A Middle (Byzantine) Martyr

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I Hoboken: Wiley, (2020] I Series: The Wiley Blackwell companions to religion I Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019053462 (print) I LCCN 2019053463 (ebook) I ISBN 9781119099826 (cloth) I ISBN 9781119100041 (adobe pdf) I ISBN 9781119100027 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Martyrdom-Christianity. Classification: LCCBR1601.3 .W57 2019 (print) I LCC BR1601.3 (ebook) I DDC 272-dc23 LC record available at https:/ /lccn.loc.gov/2019053462 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019053463 Cover Design: Wiley Cover Image: © Jared I. Lenz Photography/Getty Images Set in 10/12.5pt Photina by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India Printed and bound by CPI Group (ill() Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4 YY 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 II. Early Christian Martyrdom 31 3 The Roman Persecutions 33 James Corke-Webster 4 Martyrdom and Persecution in the New Testament Paul Middleton 5 Early Jewish and Christian Martyrdom 51 72 Jan Willem van Henten 6 Martyrdom in Roman Context 88 L. Stephanie Cobb 7 Themes and Intertextualities in Pre-Nicene Exhortations to Martyrdom Paul A. Hartog 8 Early Christian Theologies of Martyrdom Jane D. McLarty 102 120 A MIDDLE (BYZANTINE) MARTYR 237 CHAPTER 14 A Middle (Byzantine) Martyr J The Power and Point of Productive Suffering Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen Middle Martyrs After a period of cultural quietude, a revival of hagiographic writing emerged at the close of the first Iconoclastic Controversy ( 7 8 7) and continued to develop in the ensuing intermission. This literary revival renewed a method of composition that had been in decline since the early seventh century, a method which would develop and flourish in celebration of the occasionally contradictory views of those who had resisted iconoclastic policies (Kazhdan, Sheery and Angelidi 1999, 9-16, 13 8; Brubaker and Haldon 2001 , xxiii; Cameron 19 9 2). With the city of Constantinople at the center, characteristic features of middle Byzantine culture-art, architecture and literature-materialized, were centralized and refined in this era. The city itself as a central component in the literary and artistic culture reflected the degree to which eastern Christian society had been deeply unsettled by a period of theological controversy, by the military advances and successes of the Danube Bulgar Khanate and Arab Caliphates, and by the dismal outcomes of negotiations (Kolia-Dermitzaki 2002). Generally speaking, martyr texts of this era were fashioned around one of a few themes: early Christian martyrs who suffered in the centuries of Roman rule prior to Christian legality; accounts of those who refused to convert to Islam, who troubled their Muslim overlords or who were caught in civil unrest in the various caliphates and battles along the western frontiers; and accounts of those caught on either side of the theological controversy around the use of icons in Christian worship. As early Christian hagiographers employed dramatic prose to mark what were perceived as theologically prefigured triumphs of the Christian messiah, hagiographers of this middle period included in their creative endeavors colorful accounts of apostolic and early saints such as Epiphanios of Kallistratou's Vita Andreae apostolic (Dressel, ed. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom, First Edition. Edited by Paul Middleton. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1843). Texts that exalted tales of traumatic demises harkened back to those initial centuries, effectively reminding eighth- and ninth-century audiences that the roots of the Apostolic religion was deeply entrenched in experiences of suffering under nonChristian leaders (Kazhdan, Sheery andAngelidi 1999, 307-308). Arab advancement in the seventh century into Byzantine territory and wars along nearly all borders created opportunity for a new category of Christian martyrs. The death of Byzantine Christian soldiers killed when fighting the Bulgars (see Wortley 1980) or the executions of Christians or Christian soldiers by Muslims were not always examples of clear-cut religious persecution; sources suggest that sometimes Christians were quite persistent in their determination to bring about their demise, as will be explored briefly below. While Theophanes the Confessor records a few martyr events of the period in his Chronographia (414, 416, 490-491 [AM 6232, 6234, 6303]; Turtledove, trans. 19 8 2) largely without embellishment as is fitting for a historian or chronicler, as hagiography developed in these centuries from the religiously devotional writings of Late Antiquity to include the tropes and methods of popular literature, authors layered existing narratives depending on a combination of popular themes, narrative devices, their own theological views and imperial loyalties (H0gel, 2003 217218). For example, the arrival of Arabs into Emperor Heraclius' newly reclaimed Palestine provided opportunity for a group of captured garrison soldiers to refuse to apostatize in fashion (Delehaye 1904; Pargoire 1905; Buillou 1957; Schick 1995, 171- 172). Killed in groups of ten and fifty on 11 November 638 and 17 December 638, respectively, the Passio Sanctorum Sexaginta Martyrum is revised and transformed into the later Passio LX martyrorum Hierosolimitanorum, according to George Huxley, who writes that the "propagandist converted the historical martyrdoms of ca 63 7 into fictitious martyrdoms of ca 726" (Huxley 1977a, 373; Brubaker and Haldon 2001; H. -G. Beck 19 5 9). Leslie Brubaker, John Hal don, Robert Schick and Stephen Gero affirm that the legendary seventh-century tale serves as a foundational narrative for the piteous account of sixty pilgrims who, when they refused to apostatize, were tortured and put to death in the age of Emperor Leo III, identified in that text as "6 nj~ 6ofa~ µv~µri~ Atwv" (Brubaker and Haldon 2001, 220; Schick 1995, 172-173; Gero 1973; Papadopoulos-Kerameus 18 9 2). Distinct from the dignified captives, the eighth-century De S. Petro episcopo Martyre featured a monk named Peter who, after a trial of several months, was executed in 715 for engaging in a consistently "active and unprovoked public slander of Islam" (Schick 1995; for a summary of De S. Petro, see Peters 1939). Monk Peter was killed only after a rather lengthy administrative analysis of his circumstances does confirm, Schick notes, that many Christians did live peacefully in cities occupied by Arabs both in the eras of the Umayyad (661-750) and the '.Abbasid (750-1517) caliphates (Schick 1995, 174, 177). Many of these middle martyr accounts verify the significant challenges that families faced when affiliated with religions that had both strong imperial links and colonial interests, as in the case of Bacchus the Younger of the Vita Bacchi (Combefis 1661; Brubaker and Haldon 2001, 208-209). The son of a Christian mother and Muslim father, Bacchus the Younger attempted to convert his brother after Bacchus became a baptized Christian. Bacchus' brother subsequently denounced him to Muslim authorities and Bacchus was arrested and decapitated (Brehier 1919). Additional martyr 238 MARTYRDOM IN THE MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION WORLD accounts in the early century of the 'Abbasid c~liphate stressed theological tensions between Christians and Muslims and suggest that like the family of Bacchus the Younger, more than one household struggled tith a variety of conversions, transformations, adaptations and apostasies from one r~ligion to the other, and back. In addition to sources such as Theophanes and other passio that report that Christians were killed in demonstrations of Arab strength (414; AM 6232), for blaspheming Islam (416; AM 6234), 1 for apostatizing from Islam,2 for refusing to convert to Islam 3 or for proselytizing (Vita Romani ; Latin, Peeters 1911). The First and Second Iconoclastic Controversies- 72 6- 7 8 7 and 814- 842, respectively-placed an ineffaceable fingerprint on the martyr literature of the middle Byzantine period, with questions of conversion and orthodoxy inextricably linked alongside the theological claims of protagonists and antagonists alike. For instance, in the Synaxarion Notice for Antlwusa of Mantineon (trans. Constas 1998), 4 Emperor Constantine V ceases rather violent bodily persecution against Anthousa, the Abbess of a double monastery, after Anthousa informs Constantine's Empress that she shall bear children, royal heirs. That the Empress subsequently "donated numerous villages and offerings to the monasteries under Antousa's direction" (trans. Constas 1998, 18), that one of the Emperor's children would bear the name ''Anthousa" (Synaxarion Notice for Anthousa, Daughter of Constantine, SynaxCP 613- 614, trans. Constas 1998, 23-24; see Mango 1982) and that this child would herself be later honored as a saint is symptomatic of the marvelous challenges that actual human relationships present to the study of history, when we might prefer a less nuanced view. Writing sometime between 8 6 7 and 8 8 7, Evodios, the author of The Martyrdom of Amarian (Brubaker and Haldon 2001) theorized that the heretical theology of the iconoclast emperors was responsible for the military successes of Christian enemies (Mart. Amarian 65.1- 2; Kazhdan 1986). However, the iconoclast Emperor Theophilos' military victories were highlighted and praised in later accounts, and great attention was devoted in hagiographies and histories to his rehabilitation into the choir of the righteous due to the prayers of his iconodule wife Empress Theodora and out of recognition of his care for the poor and concern for justice (Sophronios 40.24-42.1 in Kazhdan 1986, 254; see also Laiou 1994; Markopoulos 1998). Though Evodios' account introduces us to legendary saints, this oral tradition was based on the execution in 845 of a number of eminent persons who had been placed in confinement when Amorion was captured in 8 3 8. According to Evodios, after seven years of imprisonment-during which time the captives upheld Christian values and continued to reject attempts to be converted to Islam-they were executed in a collective martyr event on the bank of a river watched by an audience of both Christians and Muslims (for discussion of the location of the deaths, see Kolia-Dermitzald 2002). Considered by Alexander P. Kazhdan as "the last representative of the genre of collective martyrdom" (Kazhdan 1986, 160), middle Byzantine accounts such as The Martyrdom of Amarian evoked for the faithful early social solidarity of Christian identity. As well, no matter if the enemy of the martyr was a Christian or not, these accounts affirmed an embrace of the Christian individual into a greater collective, reminding the audience that suffering is not an action independent of either Christ or one another. In addition to collective martyr accounts, literary veneration of a new coalition of Christian martyrs emerged, individuals whose reputations might find themselves 1 A MIDDLE (BYZANTINE) MARTYR 239 shaped by either side of the icon argument, depending on the theology of the author. This is nowhere more apparent than in The Life of Stephan the Younger. The Vita Stephani Junioris (Greek/French edition, Auzepy 199 7) was composed in the early ninth century, approximately forty-two years after St. Stephen the Younger's martyrdom and two generations after the death of the iconoclast Emperor Constantine V under whom Stephen suffered (Auzepy 1999, 2-5; Rouan 1981, 415). 5 The authorship of the Vita is attributed to one Stephen the Deacon (Auzepy 199 7), 6 who drew from the Vita St. Euthymius as well as the writings of Cyril of Scythopolis for his highly integrated tale of a holy life (vita) and holy death (passio) of this fervently iconodule monk (Gill 1940; Auzepy 1999, 145-148; Huxley 1977b, 98 n.3; Kazhdan, Sheery and Angelidi 1999; Brubaker and Haldon 2001). 7 In addition to the Deacon's account, one finds pithy versions of Stephen's death nestled in Theophanes the Confessor's Chronicle (43 7-4 3 9 in Turtledove 1982, 125-127), and Patriarch Nilcephoros' Brief History (trans. Mango 1990). Though they are each the products of iconodule authors and highly abbreviated accounts of the future saint, both of these ninth-century texts offer opportunity, challenge and promise for the imagination of an ambitious hagiographer. The Vita Stephani is widely regarded as one of the principle documents of eighthcentury iconoclasm and a gateway text for iconodule literature (Brubaker and Haldon 2001; Lombard 1902; Huxley 1977b; Kazhdan, Sheery andAngelidi 1999). A number of hagiographers and chroniclers draw place names, motifs and language from the Vita Stephani, affirmation of its importance as a template for emerging middle Byzantine literature (Sevcenko 1977, 115-116; on the influence of the Vita on literature of the era, see Brubalcer and Haldon 2001). Though lovingly- and rightly-considered by scholars as "a jewel of the hagiography of the iconoclastic period" (Sevcenko 1977, 115), anachronistic elements have led scholars to describe this hagiobiographical 8 romance as an historically important but complicated source due, in part, to the historical context within which it was composed (Rouan 1981). 9 "The problem of separating historical fact from pious fiction in hagiography continues to exercise historians," Huxley writes, "and in no field of study is the need to sift out the truth in saints' lives more necessary, or more difficult, than in Byzantine iconoclasm" (Huxley 19 7 7b, 9 7) .10 But an accurate recounting of the historical past is rarely important in martyr narratives. Other than historical challenges presented by the text, the Vita Stephani conforms in standard ways as a model of an exemplary life (Leemans et al. 2003, 38- 47). And yet, the Deacon offers unique variations to the more traditional martyr passio or holy person's vita, true with respect to the multilayered discourse that it offers a contemporary audience as much as one of the ninth century (Auzepy 1999, 21-34). And just as martyr prose of Late Antiquity provides access to rich theology, social history and insight into attitudes and authorial intentions regarding the challenges that early Christians faced in those first centuries, martyr prose produced in the middle Byzantine period prior to the formalization of metaphrastic hagiography is equally revealing, provided historians are willing to engage beyond the narrative and draw from contemporary theories and methods in their approach to the past (Russell 19 8 6, 13 8; Brubalcer and Haldon 2001, 203). For example, aside from what the Vita Stephani teaches us about the maintenance and limits of doctrinal identity, the text offers insight into the education of women during the era of iconoclasm (Moffatt 1977, 88), the shifting 1,/ I 240 MARTYRDOM IN THE MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION WORLD monastic landscape (Vita Stephani 2 7, 2 8), clues ~bout types of dialogue-contentious and otherwise-concerning the use of images in Christian worship, and details pertain-ing to the destruction, concealment and prq<luction of images (Vita Stephani, 29; Cormack 19 7 7, 3 8; Freedberg 19 7 7, 174): For the historical theologian, the Vita Stephani provides detailed descriptions of theological contention among Christians on both sides of the iconoclasm argument (Sevcenko 1977, 116). For literary critics and historians, the Vita Stephani provides fertile ground for academic exploration of these, as well as more traditional themes often found in martyr prose. The Vita Stephani is not unique in this way, and the magisterial contributions of Marie-France Auzepy, the foremost Vita Stephani scholar, is the model for those of us who wish also to immerse ourselves in an era "dont l'obscurite offre de plaisantes opportunites a !'imagination" (Auzepy 2007, v). In what follows, I apply contemporary theoretical approaches to select passages from the Vita Stephani which demonstrate the author's use of religiously motivated violence with narrative replete with vivified suffering and pain, not for the purpose of considering how the martyr-event reinforces the "rightness" of Christianity as in the early centuries of its origin, but rather the relationship between productive suffering and the "rightness" of doctrinal identity in ninth-century Constantinople. Such passages hint at the tracks of turbulence that remain as iconoclasm recedes and doctrinal boundaries are reconstructed in a post-Seventh Ecumenical Council of Constantinople. Martyr Prose and Theories of Productive Suffering In his analysis of evolving trends in the academic study of Christian history, historian Justo Gonzalez delineated how changing voices in the academy have altered the way Christian history is now done (Gonzalez 2002, 19-32). In addition to the incorporation of anthropological and social scientific methods into the study of religious history, Gonzalez noted that contributions to the discipline due to changing demographics in the academy- from women, from people of color and from those whose economic circumstances would have previously barred their access to education-have altered the way data is analyzed, texts are read and questions are asked. As a discipline, the willingness of academics to entertain new methods, to embrace and explore interdisciplinary approaches and to ask new types of questions, to explore "opportunites a!'imagination" has implications for those who are intellectually engaged with issues of social, political, environmental and structural injustices, and for those who suffer under them. Denise Kimber Buell, writing specifically about Jewish-Christian dialogue in Why this New Race: Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity, maintains that the "the way we retell the origins of Christianity matters for those struggling with racial justice and for overcoming Anti-Judaism in the present" (Buell 2008, xii). I would add that this can be applied to history as a whole, not simply the origins of one particular group. To be fair, both Buell and Gonzalez are specifically addressing intellectual shifts in the academy as they are related to race, gender and economic status; still, their approach reflects contemporary desire to engage creatively with the past and to recognize changing voices in the fields. Further, this approach is applicable to an analysis of martyrs and martyr A MIDDLE (BYZANTINE) MARTYR 241 accounts, primarily because martyr texts were composed in an era in which the bodies of those who transgressed social and political boundaries were understood much as the bodies of the disenfranchized have been understood as plaques upon which those wielding instruments of torture might legitimately carve a message of caution. In The Suffering Self: Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early Christian Era, classics scholar Judith Perkins traces a central-claim that while Christian narratives of suffering represent not only the historical reality of pain, suffering is an important-if not essential-productive component of self-identification of the early Christian institution, a theme made readily available through the literary tradition of the making of a martyr (Fox 19 9 4, 13 4-13 5). Perkins argues that as Christianity develops as a religion around a single, public presentation of a suffering body and subsequent multiple suffering body narratives, institutional Christian authority became dependent on recognition of the "suffering self" as an element of agency (Perkins 199 5, 12-13). Theatre and performance art historian Marla Carlson (2010) presents an analysis of the operation of public presentations of real or imagined pain across centuries and within contexts as unifying forces for meaning-making. Her study of provocative performance art alongside medieval texts examines why a performance of pain might be productive for a given audience, and given the context, why performance artists select certain types of performances of pain, why certain types of performances require particular methods, and the role of the state and religion in texts that portray public suffering and death. Finally, psychotherapist and anthropologist James Davies' The Importance of Suffering: The Value and Meaning of Emotional Discontent provides an important medical corrective to reading sources that document human struggles with pain. Davies' traces how various analyses of suffering have led to a modern culture that is hell-bent to anesthetize itself against all forms of discontent. Davies identifies as the impetus of his research the social challenges that emerged in the wake of the American Psychiatric Association's 1980 reclassification of normal human emotions. The outcome of this decision was that "sadness, depression, grief and anxiety" were now classified "as indicating mental disorders that require medical treatment" (Davies 2012, 2). Davies claims this culminates in an overall rejection of suffering of any kind as integral to the reform of self and society, and a subversion of productive forms of suffering. While it might seem that contemporary medical theory is light years from a middle Byzantine martyr, Davies' perspectives on transition rituals involved in "suffering as protest" offer some interesting parallels to monastic methods of ascetic training, methods that invite descent into suffering that is productive, suffering that exists for the express purpose of the transcendence of self and the transformation of self and society. Though diverse in discipline, the work of all three of these academics highlight the value of an interdisciplinary approach both towards historical documents, analysis of the historical past and the significance of the past for understanding very real pain that is experienced in the present. And what they represent in distinction of discipline they make up for in their overall agreement with the following simple conclusion: pain has an important social function, and therefore the experience, awareness or performance of pain should be taken seriously (Plass 19 9 5, 5 6- 61). Below, I offer analysis of the text as a theological history for the purpose of exploring the idea that Stephen the Deacon's use of productive pain when refashioning the martyr's death (Auzepy 1999, 1) I I' 242 MARTYRDOM IN THE MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION WORLD highlights the singularly important role of pain _a nd suffering in the construction of spiritual authority, and speaks to the importance of doctrinal fidelity for ninth-century Byzantine Christians who remain confused ltY or who are ambiguous about the theological disagreement concerning the use of images in Christian liturgy and individual spiritual practice. Stephen the Younger in his Historical Context Emperor Constantine V's instigation of the first Seventh Council of Constantinople was only part of what would doom his legacy, as he was the son of and co-ruler with Emperor Leo III, later pilloried in iconodule texts as unambiguously iconoclastic at worst, opportunistic at best. Leslie Brubaker, commenting on the obscuring of sources from this era notes, "We are left, then, with no clear indication of Leo III's beliefs, save that around 730 Germanos held him up as a friend of images; and that in the early ninth century he was the villain of a legend about the beginning of the image struggle" (Brubaker 2012, 29; Brubaker and Haldon 2011). The ambiguity of the historical and hagiographic sources presents a challenge for the historian, and it is difficult to make judgements about where many of these imperial figures stood on the continuum of icon/ anionic theology. For the Deacon, there was no ambiguity about where the imperial figures stood. In the Vita Stephani the Deacon implicates Leo III, the father of the Emperor under whom Stephen would die, by taking actions that prompted Stephen's father to leave the city, a literary strategy which skillfully suggests that the narrative will end with sons even as it begins with fathers. As a consequence of Emperor Leo's discourse against icons (Vita Stephani 9), his destruction of the image of the XaAKJ? gate (Vita Stephani 10) 11 and the ensuing violence, Stephen's father takes the family and they leave their home in the city (Vita Stephani 11). Though the Deacon spends little time with the XaAKrJ incident, the discourse and destruction are noted in the synaxarion notice for one martyred St. Theodosia (SynaxCP 828- 830; Constas 1998, 5- 6), which relates how when a member of the imperial guard was sent to remove an icon of Christ that was fixed above the XaAKrJ Gate, a group of women knocked him to the ground where he died, after which they were immediately arrested and beheaded. 1 2 The icon was removed, and in its place was put an image of the cross and an Iambic poem which read: "The ruler does not tolerate that Christ be depicted [as] a voiceless shape and bereft of breath, with earthly matter, [which is] condemned by the Scriptures; Leo, with his son Constantine, marks the thrice-blessed image of the cross, the glory of believers, upon the gate of the royal palaces" (Gero 1973, 114- 115). 13 Though not established in a contemporary account and widely considered iconodule propaganda (Auzepy 2007, 451, 48 5), the chilling events of this revolt are no less disturbing for their fiction. Further, the XaAKJ? incident is helpful for thinking about the role of the laity in provoking social disquiet, it provides an unequivocal illustration of what people believe are legitimate end-results to erroneous (and therefore dangerous) theology, it sets in motion brutal unrest and provides credibility for Stephen's later rational choice against a religious doctrine that manifests truth in cruelty. Further, the stark A MIDDLE (BYZANTINE) MARTYR 243 brutality in the account is transformed by an author who wishes to offer his audience an alternative, and promote the value of subverting violence with docility. Stephen, havingJeft the city with his family and having been entrusted to the care of John on Mount St. Auxence, dedicated himself to the monastic life. He became a rigorously ascetic leader and, eventually, a revered figure (Vita Stephani 13- 20). The individual body as representative of success is an idea as genuinely modern as it is ancient, and Stephen's vigorous ascetic regime is a physical affirmation of his doctrinal identity with a religion that invites its followers to embrace and transform the hardships of this world, for the sake of the world. Because the cultivation of this practice eventually provided Stephen with authority at the communal level, the Imperial Court placed a high value on his approval. It is rare, one might argue, that one's values are not reflected in some bodily way, and Davies sees these spheres as inextricably linked: "[b]odies bend to the idea's request," he writes, becoming '"embodied,' in so far as they shape the body," which provides the physique with opportunity to function as a "vehicle for achieving social success" (Davies 2012, 19). However primary source historians and hagiographers would cast him, Emperor Constantine V certainly appeared to have embraced the view that imperial figures functioned as an embodiment of God's power and God's benevolence, manifested in an inaccurate understanding of themselves as imperial architects of orthodoxy, and therefore appropriate figures to make pronouncements on important theological positions. In the midst of a clearly traumatic first decade of rule, 14 Emperor Constantine V engaged in and sponsored significant theological reflection on proper representation of the dual natures of Christ. For any number of reasons which historians have debated, 15 he called a synod in 7 54 to make his position official. Though it would not be labeled "ecumenical," the imperial Council of Hieria determined that the sole proper representation of Christ was found in the substance of the Eucharist; any images of Christ, the Theotokos or saints divided Christ's natures and dishonored the memory of those alive in God. According to the text preserved by iconodules in the account of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the painter who creates and the worshipper who venerates are guilty of separating the natures of Christ, and therefore they are guilty of blasphemy and heresy (Schaff and Wace (Percival) 1999, 543-546). The Deacon writes in the Vita Stephani that Stephen was busy at this time providing advice to monks in Constantinople regarding where they might relocate and refused to agree to the ruling of the council (Vita Stephani 2 7- 28). But ·as a recognized authority among monastics Stephen was pressed to accept Emperor Constantine V's Council doctrine (Vita Stephani 30) and asked to function in this way as a model of spiritually authoritative support for one whose authority should not, to the imperial mind, be challenged. After attempts to obtain Stephen's approval of the Hieria Council failed and Stephen asserts his willingness to die rather than admit to the theology of an emperor whom he sees as heretical, 16 Stephen was sent from one exile to the next, each time demonstrating sanctity and fidelity of word and deed (Vita Stephani 41, 45, 48-54). Having exasperated Emperor Constantine V by rejecting the theology of the Hieria Council, and after offering a further insult to the Emperor by surviving the exiles and torments, Stephen was killed on the way to his execution by a blow to the head (Vita Stephani 69). This is not a surprise ending. 244 MARTYRDOM IN THE MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION WORLD Productive Suffering: The Significance of _Stephen It is usually at this point in the classroom study.pf martyrdom phenomena that incredulous students predictably inquire, "Why don1t;the martyrs just lie?" a question which reveals in unembellished terms Davies' concern with the anesthetization of contemporary culture and preponderance of negative models of suffering. Leslie Brubaker notes this trend as well, writing that "[a ]sin virtually all Byzantine depictions of martyrdoms, the dying saints elicit little sympathy from most modern viewers, to whom they appear remarkably detached" (Brubaker 1999, 21- 22). The cultural mediation of "pain as problematic" has, for many in contemporary society, challenged our ability to fathom that an opportunity to experience pain, productive or otherwise, on behalf of or in compliance with a doctrinal position could be seen in other circumstances as an honorable, healthy action, a legitimate privilege, an affirmation of the truth of a theology, even as it conflicts with an existing social order. In the case of iconoclasm, existing social orders can be oppressive, and Davies notes that actions of conformity that impeded the wellbeing of the individual are "unhealthy" actions; conversely, "healthy acts are not necessarily those that conform with the existing social order" (Davies 2012, 23). Healthy actions might bring suffering, but they are good for the individual in that their integrity is not compromised, and therefore they are ultimately good for the group. In these moments, Davies' claim that "[a]n experience that can mark you as unhinged in one society can mark you as inspired in another" is verified (Davies 2012, 50). The link between Stephen's doctrinal identity and the individual body as a vehicle for social success begins before his conception and runs as a consistent theme through the first section of the Vita. In "The Cult of the Martyrs and the Cappadocian Fathers", Vasiliki Limberis (2010) outlines the rich links that fourth-century Cappadocian theologians forged between the martyrs, expressions of civic piety and their own elite families. The Deacon, in his Vita, introduces the martyred saint to the audience through levels of kinship that include physical and spiritual ancestry, sparing no expense to link Stephen with biblical models of piety and purity, Christian 'kin' at many levels (Limberis 2011, 100-103). Stephen's mother, having likened her failure to conceive and bear a son to that of biblical and extra-biblical figures, offers prayers daily before an image of the Theotolws for the conception of a son (Vita Stephani 4). This offers a poignant example of the relationship between women and icons (Talbot and Kazhdan 19 9 2 ), offers insight into familial and social health, and introduces the importance of the veneration of icons and icon piety in Stephen's family even prior to his conception. As mentioned earlier, Stephen's family disrupts their existence when fleeing the outcome brought about in Constantinople from Emperor Leo Ill's discourse and actions against iconodules and his spiritual father prophecies that Stephen's destiny is to be a victim of the "icon burners (eiKovoKauo-rwv)" (Vita Stephani 15). The conclusion of the first act finds both fathers deceased and the sons each gaining in appropriate forms of authority: Stephen a rigorous ascetic (Vita Stephani 20), and Emperor Constantine ready to impose his heresy (Vita Stephani 23-26). One can deduce at the culmination of the account that suffering has shaped Stephen's development as an individual in deep and significant ways; "Suffering was therefore the first step towards liberation from subjugation and towards development of the self" (Davies 2012, 3 7). It is a constructive component of A MIDDLE (BYZANTINE) MARTYR 245 what it means for him to be alive and in his vocation as a monastic; it will shape the remainder of his life; and that suffering is, as Davies writes, integral to Stephen's own "social reform and betterment" (Davies 2012, 2-3). Davies .would call this suffering "productive," which in Stephen's case becomes a revolutionary movement towards Stephen's own martyrdom. In an essay in which he maintains the infinite nature of power, Foucault answers the question- "Is it useless to revolt?"-with affirmation that no power is strong enough to ultimately prevent those who choose from risking death if faced with injustice (in Foucault 1999, 131- 134). In this spirit, in the context of martyr prose, no political or natural power is strong enough to operate as a barrier to doctrinal freedom. I am not convinced that power is limitless, as Foucault claims, for in the construction of a narrative that fit with the theological history of the Church, a failed attempt at the subversion of Stephen the Younger to iconoclast theology means that Emperor Constantine V's power is curbed at Stephen's death. This productive suffering provides opportunity for Stephen to function as a public embodiment of orthodox Christian doctrine, eventually affirmed at seven Ecumenical Councils. Stephen's subversion of an imperially-forced deviation of Christian theology disrupts the social fabric of imperial power, challenges this mechanism through the Emperor's impiety, and invites inquiry of productive pain as a requisite catharsis for a community seeking validation. The cultivation of ascetic behavior, and authority derived from it, are components of Christian activity that emerge simultaneous to the construction of martyr events 17 in the early history of Christianity's growth into a religion independent of Judaism. Even before the formal development of monastic communities and the development and cultivation of fairly standard ascetic practices, early texts document the restraint that should be exhibited towards sexual activity, food and other worldly pleasures. 18 With the construction of organized expressions of hermitic and coenobitic monasticism, ascetic behavior-complete with its embrace of bodily suffering- becomes creatively ritualized through the integrity of an autonomous holy person's ascetic choice. In imitation of the accounts that describe Jesus' withdrawal into the desert, Jesus' transitional experiences in that site and his reincorporation into society for the benefit of society, hagiographers consistently document monastic bodily seclusion, spiritual transition, transformation and reincorporation into society for the benefit of society. 19 Identified as "rites of passage" by the discipline of anthropology, ecclesiastical status is achieved at each particular stage of the process, Davies explains, and these stages form identifiable components of Stephen's Vita (Davies 2012, 112-114). It is worth noting that there is a considerable division between an anthropological or psychosocial analysis of these stages and an ascetic analysis; while the discussion as Davies organizes it is focused on the betterment of the individual, this is less the case when dealing with a martyr, regardless of that martyr's historical era or locus in the eastern or western Empire. For monastics, descent and transformation is precisely for the results of reincorporation, which might include authority gained or it might include death. But as the monastic figures re-emerged into Byzantine society, their experience of suffering within seclusion prepares them- as with Stephen- to address the ills of society as they are encountered. For Stephen, suffering in his and his family's life pre-, post-conception, in childhood and youth led him to explore suffering in the second act of his life, pain that supported the 246 MARTYRDOM IN Tl-!E MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION WORLD body as Davies' aforementioned "vehicle for achieving social success" (Davies 2012, 19), the red thread traced in the narrative. Stephen the Younger is, of course, the nam~ake of the famous Proto-martyr (Vita Stephani 5), brained by an angry mob for his alleged challenge to the central institutions of Judaism (Acts 6:13). At its core, the multiple links between our middle Byzantine martyr and the Proto-martyr of the Acts of the Apostles are too obvious to ignore, doubtlessly the author's intent. It is worth noting one or two points of comparison. First I would emphasize that both accounts narrate a breakdown of existing factions within a broader, but still singular, community. With respect to the Proto-martyr, his contentious encounter with the Council in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 6:8-7: 5 7) highlights a theological dispute among early followers of the Jesus movement vis-a-vis Jesus' person and his relationship with prophets passed, a dispute which provided an opportunity for an unambiguous demarcation between individuals who will be identified as persecutors and persecuted (Matthews 2010, 94). Though the historical reality of the complex relationship between Jews and Christians continued to unfold in subsequent centuries, in the death of the Proto-martyr there is opportunity to discipline the historical narrative such that the swift barbarity of the death neatly and quite decisively splits that broader community into insiders and outsiders, orthodox and heterodox (Matthews 2010, 94). The measure of importance placed on this breach is revealed in mob violence rendered all the more brutal for the proto-martyr's humility (Acts 7:60). Shelley Matthews affirms this "etiology of the parting as caused by the murder of the innocent victim by the hostile enemy" (Matthews 2010, 95), which divorces the account from imperial violence and locates the centre of the dispute in the person of Jesus (referencing Cancilc 1997). So too, we find in the Vita Stephani that the point of contention is one of theology; a claim related to the person of Jesus and quantifiable sacred materials separates two factions within one broader community. 20 But unlike martyr literature which either emerges in early centuries of Christian history or harkens back to it, literature which recounts the conflict of a Christian stoically facing a government machine in the form of officials or animals, the Vita Stephani presents its audience with a much different type of enemy than that of a pagan official; in this case, the "enemy" of one Christian is another Christian. In this way, middle Byzantine, iconodule martyr accounts are distinguished from early martyr accounts of previous centuries by virtue of the theological relationship of the persecutors and the victims of persecution, _more so than by any alleged crimes. The historical fact of the persecution of iconodules makes the Vita Stephani Junioris valuable as part of an historical narrative of those martyred at the hands of those with the same religious affinity, if not religious identity, as doctrinal differences are vast despite how negligible those differences might appear to those outside the custom. The Vita Stephani Junioris markets the death to ninth century audiences, who are re-introduced to a first-century, first generation member of the Jesus movement, and a death re-interpreted in subsequent centuries as a history-making moment of closure in Christianity's relationship with Judaism. The second element worth noting is related to this "other Christian" noted above, and here I wish to mention the behavior of the martyrs in the face of their accusers. In the Acts account, Stephen the Proto-martyr informs the Council that they have opposed the Spirit of God, and persecuted and murdered their prophets (Acts 7: 52). He responds A MIDDLE (BYZANTINE) MARTYR 247 to their anger rationally, revealing a countenance lauded in Gregory of Nyssa's fourthcentury sermons on the Proto-Martyr as revelatory of his angelic nature. 21 So too, though Stephen the Younger suffers physical abuse, he responds to humiliation with humility. After receiving lashings on his face, Stephen the Younger quietly insists that the heretics are in error, that in form and faith the "pseudo-council" contradicts previous conciliar activity and therefore can be consider neither "holy" nor "ecumenical;" it has no representation by bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch or Jerusalem and its theology denies that of the previous six councils (Vita Stephani 44). Stephen's refusal to validate the pseudo-council's claims against images is no less than a repudiation and invalidation of the religious authority of the Emperor, imperial representative of Christ to the Empire. While academic analysis of iconoclast actions against monastics in this phase of the heresy has focused on the actions of the Emperor as evidence of a "war on monasticism" (Noble 2009, 64-68), the emperor as anti-monastic detracts from additional issues in the text, such as the location of religious authority and the Deacon's opportunity to provide closure for ninth-century Christians who are living with the residue of iconoclasm. Concerns within the account of Stephen's death (Acts 7:58-60) in Acts are clearly analogous to those in the Deacon's Vita, and surely the Deacon is refashioning the martyr for a church that keenly senses and is concerned for separation from those with heretical views. Both the Acts account and the Vita Stephani have important links that reveal the fragility of theological victory in Constantinople of the ninth century, and Jerusalem of the first. In each case victory is only achieved by suffering compounded by domestic crisis. Stephen holds fast to his rejection of the council throughout the entirety of the Vita. His acceptance of productive pain inflicted as a result of devotion to a theological position provides for the audience and therefore the community an affirmation that productive pain undercuts worldly power, affirms and empowers the religious authority of the martyr (Perkins 1995, 12, 114), and serves as a reminder to the broader (and future) Christian community that productive suffering is a central component of Christian identity. The Deacon includes suffering as a ritual component of Christian identity to link his narrative with an early and important legitimization of believers in a state of crisis (Perkins 19 9 5, 3 2), to claim for Stephen's Life, at the very least, a romantic approach to the Christian view of history. Conclusion Christianity's cultural past includes a rich history of martyr narratives, but regardless of the conclusions historians draw concerning the extent of the Roman persecution of Christians, historically, practitioners of many religions have been abused, tortured and killed for having made a rational choice about a professed doctrinal identity. A state or empire might torment to create order, and the legitimization of productive suffering and those who suffer through narrative is often a by-product of public anguish (Carlson 2010, 5-6 referencing Foucault 1977, 63). Carlson identifies that the purpose of public torture is to "right" the wrongs done by those who suffer and to situate power where it belongs: in the hands of the political figure, such that "[s] 248 MARTYRDOM IN THE MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION WORLD tripping, whipping, and even mutilation all cont~ibute to performative shame and loss of identity" (Carlson 2010, 53). This is not problematic for an ascetic, who engage in spiritual martyrdom on a daily basis. Intentio.fial humiliation and destruction of the will is a natural conclusion for one who already dies daily through an ascetic regime of productive suffering, severe or moderate. Stephen's physical being might be undermined, but his religious identity is not undermined by his death, nor is the Emperor's affirmed; quite the opposite. Rather than ridding himself of a troublesome monk, the Emperor assists the martyr in using Stephen's own body as a vehicle for social success. In this way, the productive performance of vivified pain endured by Stephen the Younger operates in a manner opposite to its intention at an imperial level (Carlson 2010, 52-53). The degree to which victims of martyr events have understood either the doctrine or the consequences of holding to a doctrinal position is variable, but sources suggest that some have known precisely what the consequences of that choice would be. 22 If we are willing to accept that these individuals act freely-a claim that Christian theology supports and promotes-a Christian who voluntarily suffers does participate and exercise a degree of power in that participation, choosing pain and perhaps death over injustice, though I caution that "participation" does not equal "consent" by any pure calculation. Further, I maintain that construction of a narrative designed for an intended audience for whom the martyr-account is valuable is no less than a form of productive participation in the suffering, even if not the continued physical participation of the martyr. With respect to the centrality of productive pain for community, if cultural memory is malleable (Castelli 2 004, 17- 19) than we can appreciate that the link between our two Stephens carries greater significance than a fatally fractured skull. The Deacon constructs his narrative around a theological dispute that is forced by a heretical faction in the broader community; doing so allows him opportunity to claim ownership with and connect events of the recent past to a history that is greater than that which personal experience allows. In addition, linking Stephen the Younger with Stephen the Proto-martyr provides greater potential for interpretation of that past, for his present community and for those in the future (Castelli 2004, 20). As the Deacon looked back several decades to maim sense of the brutality of iconoclasm for his generation, he would not likely have agreed that true religious authority was affirmed in acts of violence, shame and terror, but rather that it was housed in the fragility of those willing to speak the truth to those who would seek to silence them by terror. In a world in which authority is too often lodged in the hands of those who shout the loudest, I am reminded, for example, of how Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl who was shot in the face for spealdng in favor of education for women, flipped that narrative; in 2013, speaking at the United Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon astutely identified that "[t]he extremists showed what they fear most- a girl with a book" (Johnston 2013). And while we know that Constantine most likely did not "fear most a monk with an icon," still I believe that the Deacon would have liked that phrase, and he might even have used it in his contextualization of legitimate and illegitimate forms of religious authority, and in his caution to the broader Orthodox community to stand against imperial intervention in religious affairs. A MIDDLE (BYZANTINE) MARTYR 249 Notes 1 For example, Passio Michaelis Sabaite (Latin, Peeters 1930; English, Blanchard 1994). 2 Anastatius the Sinaite recounts that one George the Black, a former child captive, converts from Christianity to Islam, and then again as an adult to Christianity, after which he is executed as an apostate. Schick 1995, 175:'Flusin 1991, 387, 403-404. See also the account of an 'Abbcsid martyr, Christopher, executed in 778 in Garitte 1958, 198-199; and Schick 1995, 175. 3 De XLII martyribus Am.oriensibus Narrationes et carm.ina sacra, ed. Wassiliewsky, and Nikitine 1898, no. 3, 9-17; iii. ser. 7; 1905, no. 2; and Passio XXVI monachorum Zobae in SynaxCP 98, and Menologium. Basilii 80D-81A, in Brubaker and Baldon, 2001, 219-220. 4 SynaxCP 848-852, Synaxarion Notice for Anthousa of Mantineon, trans. Constas 1998, 16-19. 5 There is scholarly debate about these dates; while Auzepy (1999, 2-5) identifies 807 as the year of authorship, placing it 42 years after the death of Stephen, Brubaker and Baldon (2001, 226) identify 764 and 809 as the dates of death and document, respectively. 6 I refer in this paper to Stephen the Deacon as "the Deacon," to distinguish author from martyr, referred to as "Stephen." 7 Kazhdan, Sheery and Angelidi (1999, 184) also note that the Deacon drew from Cyril of Scythopolis in his passage on Stephen's education. Considerable academic discussion exists around editing and interpolations of and in the Vita; Brubaker and Baldon, 2001, 226,277. 8 "The Christian biographical literature .. .can be characterized as 'hagiobiographical.' This means that at its centre is not so much the individual, his/her life and accomplishments as such but the individual as hagios, as a man or woman of God. Ultimately its purpose is not descriptive but exhortatory: portraying the saint as a model Christian, as an example worthy of imitation" (Leemans et al. 2003, 22). 9 While Lombard, Huxley and Gero make much of anachronisms as problematic for the trustworthiness of the account, Auzepy is of the mind that the chronology was firmly in the hands of the author, who made free use of the events to suit the arch of the narrative. See Rouan 1981, 183-203. 10 Thomas Noble (2009, 65) cautions the use of iconodule documents as a whole as historical sources for the era; iconoclasm "is not the story of the eighth century in Byzantium ... [but is] an occasional, albeit memorable character in the story." 11 For consideration of the historical accuracy of this event, see Auzepy 19 9 9, 14 5-17 8. 12 There are several versions of this alleged event apart from the Synaxarion account: the Vita Stephani (10) makes reference to the women, but does not name anyone specifically. Theophanes the Confessor makes no reference to gender when he reports that "masses of the imperial city" resist the destruction of the image (405; AM 6218; Turtledove 1982, 9 7). For a singular exploration of the role of women in the iconoclastic controversies, see Kazhdan and Talbot 19 91. 13 For consideration of commonalities in iconodule and iconoclast theology, see Llewellyn 2009. 14 Though he won some significant battles, Emperor Constantine V enjoyed diplomatic, theological and political challenges; see Noble 2009, 6 7-68. 15 Talbot (1998, xii-xiii) provides a lovely summary of the main theories and scholarly conversation regarding causes of iconoclasm, complete with key texts and critical views of some of the theories. 250 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 MARTYRDOM IN THE MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION WORLD "Quant a la prosternation devant les saintes ic6~es, je suis tout pret a mourir pour elle, car je ne tiens aucun compte de l'empereur heresiarque qui ose rejeter les ic6nes" (Vita Stephani 30; Auzepy 1999, 225; see also Vita Stephani f 4). According to Tacitus (Ann. 15.44), as early ~s Emperor Nero's reign Christians are martyred, although in that case not from concern for doctrine, but more likely because they fit the requirements of a scapegoat. Stereotypes of scapegoat accounts include themes of crime (Christians as vandals), blame (they are harmful and therefore must eliminated) and class (they represent affiliation with a "group" foreign to the collective body, and therefore vulnerable.) Girard 1986, 14-15. For example, Ep. Barn. 14; Prat. James, 1.2; Herm. 3.10.6; Gasp. Thom. 87; Gasp. Eb. 2, 7; see Finn 2009, 58-99. Love of God and love of neighbor was, Basil the Great would argue, at the root of the ascetic life; take loving action on behalf of those in need, operate as Christ to those in need, and harmony and authentic community will be the result (Basil the Great, On the Renunciation of the World; Wagner 1962, 17). Monks are also divided on this issue as well as laity and hierarchs (Auzepy 1988, 6-8). "Thus being outside human nature, he shared the angelic nature which seemed lilrn a miracle to these murderers. His face was changed to assume that of the angels and seeing invisible reality, he proclaimed the grace he had beheld [cf. Acts 7.56]." Gregory of Nyssa, Serm. Rodney Stark (1996, 163-189) argues that rational choice theory is a more convincing answer to the question as to why individuals affiliated with religion (in this case, Christianity) might self-select a creed that places such a costly expectation upon them. Le Diacre, Introduction, Edition Et Traduction. Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs. Volume 3. London: Variorum. Auzepy, Marie-France. 1999. L'Hagiographie et L'Iconoclasm Byzantin: Le cas de la Vie D'Etienne Le Jeune. Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs. Vol. 5. London: Ashgate. Auzepy, Marie-France. 2007. L'histoire des iconoclastes. Paris: Association des Amis de Centre d'Histoire et Civilization de Byzance. Beck, H.-G. 19 59. 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London and New York, Routledge. Peeters, Paul. 1911. Vita Romani, "S. Romain le neomartyr (t 1 mai 780) d'apres un document georgien." Analecta Bollandiana, 30: 393-427. Peeters, Paul. 19 30. Passio Michaelis Sabaite, "La Passion de S. Michel le Saba'ite." Analecta Bollandiana, 48: 62-98. Peeters, Paul, trans. 19 3 9. "La Passion de S. Pierre de Capitolias (t 13 janvier 715)." Analecta Bollandiana, 5 7: 2 9 9-3 3 3. Percival, H.R. , trans. 1999. "Epitome of the Definition of the Iconoclastic Conciliabulum, Held in Constantinople, A.D. 754" from The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church. Reprinted in A Select Library of Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, edited by P. Schaff and H. Wace, 543-546. Peabody: Hendrickson. Plass, Paul. 1995. The Game of Death in Ancient Rome: Arena Sport and Political Suicide. University of Wisconsin Press. Rouan, M.F. 19 81. "Une lecture 'iconoclast' de la Vie D'Etienne le Jeune." Travaux et Memoires, 8: 415-436. Russell, James. 1986. "Transformations in Early Byzantine Urban Life: the 253 Contribution and Limitations of Archaeological Evidence." 1 7th International Byzantine Congress, Major Papers, 135-154. New Rochelle, NewYork: Aristide d Caratzas. Schick, Robert. 1995. Christian Communities of Palestine from Byzantine to Islamic Rule: A Historical and Archaeological Study. Princeton: The Darwin Press. Schmitt, Th. N, ed. 1906. Vita Michaelis syncelli Hierosolymitani. "Karie Dzhami. Istoriia monastiria Chori. Architektura mecheti. Mozaiki narfikov." IRAIK, 11: 227-255. Sevcenko, Ihor. 1977. "Hagiography of the Iconoclast Period." In Iconoclasm: Papers given at the ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham, March 1975, edited by Anthony Bryer and Judith Herrin, 113-131. Centre for Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham. Stark, Rodney. 1996. The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries. San Francisco: HarperOne. Talbot, Alice-Mary, ed. and trans. 1998. SynaxCP 848-52, Synaxarion Notice for Anthousa of Mantineon. Byzantine Defenders of Images: Eight Saints' Lives in English Translation. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks. Turtledove, Henry, trans. 1982. Theophanes. Chronogrophia. The Chronicle of Theophanes Anni mundi 6095-6305 (A.D. 602-813). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Wagner, MonicaM., trans. 1962. Basil of Caesarea, "On the Renunciation of the World." In Saint Basil: Ascetical Works. Washington: Catholic University of America Press. Wortley, John. 19 80. "Legends of the Byzantine Disaster of 811." Byzantion, 50: 533-562. 254 MARTYRDOM IN THE MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION WORLD CHAPTER 15 Further Reading Auzepy, Marie-France. 199 7. La Vie D' Etienne Le Jeune Par Etienne Le Diacre, Introduction, Edition Et Traduction, Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs, Volume 3. London: Variorum. This volume provides students of history and literature of Late Antiquity with Auzepy's critical edition, French translation and commentary of La Vie D' Etienne Le Jeune. Auzepy, Marie-France. 19 9 9. L'Hagiographie et L'Iconoclasm Byzantin: Le cas de la Vie D'Etienne Le Jeune. Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs. Volume 5. London: Ashgate. In this companion piece to her critical edition and translation of La Vie D' Etienne Le Jeune, Auzepy explores the role of the hagiographer, hagiography, monks and the role of the Patriarch in the first period of Iconoclasm. Brubaker, Leslie and John Haldon. 2011. Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (ca. 680-850): A History. Cambridge University Press. This multidisciplinary study provides a comprehensive survey and analysis of the complicated history of iconoclasm; essential reading for students of Late Antiquity and the history of the Byzantine Empire. Castelli, Elizabeth A. 2004. Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making. Columbia University Press. Castelli's study identifies the central role that persecution played in the formulation of Christian theology and the significance of martyr -piemory in contemporary Christian 1 1 thought. Davies, James. 2012. The Importance of Suffering: The Value and Meaning of Emotional Discontent. London: Routledge. Davies' provocative and important analysis of the role of suffering in human development encourages a re-evaluation of contemporary views of managing emotional pain. Gero, Stephen. 19 7 3. Byzantine Iconoclasm During the Reign of Leo III, With Particular Attention to the Oriental Sources. Louvain, Secretariat du Corpus. No book title has ever more accurately described its contents, and Gero's study of the source material pertinent to specific point of time in the history of Iconoclasm is essential reading for the serious student of this era. Matthews, Shelly. 2010. The Perfect Martyr: The Stoning of Stephen and the Construction of Christian Identity. Oxford University Press. Matthews' study of the Stephen narrative situations the Luke-Acts account within its historical context of religious conflict among Jewish and non-Jewish followers of the Jesus Movement. Perkins, Judith. 199 5. The Suffering Self: Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early Christian Era. London and New York, Routledge. Perkins' analysis of early Christianity approaches to the "self" draws on feminist and social theory to explore the place of pain in Christian narratives. Bohemian Martyrdom at the Dawn of the Reformation Thomas A. Fudge In the year of the Lord 1419 , in the month of November, the priest Jan, called Nakvasa, who visited people in villages [of SW Bohemia] who loved the truth of God, and used to give them the body and blood of the Lord Christ in the utraquist way, was captured during his travels by Lord Racek of Rozmberk and his servants, and exchanged with Germans from Bavaria for a great gift. And when he would not denounce the giving of communion while he was tormented, exposed to blasphemy and tortured by the Germans, they pierced his hands with swords, drew ropes through him and tied him to a tree, put dry twigs from fences and other wood around him, mixed in straw, and burned him (Goll 1893, 352). T he fate of Jan Nakvasa is not uncommon and must be seen as only one of many images flickering in the shadows which both reveal and conceal important aspects of the later Middle Ages. Medieval Martyrdom and its Context With few exceptions, the study of Hussite history, and the Bohemian martyrs, has been dominated by Czech-language scholarship with generally impressive results. ~nterference by the Austrian regime in the nineteenth century and the destabilizing impact of politically-inspired Marxism in the twentieth century not only limited but distorted Czech historiography especially between the 1940s and the 19 80s. This was especially true of religious topics. In the walce of 19 8 9, Hussite history suffered a further eclipse as it was associated with the former regime. Anglophone scholarship, building on the work of Frederick G. Heymann, Matthew Spinka, and Howard Kaminsky began to carve out new territory. David Holeton's work on liturgical texts is a sterling example. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom, First Edition. Edited by Paul Middleton. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.