May we discuss martyrdom at all? After all more Christians have died for their faith in the last century than in all other centuries combined. May we discuss martyrdom if we leave out Eastern Europe?

Zenit recommended I start here http://www.fides.org/index.php?lan=eng

I hope this is alright to post here. I don't wish to offend anyone.

No mention of Sudan or the Middle East. Hmm... at least it's a start.

http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=30676&lan=eng

Again, I mean to offend no one. I'm trying to compile a list of as many martyrs as I can. I believe to the best of our ability they should be honored.

We're seeing more Christian martyrs all the time in the Middle East. It seems to me that over the centuries the most consistent places of martyrdom for Christians have been the Muslim lands. We only have to wait for a "regime change" somewhere in the Middle East and it brings a whole new wave of Christian martyrdom with it. Very sad.

Sounds like those "peaceful" Muslims are at it again.

The Rwanda troubles of nearly a decade ago are very troubling. One can understand a little why Muslims kill Christians and Jews but I wonder why Christians would kill Christians. Yes, I know they were of different tribes. Still, does the common Christian faith mean so little? There are so many issues I don't fully understand, even though I've studied them much of my adult life. Perhaps I never will. Nevertheless, discussion may help. Who knows?

Sadly Christians only kill Christians because of sin. Over the centuries Christians, indeed whole churches, have been overcome by political fervor (or perhaps pride) and campaigned (in the military sense) against each other. Its more or less been that way from the beginning. Remember the Lord Himself chastising the Apostles for having so little faith? Peter denying Christ? Our fallen human nature at work - that's why all this happens.

The antidote is grace and a life of prayer and repentence, worked out by "struggle and tears" as an Orthodox abbot friend of mine often says. Our hope is in the Lord, not in men or the princes of men as the psalm says.

We can talk about it but we must realize that both Catholics and Orthodox were martyred by the atheist communist and their collaborators (sadly some of them were members of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches).

The life of the New Martyrs of Russian and Eastern Europe (both Catholic and Orthodox) are inspiring to read and their intersession is most powerful for us during this time of growing religious persecution in America.

Nelson

That is true. Not to tear at a scab, I have known this for as long as I can remember. I will say no more.

CDL

Dan,

You may find this of interest - the link is 7 years old

Dramatic account of Eastern Catholic martyrs

Strangely, the title of the book is not mentioned in the article that I could see

Many years,

Neil

Yes, that is interesting.

A side question: have any of you seen statistics for 100 years ago? Specifically, how many Eastern Catholics, Latin Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox there were in each Eastern European country?

P.S. I'm not certain, but I think it's “Faith and Martyrdom: The Eastern Churches in Twentieth Century Europe”.

Thank you for this lead. I don't know why they did not give the title of the book either. But since I enjoy research I will try to track it down.

Thank you Peter. I'll check it out.

http://m.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=835

This does look like it.