martyr
Sign in to savethumb|330x330px|Miniature from the Menologion of Basil II depicting the [[20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia, who were martyred when Roman soldiers set their church on fire on Christmas Day, AD 302]] A martyr (, mártys, 'witness' stem , martyr-) is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial usage, the term can also refer to any person who suffers a significant consequence in protest or support of a cause.
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A martyr is someone who suffers persecution and death because they refuse to give up their religious beliefs or cause, or refuse to adopt one that others demand of them. The term matters because it describes people whose sacrifices have historically shaped religious and social movements, and in everyday language it can refer to anyone who endures serious hardship for standing by their principles.
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Article
25 sectionsContents
- Meaning
- Martyrdom in the Middle East
- Religious meanings
- Eastern religions
- Chinese culture
- Hinduism
- Sikhism
- Abrahamic religions
- Judaism
- Christianity
- Islam
- Baháʼí Faith
- Notable people entitled as religious martyrs
- Political meanings
- Sovereignty
- Unionism
- Communism
- Civil rights movement
- Notable people entitled as political martyrs
- Revolutionary martyr
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|330x330px|Miniature from the Menologion of Basil II depicting the [[20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia, who were martyred when Roman soldiers set their church on fire on Christmas Day, AD 302]] A martyr (, mártys, 'witness' stem , martyr-) is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial usage, the term can also refer to any person who suffers a significant consequence in protest or support of a cause.
In the martyrdom narrative of the remembering community, this refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of an individual by an oppressor. Accordingly, the status of the 'martyr' can be considered a posthumous title as a reward for those who are considered worthy of the concept of martyrdom by the living, regardless of any attempts by the deceased to control how they will be remembered in advance. Insofar, the martyr is a relational figure of a society's boundary work that is produced by collective memory. Originally applied only to those who suffered for their religious beliefs, the term has come to be used in connection with people killed for a political cause.