Faith doesn’t exist only in the heart but also on the tongue. “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 32: 10). On the other hand, the Lord also says: “But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10: 33).
The Church gave the name “Confessor” to people who acknowledged their faith while being tortured. If such a person dies, he would be called a “martyr”. This compatibility between what is visible and what isn’t is expressed by Paul in today’s epistle: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”.
The testimony of blood is mandatory for us; you do not have the right to disbelieve. You keep testifying until your blood is shed. Therefore, the Church believes that God doesn’t call martyrs for Judgment because they have had a complete unity with Christ.
Some might think that the number of Christians decreases when people die through martyrdom. However, the contrary has happened because lots of people didn’t convert through preaching but through seeing Christians killed by Roman or any other authorities. When a person loved Christ till death, he used to show the Pagans that he believes in a living God and that he joins Him through death.
Those who died through martyrdom decided to do that through learning and preaching. They believed until they died. In all eras, we used die and in all countries. The Soviet Union killed thousands of martyrs starting with 250 bishops and six thousand priests. Hitler also killed some Christians.
If a Christian got captured because of his faith, he shouldn’t escape from testifying. However, he does have the right to disappear and this isn’t denial. Nevertheless, if an investigator asked him if he was a Christian, he must confess and the Lord has promised to strengthen him in times of weakness and doubt.
It is normal for a bishop or priest to be killed because oppressors believe that they would exterminate the flock this way. However, this kind of calculation isn’t right. The parish would be revived with the death of its leaders and God will manage his Church.
In order to be ready to testify if we were asked to, we should hang on to every word Jesus said because those words nourish us and make us steady so that if someone wanted to persecute us, he would find us strong and ready to acknowledge Jesus as a Lord and Savior.
“The cloud of witnesses”, as the Book calls them, are our basis in heaven and encourage us to take them as models. They are the greatest among us and our big brothers that make us steady in Christ’s love.
Translated by Mark Najjar
Original Text: “الاعتراف بالإيمان” –Raiati 28- 08.07.2012
