Crown of Martyrdom
Martyrs often are idealized as combatants, with the spectacle of the arena transposed to the martyr's struggle with Satan. Ignatius of Antioch, condemned to fight beasts in the year 107, "asked his friends not to try to save him and so rob him of the crown of immortality." In 155, Polycarp, Christian bishop of Smyrna, was stabbed after a failed attempt to burn him at the stake. He is said to have been " … crowned with the wreath of immortality ... having through patience overcome the unjust governor, and thus acquired the crown of immortality." Eusebius uses similar imagery to speak of Blandina, martyred in the arena at Lyon in 177:
| “ | A small, weak, despised woman, who had put on Christ, the great invincible champion, and in bout after bout had defeated her adversary and through conflict had won the crown of immortality. Emblem of Christian martyrs, The Crown or wreath of Immortality, is a reward for those who stayed faithful until death.(1 Corinthians 9:24-27, James 1, 12 and Revelation 2, 10. | ” |
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Famous quotes containing the words crown of, crown and/or martyrdom:
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