is enthroned as Lord of the world, and his followers go out to put his royal rule into effect, ending up in Rome announcing God's kingdom and Jesus as Lord "with all boldness, and with no one stopping them" (28:31).