Gladiators and Martyrs
I finally broke down and purchased the Gladiator DVD. Yes, a shameless waste of resources that could have been spent helping the poor...please pray for me. That said, it is infact a wonderful DVD full of extra features including ALOT of deleted scenes - one of which portrays the martyrdom of Christians during the games. The time frame of the movie is of particular interest as well (the late 2nd century) which would be about the time that our family's patron Saint Irenaios would have been writing and ultimately been martyred himself. I was moved by the scene.
The Orthodox Church does not relegate these martyrs (or any martyrs for that matter) to dusty old history books. Truly we have not forgotten these people, the dance of the ecclesiastical calender brings their many testimonies to our collective memories most everyday. And the stories of their brave sacrifices are not left untold...we keep them alive, we study them, and we daily honor those who endured them.
Silouan has a short but excellent list of mostly ancient works describing the martyrdom of some key saints. Furthermore, as a college assignment I wrote a lengthy paper on the Roman persecutions which can be found HERE.
St.John's Revelation reminds us that the Martyrs are under the Heavenly Altar (mirroring this - every Orthodox Altar contains the relics of a saint) beseeching God on our behalf. Here I sit, hardly able to overcome the most basic of passions, and I dare to wonder if I would subject myself to having my privates burned off, my body soaked in lamp oil and lit on fire, and/or being sewn into a sack with a few wild beasts (to name a few of the torments) rather than simply burn a pinch of incense to Ceasar and chalk it up as not really counting or just meaningless incense.
Well, I dunno, inspiring the thoughts I am having right now perhaps this DVD was not too much of a waste.
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