Christians in the late 2nd century, it was a religion of women
and slaves.• As we have already seen, although formal state persecutions were
sporadic and interspersed with relatively long periods of neglect,
they were direct attempts to suppress the movement by violence
and even death.
o The very uncertainty of the breakout of persecution was a
contributing factor to the tension felt by Christians during these
centuries. It could happen suddenly and without warning.o The actual number of Christians killed is not the whole story;
the oppression of believers included the expropriation of
property, economic marginalization, exile, and social ostracism.• Two responses to this context of tribulation characterize the 2nd and
3 rd centuries: martyrdom and apologetic. Both had roots in Judaism,
and each developed in distinctive ways during these centuries when
Christians endured repression.The Tradition of Martyrdom
• The term “martyr” (martys) means “witness,” and the ideal of
witnessing to one’s convictions even to the point of death arose
within Judaism; for Christ-believers, martyrdom found its perfect
realization in the innocent suffering and death of Jesus.
• In the early 2nd century B.C.E., the Maccabees resisted efforts by
the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes to impose syncretistic
worship, symbolized by the eating of pork forbidden by Torah.
o The elderly Eleazar and seven sons with their mother publicly
refused to submit, even when threatened by death, and were
executed one after the other.o Their witness to Torah was also a witness to the fidelity of God
and to faith in a future resurrection: God will reward those who
honor him. The fourth son cries out before his execution, “It is
my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope