In Praise of Martyrdom 27–30

But now, dearest brothers, lest anyone think that I have placed all salvation in no other state than martyrdom, consider first of all that I who seem to speak am not of such importance, and that the order of things is not such that the promised hope of immortality rests on one side only. But since the Lord testified with his own mouth that there are many dwellings with the Father, I have believed that nothing is greater than that glory by which people are proved here who are too good for the life of this world. Therefore, dearest brothers, let us compete in emulous devotion and, stirred as by the incentive of a reward, take on every measure of strength and endurance. For perishable things ought not to move us, things that are always pressed toward their overthrow, not only by the law laid down but by the very end of time. John cries out and says: “Already the axe is laid to the root of the tree,” showing and pointing out that this is the final old age of all things. And the Lord himself says: “Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.” If he foretold that we must walk at that time, surely he showed that we should walk all the more now.

And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is the voice of the most blessed Paul, who says: “Do you not know that in a race many run, but one receives the palm? But you, run so that you may all be crowned.” And elsewhere, to encourage us to martyrdom, he called us coheirs of Christ. Indeed, to omit nothing, he says: “If you have died with Christ, why do you make rules as though you were living in this world?” For, dearest brothers, we who await the rewards of the resurrection, who look for the day of judgment, who in short trust that we shall reign with Christ, ought to be dead to the world. For you will not be able to desire martyrdom unless you first hate the world, nor reach God's reward unless you have loved Christ. And whoever loves Christ does not love the world. For Christ was cast off by the world, as the world was by Christ, as it is written: “The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The world was lovable to no one whom the Lord did not first condemn, nor could anyone who gloried in the life of the world enjoy eternal salvation. This is the voice of Christ, saying: “Whoever loves his life in this world will lose it in the world to come; but whoever hates it in this world will find it in the world to come.” And the apostle Paul says: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” And elsewhere he says: “I want you all, if it can be, to be imitators of me.”

He said this who suffered; and since he suffered in order to imitate God, surely he wished us too to suffer in order to imitate Christ through him. If you are righteous and believe God, why do you fear to shed your blood for him who, you know, has so often suffered for you? In Isaiah he was sawn asunder, in Abel slain, in Isaac offered, in Joseph sold, in his humanity crucified; and I say nothing of the rest, which speech cannot tell nor the mind bear. Conscience is overcome by the example of his humility, and when it considers what happened while he suffered, it marvels that he suffered on whose account all things trembled. The day fled into night, all light gave way to darkness, and, its weight tipping this way and that, the whole earth was shaken and split apart; the shades of the dead were disturbed, the tombs were laid bare, and as the graves gaped open, bodies were given back to the light of the earth and stood up; the world trembled at the flow of blood, the curtains that hung at the doors were torn, the whole temple groaned. Hence it is a great thing to imitate him who by dying convicted the world. Therefore, when after the example of the Lord's passion, and for the whole testimony of Christ, you lay down your life and do not fear to shed your blood, everything must yield to martyrdom. Of martyrdom the glory cannot be estimated, the measure is infinite, the victory unstained, the virtue noble, the title beyond price, the triumph immense: since the one who is preferred in the praise that belongs to him who stands firm is adorned, as it were, with the blood of Christ's companion.

Therefore, dearest brothers, although all this belongs to the Lord's promise and gift, and is granted from on high and not obtained except at his command, and although it can neither be conceived in the mind nor expressed in words, nor run through in speech, nor filled out by any powers of eloquence, yet it will be a sign of your kindness, of your charity and love, if you will remember us when the Lord begins to honor martyrdom in you. That holy altar encloses you within itself; that great seat of the venerable Name embraces you as in the bosom of an enfolding lap; the powers of everlasting time uphold you, and the fact that you are to reign and conquer for ever. O blessed ones, whose sins are truly forgiven, if indeed you, who are Christ's companions, ever sinned! O blessed ones, whom the Lord's blood has dyed from the beginning of the world, and whom that splendor of snowy clothing has rightly clothed and the whiteness of the enfolding robe adorned! Indeed, I seem to myself already to see (and, as far as the human mind can judge, that divine and glorious sight rushes before my eyes and gaze), I seem, I say, already to see that true and noble company attending the glory and the journey of its Christ. The happy band of victors will go before his face, and, in thickening squadrons, as at the rising of the sun, the whole shining host will bring on its power. Would that I, most lowly as I am, might some day see this! But the Lord can bring it about, since he is believed not to refuse you when you ask.