For everyone : A man must meet two requirements in order to be identified as a martyr; he must be a man of faith, and he must die for that faith. How do we know these things are true of Antipas? How does this demonstrate that Christ takes special ownership of His martyrs? Ask the Lord to give you a deeper love for Him. Login or register to post comments.
Let us cry with love: Rejoice, O thrice-blessed Father. Share the feast of Heiromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum with an icon greeting ecard. Reading Saint Antipas was a contemporary of the holy Apostles, by whom he was made Bishop of Pergamum. Apolytikion of Heiromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum First Tone The celebrated hierarch and Pegamum's first prelate, the fellow-contestant of Martyrs and most divine myrrh-streamer, ye faithful, come let us honour now wise Antipas, who truly is a great and swift healer of severely afflicted teeth, and cry to him with our whole soul: Glory to Christ that hath glorified thee.
However, traditions originating within the Eastern Orthodox Christian church, around and after CE 1,, paint a fuller picture only if one can believe them as factual. The traditional possibly fictional Antipas was reputed to be the Bishop of the Christian church at Pergamos, and that he was martyred for his faith because of his consistent faithful witnessing in the face of all the satanic evil present there.
Still less is a Christian martyrdom the effect of a man's will to become a Saint, as a man by willing and contriving may become a ruler of men. A martyrdom is always the design of God, for His love of men, to warn them and to lead them, to bring them back to His ways. It is never the design of man; for the true martyr is he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, and who no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of being a martyr.
So thus as on earth the Church mourns and rejoices at once, in a fashion that the world cannot understand; so in Heaven the Saints are most high, having made themselves most low, and are seen, not as we see them, but in the light of the Godhead, from which they draw their being. This leads our thoughts to the sequel of being an unshakeable witness:. The Lord Jesus Christ commended him with the words, "Antipas my faithful one. In the beginning of Revelation, the Lord presents Himself in this manner, "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness" the witness, the faithful Revelation The writer of Hebrews in talking about Jesus says, "He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses also was faithful 'in all God's house'" Hebrews ; cf.
Numbers In the well-known maxim of the prophet Habakkuk, "The righteous lives by His faith" Habakkuk , the word is emunah, i. In the epistles this verse is quoted three times Romans ; Galatians ; Hebrews Justification by faith is the cardinal truth expounded in the N. But justifying faith which does not lead to absolute faithfulness, is like a child abnormally born and developed.
Faith in God and in Christ produces total faithfulness to Him. It is through his grace alone that redemption has been effectuated and productively implemented. Antipas was a God-pleasing witness because of his faithfulness. Who can claim to be an effective witness unless he or she is approved by the subject of his or her witness as 'My faithful one'? Being a witness of the Savior without being acknowledged by Him as 'My faithful one' is a contradiction in terms. Other than in Habakkuk , one of the striking usages in which the word emunah appears is Deuteronomy In this sad context we read, "He said, 'I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness.
The greatest of all witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul the apostle, has something to say about this crucial issue: "It is required of stewards that a man be found faithful" I Corinthians Looking at the lives of effective stewards or witnesses, their faithfulness shines like the stars in the firmament. Start with Abraham. Passing on to the N. Again the Apostle Paul at the culmination of his ministry expresses his gratitude to Him who makes one faithful, "I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He judged me faithful and appointed me to His service" I Timothy There can be no faithfulness, without drawing it from Christ.
Faith is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit I Corinthians , so faithfulness must be its by-product, "consider that Jesus In the agonies he endured before his execution, Antipas could take time to ponder on Peter's reassurance if he had the epistle, "Let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator" I Peter Even if he had not read these words, he was confident of their actuality.
He was also cognisant of who his Lord was: "Jesus Christ, the faithful witness Who wouldn't entrust himself to such a faithful Creator and Redeemer! Who wouldn't sing in His honor, "I die every day" I Corinthians Following all that has been said, we arrive with deep admiration to the triumphant death of the valiant martyr:.
A Life Geared to the Certainty of Inconceivable. Antipas was probably a believer of the second generation. Nevertheless he fully comprehended the alarming conditions within the assembly.
Some of his people had sadly lost the stamina to resist the onslaughts from within and without. Antipas or his parents came from a meaningless and low interpretation of life and the hereafter. Rejecting all that, he had joyfully submitted himself to the all-surpassing Christ.
In Him he discovered every superlative ingredient of life, hope and truth. Everything about his blessed Savior bore the stamp of excellence. You have set your glory above the heavens" Psalm He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom" Isaiah ; Antipas discovered the sense of the holy and the perfect in his Savior. He went on celebrating his inmost joy and delight in his exalted Lord and Redeemer: "Because your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise you" Psalm He must have died with this song in his heart.
The Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, gave him a fresh perception of the goal he was to pursue and the terminus he was to achieve. This discovery was more worthwhile than the sum total of his earthly life. This was an unimaginable thought in the milieu in which he was brought up!
With such words from his Savior, death was not a dark omen, but a joyful promotion to higher life. Christ, the truth, had made it plain to him that the adversaries of truth would hate him, because the Good News denounces every lie and falsehood, Luke , As persecution intensified and the prospect of death approached, Antipas' resolve became more determined: "The LORD appeared to him from afar; 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you'" Jeremiah Resting on the reality of specific promises, nothing on earth could cause Antipas to fear.
He triumphantly responded to his Lord, "Your lovingkindness is before my eyes and I walk in faithfulness to you" Psalm His strength and support emanated from that triumphant commander "on a white horse, who is called Faithful and True, judging in righteousness and making war" Rev.
Antipas' intimate fellowship with the Savior made him recoil from sin while treading the road of sainthood and faithfulness. He could say with Paul, "Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death" Philippians For Antipas and his peers in martyrdom, death is not the sad experience of the sailor whose vessel is adrift.
The violence of the fierce storm tosses the ship aimlessly in the open ocean, ultimately casting the sailor to his destiny.
0コメント