Martyrdom is murder of people who refuse to compromise their faith and its principles. This murder is carried through by officials of a government or by group members trying to establish government over a land and its population. Of course, the perpetrators of such killing do not consider it to be murder, but legitimate execution serving a legal/moral end. An example from Judaism of the second century B.C.:

Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man advanced in age and of noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork. But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture (2 Mc 6:18f).

Eleazar was killed by people under authority of Greek King Antiochus IV and his appointed Governor of Jerusalem, Philip (see 2 Mc chaps. 5-6). King Antiochus ordered the Jews under his rule to be converted to Greek religion and customs.

A martyr (derived from Greek word for witness) may be one facing death for political or some philosophic belief or ideal, not necessarily religious belief. If a person were willing to make the proposed change to their belief, faith, loyalty, they would escape punishment and death. Martyrdom is the sacrifice of self for the sake of a dearly held belief or truth. (For the martyr, the belief is true.) To be clear, understand that a martyr is not committing suicide; she or he is killed by the forceful action of another.

There are cases of people killing themselves for a cause. Such people may be called martyrs. There are also cases of terrorists killing themselves and others, intentionally, for deeply held reasons or beliefs. Since these acts occur in civil, non-war, settings, they may be considered evil, bad, and the actors not worthy of the term ‘martyr.’ Note that fellow terrorists or those sympathizing with terrorist viewpoint might consider such suicides, martyrdoms. (Terrorists and their supporters are at war.) Also are instances wherein suicide bombers attack military installations in context of war. On one side of the battle, the suicide bomber is martyr, on the other side, suicide bomber is just the enemy.

The term ‘martyr’ denotes a witness to something important suffering death. For the most part, martyrdom is death inflicted upon a person, not death by the person’s own hand or device. To be a martyr has connotation of goodness, purity; suicide is something bad. Philosopher Socrates killed himself with poison hemlock, but he was carrying out sentence of death imposed on him by duly constituted court of Athens at that time. Neither Socrates nor his disciples wanted death. In his death, Socrates became a martyr.

Jesus of Nazareth warned his followers that they would be witnesses, persecuted (see Jn 16:2; Mt 24:9; Lk 6:22). Prophet Muhammad taught his followers honor of martyrdom. Civilization has known many martyrs, but most martyrs are unknown. Names from the past have faded, those of the future are coming.

The End