Christian's Response To The Veneration Of Martyrs

The history of the veneration of saints is unequivocal. Since the first Christians were dying for the faith, Christians have praised these “martyrs.” Individuals who lived a godly life, died, and suffered in the name of God were, as believed by tradition, were accepted into the gates of heaven. These early Christians were posthumously praised and venerated in the earthy world.

Christians were condemned by the elites of the Roman political sphere, for many Christians were reluctant to pledge complete allegiance to the emperor. Much to the chagrin of the empire, The Christian Church and its teachings distanced the citizens from full devotion to the empire. Coupled with their objection for reverence of the Roman gods, and not living a “good Roman life,” early followers of Christ were met with incessant persecution. Furthermore, Christians were believed to lack a fundamental component of being proper Romans. They lacked “pieta; that mixture of love and fear that ideally reigned in the Roman family as children showed pietas to their parents, which the family, in turn, showed to the state, and the state manifested to the gods” (Cunningham 12). Additionally, Roman citizens were required to declare the emperor as “Kurios,” a Greek word meaning

The records and names of each saint were kept by the region of their death. Further, the names of these martyrs were often engraved into marble, read at services, and set out for the public observance. Concurrently, the Roman Empire grew to be more tolerant of Christianity, and with the Edict of Milan in 313, it became legal to practice any religion, including Christianity. Much of this is the result of Emperor Constantine (306-337 AD). Under his rule, the citizens formed a new model of acceptance of the Christian faith, and the road to sainthood shifted. By the time the Edict of Milan was authorized, the significance of sainthood was already