Thread by @HealingNous, Short Thread on “Martyrdom outside the Church”. Does it exist? Quotes from [...]

Short Thread on “Martyrdom outside the Church”. Does it exist? Quotes from various Orthodox Saints:

“Heretics or schismatics, being placed outside the Church and cut off from unity and charity, even though one should be slain for the name of Christ, he could not be crowned in death.”

-St. Cyprian

“There are also some among the heretics who ... flatter themselves with claims of martyrdom ... But not all who submit their bodies to suffering, even to flames, are to be considered as having as having shed their blood for their sheep; rather, they may have shed it against the

salvation of their sheep, for the Apostle says: ‘If I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing’ (1 Corinthians 13:3). And how can he have the faintest charity in him who, though shown to be at fault, yet has no love for that unity which the

Lord chose to recommend? Indeed, so long as you remain outside the Church and severed from the fabric of unity and bond of charity, you will be punished with everlasting chastisement, even if you were burned alive for the sake of Christ.”

-St. Augustine

“Without the cup of the Lord preserving the holy bond of love, even if a man should deliver his body to be burned he gains nothing.”

-St. Fulgentius

“He who is not armed by the Church for battle cannot be fit for martyrdom.”

-St. Cyprian

“Although it is a fact that some philosophers, like Socrates, seem to have suffered and been put to death for the sake of righteousness; nevertheless, where there is no true faith or charity, there is no true and perfect righteousness.”

-St. Augustine

“Baptism of Blood cannot profit a heretic unto salvation because there is no salvation outside the Church.”

-St. Cyprian

“Outside the Church no one can be a martyr.”

-St. Pacian

“It is not the torture, but the cause which makes the martyr.”

-St. Augustine

“Grant that the heretic suffered somewhat; nevertheless, he was not put to death. And even if he had been put to death he would not have been crowned because of it. Why? Because he was out of the peace of the Church, outside concord,

outside that Mother of whom he ought to be a part.”

-St. Pacian

“Even if one should shed his blood for Christ, he cannot be saved unless he has remained inside the Catholic Church.”

-St. Fulgentius

“True martyrs are found only in the Catholic Church; for, since there is but one true faith, there is but one true martyrdom.”

-St. Irenaeus of Lyons

“Nay, though they should suffer death for the confession of the Name, the guilt of such men is not removed even by their blood, for not even blood can wash away the stain of heresy. Baptism of Fire does not help such a person if he dies outside the Church, for the grievous and

irremissible sin of schism is not purged away even by martyrdom. No martyr can he be who is not in the Church. If he be outside the Church when put to death, he cannot come to the rewards prepared for the Church. Though they be cast into the fire and burnt in the flames, though

they be exposed to wild beasts and lay down their lives, this will not win them the crown of glory, but will be the penalty for their unfaithfulness; it will not be the glorious consummation of holy valor, but an end to their recklessness. Such a man may be put to death,

crowned he cannot be.”

-St. Cyprian

"Many of us use the words 'martyr' and 'confessor' too freely. For Orthodox Christians, these words have a very definite meaning: they refer to those who knowingly suffer and die for Christ and His True Church - and not for 'humanity,' not for 'Christianity' in general and not

even for 'Orthodoxy' if it is not True Orthodoxy."

-Fr. Seraphim Rose of Blessed Memory

"I have said to people - you are all martyrs, but not all of one martyrdom. Martyrs for the true faith are not the same as martyrs for a false faith. Truly, their bones are similar but not the soul. For the soul transfers power and weakness even to the bones. You who suffer for

the true faith, are suffering for what your spiritual vision sees. You who suffer for a false faith, are suffering for what your physical eyes see. You former suffer for faith in reality and truth; you latter suffer for a dream and a fantasy."

-St. Nikolai Velimirovich

The following 2 canons were confirmed by the 6th Ecumenical Synod. According to St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite, by this "they acquire a force that is ecumenical in a way."

Canon IX of Laodicea: "Concerning the fact that those belonging to the Church must not be allowed to go

visiting the cemeteries of the so-called martyria (i.e., shrines of martyrs) of any heretics, for the purpose of prayer or of cure; but, on the contrary, those who do so, if they be among the faithful, shall be excluded from communion, for a time until they repent and confess

their having made a mistake, then they may be readmitted to communion."
Excerpted from the interpretation found in the Rudder of St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite: "...many even of the heretics in the time of persecution and of idolatry showed fortitude even to death, and were called

martyrs by those who shared their beliefs. But not even ought Orthodox Christians, I say, to go visiting them, whether it be to pray for them or to honor them or to seek a cure from them for their ailment."

Balsamon also states: "For in the days of the persecution, certain of

the heretics, calling themselves Christians, suffered even to death, and hence those who shared their opinions called them 'martyrs'."

Canon XXXIV of Laodicea: "That no Christian must desert the martyrs of Christ, and go away to pseudo-martyrs, of heretics,

that is; nor must they themselves fraternize with the aforesaid heretics."

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