Martyrs for Christ

Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna and a direct disciple of the apostle John. He lived in the generation that bridged the apostolic age and the early church — a living link between the eyewitnesses of Christ and the next generation of believers. He was known for his gentleness, his faithfulness to apostolic teaching and his care for his congregation across a long ministry. Ignatius of Antioch, himself a martyr, wrote letters to Polycarp urging him to stand firm.

Vibia Perpetua was a young noblewoman of about twenty-two, well-educated and nursing an infant son, when she was arrested in Carthage under Emperor Septimius Severus for being a Christian. Felicitas was her slave, eight months pregnant at the time of arrest. Despite coming from completely different social positions — one noble, one a slave — they faced death together with equal courage. Perpetua kept a diary in prison that has survived to this day, making it one of the earliest texts written by a Christian woman.

John Hus was a Czech priest, philosopher and rector of the University of Prague who became one of the earliest and most significant voices for church reform — a century before Martin Luther. Influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe, he preached against the corruption of the clergy, the selling of indulgences and the authority of Scripture over church tradition. His preaching drew huge crowds and made him enormously influential in Bohemia while making him deeply dangerous enemies in Rome.

William Tyndale was a scholar and linguist who mastered seven languages and became convinced that the greatest need of the English church was a Bible people could read in their own language. The Latin Vulgate was inaccessible to ordinary people and clergy were not required to read it in English. When Tyndale sought permission from the Bishop of London to translate the Bible into English, he was refused. He went to continental Europe and worked in exile, completing the New Testament in English in 1526 and substantial portions of the Old Testament before his capture.

In January 1956 five young American missionaries attempted to make peaceful contact with the Waodani people (then called the Auca) of Ecuador — a tribe that had killed every outsider who had entered their territory. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully and Pete Fleming had spent months preparing carefully — dropping gifts from their plane, learning phrases from the language, making friendly contact from the air. On January 3, 1956 they landed on a sandbar they called Palm Beach and made initial friendly contact. Four days later all five were killed with spears.

Graham Staines was an Australian missionary who came to India in 1965 and spent thirty-four years working with leprosy patients in Odisha — some of the most marginalised and stigmatised people in Indian society. He lived simply, learned the local language and culture and gave his life to people others had written off. He married Gladys and they had three children — Esther, Philip and Timothy. He was deeply loved by the communities he served.

Shahbaz Bhatti was a Pakistani Catholic who devoted his life to advocating for the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan. He founded the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance and worked for decades defending Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Ahmadis facing discrimination and violence. In 2008 he was appointed Federal Minister for Minorities in the Pakistani government — the only Christian in the cabinet. He used this position to speak out against Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which are frequently misused to target Christians and other minorities. He received regular death threats and lived under constant danger.

Pastor Lawan Andimi served as Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, and also as a church leader in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria — one of the regions most severely affected by Boko Haram violence. He ministered faithfully in an area of enormous danger, caring for his community despite the constant threat of attack. He was known as a gentle, steady and courageous pastor.

Twenty Egyptian Coptic Christians — most of them from the village of Al Our in Minya, Egypt — had travelled to Libya to find work as labourers. They were captured by ISIS in late 2014 and early 2015. Most were simple working men — builders and farm workers — who had left home to earn money for their families. The twenty-first was Matthew Ayariga, a Christian from Ghana who had been captured separately.

Stephen was one of seven men chosen by the early Jerusalem church to oversee the distribution of food to widows. Scripture describes him as full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, full of God's grace and power, performing great wonders and signs among the people. When members of various synagogues argued with him they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him. Unable to defeat his arguments, they arranged for false witnesses to accuse him of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin.

James the son of Zebedee was among the first disciples called from their fishing nets. He was one of the inner circle — present at the Transfiguration, the raising of Jairus's daughter and at Gethsemane. Jesus named him and John "Boanerges" — Sons of Thunder. He was among the most prominent leaders of the early Jerusalem church. When Jesus asked him "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" James said yes. He meant it. (Matthew 20:22)

Paul was a former persecutor of the church transformed by an encounter with the risen Christ on the Damascus road. He became the greatest missionary in church history — planting churches across three continents, writing thirteen New Testament letters and enduring beatings, stonings, shipwrecks and constant danger for Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 gives his own account of his sufferings. His final imprisonment in Rome is recorded in Acts 28 and in his letters to Timothy.

Peter the fisherman was renamed Cephas — Rock — by Jesus. He denied Christ three times, was restored at the lakeside breakfast of John 21 and became the leader of the Jerusalem church. He preached the Pentecost sermon, raised Dorcas from the dead, received the vision that opened the gospel to Gentiles and was miraculously released from prison by an angel. John 21:18-19 records Jesus's veiled prophecy of Peter's death — "when you are old you will stretch out your hands" — which John notes referred to the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.

Andrew was Peter's brother and a former disciple of John the Baptist. He was the first apostle called — it was he who brought Peter to Jesus saying "We have found the Messiah." He brought the boy with five loaves and two fish to Jesus before the feeding of the five thousand. Early tradition places his ministry around the Black Sea, Scythia, Greece and Asia Minor — always the apostle who connected people to Christ rather than to himself.

Thomas — called Didymus, meaning twin — is known for his honest doubt and his explosive declaration "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). After Pentecost, tradition recorded in the Acts of Thomas (3rd century) and strongly maintained by the Mar Thoma Christian community of Kerala holds that Thomas travelled to India, preaching in the southwest (Kerala) and later near modern Chennai. The Mar Thoma Christians trace their community directly to his ministry — a tradition that predates any Western missionary contact with India by over a thousand years.

Bartholomew is identified by many scholars with Nathanael — the man Jesus called an Israelite in whom there is no guile, who declared "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel" when Jesus demonstrated knowledge of him before they had met (John 1:47-49). Scripture records little else about him. Tradition places his missionary work in Arabia, Ethiopia, India and Armenia.

John son of Zebedee and brother of James was one of the inner circle — present at the Transfiguration, at Gethsemane and at the cross. Described as the disciple whom Jesus loved, he was present at the resurrection and became a pillar of the Jerusalem church. In later years he ministered in Ephesus. He authored the Gospel of John, three letters and the book of Revelation. He was the last surviving apostle — the final living link to the eyewitness generation.