Foxe's Book of Martyrs

Foxe's Book of Martyrs has long held the reputation of being a classic in the history of the Church. The book was written to encourage Christians who were facing persecution by pointing to faithful brothers and sisters who had gone before and given their lives for the Gospel. Foxe's reports the martyrdom of the apostles and Christians of all rank from the early church. Subsequent editions, such as the one I used, have since added more recent accounts of Christian martyrs.

This past Sunday I used material from Foxe's to illustrate the bold witness that comes when the church allows Paul's words-- to live is Christ and to die is gain-- to seep into its bones.  Here are some excerpts that were used in preparation for Sunday: 

The updated edition
of Foxe's that I used.

The apostle Paul was beheaded in Rome:

"At first, Nero was blamed for setting fire to Rome [in May 64 AD], so to direct the blame away from himself he blamed the Christians. As a result, fierce persecution broke out against them. During it, Paul was arrested and put back into prison in Rome. While in prison this second time he wrote his second letter to Timothy. It was his last. 

"Not long after, he was judged guilty of crimes against the Emperor and condemned to death. He was taken to the execution block and beheaded. It was A.D. 66, just four years before Jerusalem fell" (p. 8).

The account of Ignatius of Antioch:

"...in the year A.D. 110, Ignatius, was was the overseer of the Church in Antioch, the capital of Syria, where the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26), was sent to Rome because he professed and taught Christ. It's said that when he passed through Asia, even though guarded by soldiers, he preached the Word of God in every city they traveled through and encouraged and strengthened the churches. While in Smyrna, he wrote the Church of Rome and appealed to them not to try to deliver him from the martyrdom, because they would deprive him of that which he most longed for. He wrote:

'Now I begin to be a disciple. I care for nothing of visible or invisible things so that I may but win Christ. Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bone and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus.' 

"Even when he was sentenced to be fed to lions and could hear their roaring, he was filled with such desire to see Christ (see Acts 5:41) that he said, 'I am the wheat of Christ: I am going to be ground with the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread'" (p. 14).   

Polycarp's martyrdom: 

"Polycarp, who was a student of the Apostle John and the overseer of the church in Smyrna, heard that soldiers were looking for him and tried to escape but was discovered by a child. After feeding the guards who captured him, he asked for an hour to pray, which they gave him. He prayed with such fervency, that his guards said they were sorry that they were the ones who captured him. Nevertheless, he was taken before the governor and condemned to be burned in the market place.

"After his sentence was given, the governor said to him, 'Reproach Christ and I will release you.' 

"Polycarp answered, 'Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never once wronged me. How then shall I blaspheme my King who has saved me?'" (p. 16).

And Julian, who would otherwise have been forgotten in history but for his testimony to Christ in his death: 

"St. Chrysostom, the patriarch of Constantinople in A.D. 398, wrote that Julian, a Cilician, was arrested for being a Christian, put into a leather bag with several snakes and scorpions, and then thrown into the sea" (p. 22).