A Heritage of Witness

April/The Martyr Life

20 April 2010

Deliver me, Jesus, my soul from every vengeance, as you delivered Martin from the priest of the idol. Deliver me, Jesus, for the sake of your followers, as you delivered Patrick from poison in Tara.

  - Oengus mac Oengobann, Feilire Oengusso (Irish, 9th century)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also...run with endurance the race that is set before us.

  - Hebrews 12.1

Oengus' lengthy poem is constructed in quatrains (I've re-arranged them into narrative form for convenience) and is intended as an homage to all the saints who had come before his day as martyrs for Christ. Only some of them became red martyrs, actually dying for their faith in Christ. Most of the saints he celebrates were what Celtic Christians would call "green" martyrs. They went out from everything familiar into the wild, trusting in the Lord to supply their needs and use them as His witnesses.

The two quatrains given above follow as one breath after the next on 25 quatrains celebrating the achievement of great Biblical witnesses. Martin (of Tours) and Patrick are the first "extra-Biblical" witnesses given notice. But don't miss the point: The line of faithful witnesses doesn't end in Scripture; it extends down through the corridors of time, through the history of the Church to our own day. And so Oengus prays for the same deliverance as all the great heroes of the faith who have gone before, so that he, like them, may be faithful to carry out his own martyrdom, even if it's not red.

The large carved crosses of the Celtic period - like the Cross of Muiredach - include panels portraying great Biblical episodes and saints, but also heroes from the more recent history of the Church. Again, Celtic Christians were to understand that they, like their Biblical and historical forebears, were called to be witnesses - martyrs - for Jesus Christ. They must prepare themselves for red martrydom, and be committed to endure it in their hearts, even if it never comes. And, should God call them - be they ever so humble or simple (remember: Patrick was an unschooled ex-slave) - they should already have decided in their hearts that they would go into green martyrdom at once.

And what about us? Have we resolved in our souls on the life of martyrdom? Or do we prefer our Christian faith comfortable, easy, and risk-free? Such believers would not have made it into the quatrains of Oengus' verse, or on the carved panels of a glorious Celtic cross. Will they make into the ranks of that great cloud of witnesses?

Will you?

Today in ReVision: Full Circle

This Week's Download: Be Witnesses - Get several copies and study them with your friends. Then make a commitment to be witnesses for Christ by every means, in every situation.

The Legacy of Patrick can show you what happens when generation after generation commits to the martyr life.

T. M. Moore, nacurragh@aol.com