THE PRAISES OF MARTYRDOM.
Whence, as is reasonable, the gnostic, when called, obeys easily, and
gives up his body to him who asks; and, previously divesting himself of
the affections of this carcase, not insulting the tempter, but rather,
in my opinion, training him and convincing him,
“From what honour and what extent of wealth fallen,”
as says Empedocles, here for the future he walks with mortals. He, in
truth, bears witness to himself that he is faithful and loyal towards
God; and to the tempter, that he in vain envied him who is faithful
through love; and to the Lord, of the inspired persuasion in reference
to His doctrine, from which he will not depart through fear of death;
further, he confirms also the truth of preaching by his deed, showing
that God to whom he hastes is powerful. You will wonder at his love,
which he conspicuously shows with thankfulness, in being united to
what is allied to him, and besides by his precious blood, shaming the
unbelievers. He then avoids denying Christ through fear by reason
of the command; nor does he sell his faith in the hope of the gifts
prepared, but in love to the Lord he will most gladly depart from
this life; perhaps giving thanks both to him who afforded the cause
of his departure hence, and to him who laid the plot against him, for
receiving an honourable reason which he himself furnished not, for
showing what he is, to him by his patience, and to the Lord in love, by
which even before his birth he was manifested to the Lord, who knew
the martyr’s choice. With good courage, then, he goes to the Lord,
his friend, for whom he voluntarily gave his body, and, as his judges
hoped, his soul, hearing from our Saviour the words of poetry, “Dear
brother,” by reason of the similarity of his life. We call martyrdom
perfection, not because the man comes to the end of his life as others,
but because he has exhibited the perfect work of love. And the ancients
laud the death of those among the Greeks who died in war, not that they
advised people to die a violent death, but because he who ends his life
in war is released without the dread of dying, severed from the body
without experiencing previous suffering or being enfeebled in his soul,
as the people that suffer in diseases. For they depart in a state of
effeminacy and desiring to live; and therefore they do not yield up the
soul pure, but bearing with it their lusts like weights of lead; all
but those who have been conspicuous in virtue. Some die in battle with
their lusts, these being in no respect different from what they would
have been if they had wasted away by disease.
If the confession to God is martyrdom, each soul which has lived
purely in the knowledge of God, which has obeyed the commandments, is
a witness both by life and word, in whatever way it may be released
from the body,--shedding faith as blood along its whole life till its
departure. For instance, the Lord says in the Gospel, “Whosoever shall
leave father, or mother, or brethren,” and so forth, “for the sake of
the gospel and my name,”[497] he is blessed; not indicating simple
martyrdom, but the gnostic martyrdom, as of the man who has conducted
himself according to the rule of the gospel, in love to the Lord (for
the knowledge of the Name and the understanding of the gospel point out
the gnosis, but not the bare appellation), so as to leave his worldly
kindred, and wealth, and every possession, in order to lead a life
free from passion. “Mother” figuratively means country and sustenance;
“fathers” are the laws of civil polity: which must be contemned
thankfully by the high-souled just man; for the sake of being the
friend of God, and of obtaining the right hand in the holy place, as
the Apostles have done.
Then Heraclitus says, “Gods and men honour those slain in battle;” and
Plato in the fifth book of the _Republic_ writes, “Of those who
die in military service, whoever dies after winning renown, shall we
not say that he is chief of the golden race? Most assuredly.” But the
golden race is with the gods, who are in heaven, in the fixed sphere,
who chiefly hold command in the providence exercised towards men. Now
some of the heretics who have misunderstood the Lord, have at once an
impious and cowardly love of life; saying that the true martyrdom is
the knowledge of the only true God (which we also admit), and that the
man is a self-murderer and a suicide who makes confession by death;
and adducing other similar sophisms of cowardice. To these we shall
reply at the proper time; for they differ with us in regard to first
principles. Now we, too, say that those who have rushed on death (for
there are some, not belonging to us, but sharing the name merely, who
are in haste to give themselves up, the poor wretches dying through
hatred to the Creator[498])--these, we say, banish themselves without
being martyrs, even though they are punished publicly. For they do not
preserve the characteristic mark of believing martyrdom, inasmuch as
they have not known the only true God, but give themselves up to a vain
death, as the Gymnosophists of the Indians to useless fire.
But since these falsely named [gnostics] calumniate the body, let
them learn that the harmonious mechanism of the body contributes to
the understanding which leads to goodness of nature. Wherefore in the
third book of the _Republic_, Plato, whom they appeal to loudly
as an authority that disparages generation, says, “that for the sake
of harmony of soul, care must be taken for the body,” by which, he who
announces the proclamation of the truth, finds it possible to live,
and to live well. For it is by the path of life and health that we
learn gnosis. But is he who cannot advance to the height without being
occupied with necessary things, and through them doing what tends to
knowledge, not to choose to live well? In living, then, living well is
secured. And he who in the body has devoted himself to a good life, is
being sent on to the state of immortality.