What makes a martyr?
What makes a martyr? Their courage, their sacrifice? Being targeted and persecuted? It’s so obvious, yet it isn’t, because we all have different opinions on the martyrological matter. The debate is raging. Why does martyrdom matter? Well, we like symbolism. We like ceremonies and rituals. We like status. Our brains are wired that way. When someone’s been declared a saint or a martyr, it makes them not just famous, but puts them in that special category of change-makers. It’s the most exclusive club in the afterlife of people who sacrificed themselves in order to effect change in the world. Celestial celebrities. Indeed, and that’s not an accusation but an observation, saints and martyrs have traits in common with psychopaths. Not full-blown psychopaths, well, not most of the time. Risk-takers, iconoclasts (it’s safe to say many martyrs and saints were geniuses or close to genius because being martyred often meant persecution for ideas), and chameleons of the mind. It takes a special mind to go against the current of society or even step out of it and traits of psychopaths help here. I mean, look at saint Paul, he was hardly a goody-two-shoes person.
Martyrdom and sainthood are often linked. The concept of martyrdom, how valid it is and whether expecting to go to Valhalla (a pagan concept that clashes with the idea of meek heaven which makes one wonder if Christians ought to support it) or some other version of paradise after heroically falling in battle is sensible thinking, that’s another matter. What does heroic even mean, right? That’s where Valkyries come into play. In Norse mythology, Valkyries were a class of female figures, described as Odin’s handmaidens. They were sent to battlefields to select the bravest fallen warriors to escort to Valhalla.
The word – Amalek – is intriguing in the context of martyrdom. It can be a metaphysical, incorporeal evil, like a demon or a dybbuk. It can very much be a physical enemy. The Amalekites are also enemies of God. So, battling them, emasculating and eliminating them is akin to battling not just the embodiment of evil on the physical plane, but a metaphysical one, as well, as Hashem commanded. It doesn’t get more martyrological than this. Amalek is a much more powerful and emotionally-charged word than nemesis (an arch-enemy), because Amalek represents evil on so many levels.
Martyrdom is present across cultures. Poles standing alone against whole armies, only to die a glorious death is a common theme in Polish history. Indeed, the first recorded example of a suicide bombing is a suicide attack by Ignacy Hryniewiecki. He gained notoriety for participating in the bombing attack to which Tsar Alexander II of Russia succumbed. Russian culture has a lot of suffering and martyrdom in it, too. Is Hryniewiecki a martyr? A terrorist? Both? We know what Russians think. Suffering and sacrifice for ”mother Russia” are ultimate virtues. Well then. Is Darya Dugina a martyr? Her father said that the first word she said in her life was ”Rassiya.” Oh, how charming. To most Russians, and useful idiots across the world, she undoubtedly is a martyr. If her aim was to be famous or notorious, then she achieved that aim. Fame, notoriety, and ignominy, all in one. Too many useful(less) idiots around.
Though I refuse to believe any God would cheer for the ”Russkiy mir” or jihadis blowing themselves up, though that’s exactly what our enemies think. I sure hope they are wrong. Our enemies, of course, are convinced we’re the propagandized ones. And so the mental merry-go-round continues. We almost always associate martyrdom with violence. But that’s not always the case, of course. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, priest, missionary, and martyr. He volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in Auschwitz. Kolbe didn’t fight anyone. He had to battle his own mind to make that decision to starve to death, so someone else may live.
Intellectuals, writers, poets, and other warriors of the mind who set the narrative. If they get hit by a Russian missile, are they martyred? I believe they are. No wonder intellectuals are among the first to be targeted. They are the creators and the ones who resist regimes. The ones who question and see through the lies. Speaking of creating, people with identity disturbances ought to work on their own projects to crystallize their own identity. Otherwise, they’ll be like soulless beings who mimic someone else.
Potential martyrs are of course aware that by going against a regime or regimes, they risk being targeted and killed. You must be somewhat suicidal, however it sounds, to devote yourself to such causes because you know you can be targeted and eliminated. Unless that’s the idea – go out with a bang, to some other chapter of infinity, to heaven, perhaps, knowing one has made a difference in the material world. A self-fulfilling prophecy.
How about Sporus? Can we classify him as a martyr, maybe even a saint? Not even his real name. A boy who was turned into Nero’s empress wife substitute (yes, he was castrated), only to kill himself to avoid a humiliating public spectacle? I mean, given that propaganda’s been with us since ancient times, who knows if what we know about Nero is even accurate or just slander. Some say Sporus was somehow linked to Nero’s bloodline, Nero knew, and wanted to eliminate competition. Martyrs, saints and we have the third category that is somewhat similar: prophets. Take Job. Subjected to great suffering to test his faith in God, yet not considered a martyr.
What makes a martyr? Not an easy question to answer, as you can see, and getting more and more pertinent by the day. Weaponized words are extremely powerful and whoever defines what it means to be a martyr in a given society, defines how people must attain martyrdom. Whoever defines words, controls how people think. Control how people think, and you win.
