VERITAS

Series Introduction

"... the truth will set you free" (John 8:32)

In much contemporary discourse, Pilate's question has been taken to mark The Role of Death in Life
the absolute boundary of human thought. Beyond this boundary, it is often
suggested, is an intellectual hinterland into which we must not venture. This
terrain is an agnosticism of thought: because truth cannot be possessed, it must
not be spoken. Thus, it is argued that the defenders of "truth" in our day are A Multidisciplinary Examination
often traffickers in ideology, merchants of counterfeits, or anti-liberal. They are,
because it is somewhat taken for granted that Nietzsche's word is final: truth is
of the Relationship between Life and Death
the domain of tyranny.
Is this indeed the case, or might another vision of truth offer itself? The
ancient Greeks named the love of wisdom as ph ilia, or friendship. The one who
would become wise, they argued, would be a "friend of truth:' For both philos-
ophy and theology might be conceived as schools in the friendship of truth, as
a kind of relation. For like friendship, truth is as much discovered as it is made.
If truth is then so elusive, if its domain is terra incognita, perhaps this is because
it arrives to us-unannounced-as gift, as a person, and not some thing.
The aim of the Veritas book series is to publish incisive and original edited by
current scholarly work that inhabits "the between'' and "the beyond" of the-
ology and philosophy. These volumes will all share a common aspiration to JOHN BEHR and
transcend the institutional divorce in which these two disciplines often find
themselves, and to engage questions of pressing concern to both philosophers CONOR CUNNINGHAM
and theologians in such a way as to reinvigorate both disciplines with a kind of
interdisciplinary desire, often so absent in contemporary academe. In a word,
these volumes represent collective efforts in the befriending of truth, doing so
beyond the simulacra of pretend tolerance, the violent, yet insipid reasoning
ofliberalism that asks with Pilate, "What is truth?"-expecting a consensus of
non-commitment; one that encourages the commodification of the mind, now
sedated by the civil service of career, ministered by the frightened patrons of
position.
The series will therefore consist of two "wings": (1) original mono-
graphs; and (2) essay collections on a ranl{e of topics in theology and phi-
losophy. The latter will principally be the prodw:ts of the annual conferences
of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy (www.theologyphilosophycentre
.co.uk).

Conor Cunningham and Eric Austin Lee, Series editor.~

!! CASCADE Books • Eugene, Oregon

----~---- -- -----~
 6
Life and Death in the Age of Martyrdom

John Behr

OR THE TOPIC ON the role of life in death and death in life, the age
F of martyrdom, here understood to be the first two or three centuries
following Christ, offers much material for reflection. It presents us with a
dramatic reversal of how we usually understand life and death, and does so
in the immediacy of the event of Christ's own passion, understanding this
defining event through the apocalyptic opening of the Scriptures (the "Old
Testament") by the slain Lamb (cf. Rev 5) and interpreting current events
in this light, rather than through the framework of a systematic theology
,''·I
elaborated after the Christian church adjusted to a more comfortable
(though still tense and uneasy) relationship with the world. Having given a
few examples from the martyrdom literature, this essay will draw out three
key themes, pertaining to life/death, creation, and the human being, and
offer a few concluding reflections.

The Martyrs
Ignatius of Antioch at the turn of the second century, that is, in a period
still with a living memory of Christ and the apostles, while being taken
under guard to Rome to be martyred for his faith, wrote to the Christians
in that city, imploring them not to interfere with his coming trials. While
journeying slowly but surely towards a gruesome martyrdom, he neverthe-
less embraces his fate with joy, exclaiming:
80 T H E R 0 L E 0 F D EAT H IN LIFE: PART IV JOHN BEHR
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF MARTYRDOM
It is better for me to die in Christ Jesus than to be king over the
Blandina, hung on a stake (enl ~uA.ou), was offered as food for the
ends of the earth. I seek him who died for our sake. I desire him
wild beasts that were let in. She, by being seen hanging in the form
who rose for us. Birth-pangs are upon me. Suffer me, my brethren;
of a cross, by her vigorous prayer, caused great zeal in the contes-
hinder me not from living, do not wish me to die.... Suffer me to
tants, as, in their struggle, they beheld with their outward eyes,
receive the pure light; when I shall have arrived there, I shall be-
through the sister, him who was crucified for them, that he might
come a human being [av9pwno~]. Suffer me to follow the example
persuade those who believe in him that everyone who suffers for
of the passion of my God. (Ign. Rom. 6.)
the glory of Christ has for ever communion with the living God.
Life and death are reversed for Ignatius, compared to our usual pat- · .. [T]he small and weak and despised woman had put on the
great and invincible athlete, Christ, routing the adversary in many
terns of speech. "Hinder me not from living;' by seeking to stop my mar-
bouts, and, through the struggle, being crowned with the crown of
tyrdom; "do not wish me to die" by trying to keep me "alive''! He is in the incorruptibility. (Hist. eccl. 5.1.41-42)
process of being born, in a birth through which he will become a "human
being" -a human being in the stature of Christ, the "perfect human being" Through her suffering, Blandina becomes identified with Christ: she
(Ign. Smyrn. 4) or the "new human being" (Ign. Eph. 20), as the martyr no longer lives, but Christ lives in her (c£ Gal2:2o). This is, of course, only
refers to "the faithful Martyr, the Firstborn of the dead" (Rev 1:5), "the Pio- seen by those who are undergoing their own ordeal with her in the area,
neer of our salvation" (Heb 2:10). those who have also truly taken up the cross. Those looking down from
Death, here, is a defining moment: not the end, but the beginning; not the seats in the amphitheater would have looked upon the spectacle quite
disappearance, but revelation. As Ignatius also pointed out to the Romans: differently, though perhaps some were moved to reflect further on what
"Now that Christ is with the Father, he is more visible than he was before" kind of witness she was providing. Blandina's passage ("exodus") out of
(Ign. Rom. 3). That is, when Christ walked amongst us in the flesh his dis- ,:1 this world is Christ's entry into this world-and this is again described as a
ciples never really understood who he was; now 1hat he has passed through birth, both hers and that of Christ. 2 After describing her suffering, and that
his passion, the "exodus" that he accompllsh€ls in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31), of another Christian called Attalus, the letter continues:
and is with the Father in the kingdom, now they can finally "see" who he is. Through their continued life the dead were made alive, and the
A second example comes from later ln the second century. Reporting martyrs showed favor to those who had failed to witness. And
on a violent pogrom that had Luken place in Lyons around 177 AD, the there was great joy for the Virgin Mother in receiving back alive
author of a letter, probably Irenaeus of Lyons, addressed to the Christians in those who she had miscarried as dead. For through them the
Asia Minor and Phrygia, focuses upon the figure ofl\landina.' As a young majority of those who had denied were again brought to birth and
slave girl-the epitome of weakness in the ancient world-she personifies again conceived and again brought to life and learned to confess·
and now living and strengthened, they went to the judgment seat:
Christ's words to Paul: "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor
(H.e. 5-1·45-46)
12:9). She was so "weak in body" that the others were fearful lest she not :~ '

be able to make a good confession. Yet, she "was filled with such power The Christians who turn away from making their confession are sim _
that even those who were taking turns to torture her in every way, from ply deiJ,d: their lack of preparation has meant that they are stillborn children
dawn until dusk, were weary and beaten. They, themselves, admitted that of the Virgin Mother, the church. But now, strengthened by the witness of
they were beaten ... astonished at her endurance, as her entire body was oth~rs, they also are able to go to their death-and so the Virgin Mother
mangled and broken" (Hist. eccl. 5.1.18) receiVes them back alive, finally giving birth to living children of God. The
Not only is she, in her weakness, filled with divine power by her death of the ma~tyr is t~eir "new birth," and the death of the martyr is
confession, but she becomes fully identified with the one whose body was celebrated as the1r true birthday (Hist. eccl. 5.1.63 ).
broken on Golgotha:
2. C£ !gn. Trail. 11: "Through the cross, by his suffering, he calls you who are the
parts _of his ~ody. ~us the head cannot be born without the other parts, because God
1. Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1-3. promises umty, which he himself is:'
 JOHN BEHR LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF MARTYRDOM 83
82 THE ROLE OF DEATH IN LIFE: PART IV
These three examples, which could easily be multiplied, present us
Finally, Irenaeus of Lyons, the first Christian theologian to use all the
with very dramatic words and descriptions, inverting our usual under-
standard features oflater theology-using the writings of the apostles and
standing oflife and death: one only becomes human, or rather one is born
evangelists as Scripture, appealing to a "canon of truth;' tradit~on, succ_es-
into life as a human being, through following the trail blazed by Christ.
sion-in the first comprehensive theological vision, encompassmg creatwn
There are three key ideas at work here, which I will explore below, before
and salvation together, also focuses on the martyr. In one of his most-
offering some conclusions.
quoted lines, he asserts: "The glory of God is a living human being;' and
continues, "and the life of the human being is to see God" (Haer. 4.20.7). As
"a human being cannot see God and live" (Exod 33:20), it is not surprising 1: It is Finished
that he too is speaking of the martyr as the living human being, the glory
of God. For Irenaeus they exemplify the words of Christ that the Spirit is The first point relates to Ignatius' words that only through martyrdom will
ready, while the flesh is weak, and so demonstrate what happens to the he finally become a human being. Ignatius, as also Irenaeus, comes out of
"pledge'' of the Spirit given in baptism when it fully bears life in the witness Asia Minor with a theology shaped primarily by the evangelist John. It is
well known that John presents his gospel in a manner that deliberately par-
of one dying in Christ:
allels Genesis: they both begin "In the beginning ... :· But to understand
For it is testified by the Lord that as "the flesh is weak;' so "the
the particularity of this gospel, and a further allusion to Genesis, we need to
Spirit is ready" [Matt 26:41], that is, is able to accomplish what
it wills. If, therefore, anyone mixes the readiness of the Spirit as consider briefly its relationship to the Synoptics, that is, to Matthew, Mark,
a stimulus to the weakness of the flesh, it necessarily follows that and Luke. In these gospels, it is only through the Passion of Christ that
what is strong will prevail over what is weak, so that the weak- the disciples came to know who Christ truly is. This is often referred to as
ness of the flesh will be absorbed by the strength of the Spirit, and the "messianic secret": the Lordship of Christ is hidden from his followers
such a one will no longer be carnal but spiritual because of the (though not to the reader) until after the events of the passion. The only
communion of the Spirit. In this way, therefore, the martyrs bear exception-Peter on the road to Caesarea Philippi (Matt 16)-is the excep-
witness and despise death: not after the weakness of the flesh, but
tion that proves the rule: after making his confession ("You are the Christ
by the readiness of the Spirit. For when the weakness of the flesh
the Son of the Living God") Peter is told that he did not know this "by flesh
is absorbed, it manifests the Spirit as powerful; and again, when
the Spirit absorbs the weakness, it inherits the flesh for itself, and and blood" (by seeing Jesus), but by a revelation from the Father. When
from both of these is made a living human being: living, indeed, Christ then tells this supposed "rock" ("Peter" in Greek means "rock''),
because of the participation of the Spirit; and human, because of upon whom he will build his church, that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer
the substance of the flesh. (Haer. s.9.2.) and be killed, Peter bursts out "That will never happen to you;' only to be
called "Satan" by Christ, precisely for trying to separate Christ from the
It is not that the martyrs think death to be of no account, or simply
passion. When it comes to the crucifixion in the Synoptics, the disciples
embrace it nihilistically, but rather do so as martyrs following Christ. It is,
abandon Christ; Peter even denies him. When they find the tomb empty,
moreover, in their witness, their martyria, that God's creative work comes
they don't understand; nor do they immediately recognize the risen Christ
to fulfillment, for in their death the martyrs image Christ, who is himself
when they meet him. It is only once he opens the Scriptures (the "Old Tes-
the image of God, so that in this way the handiwork of God is perfected
tament") to show how "Moses and all the prophets" spoke about how "the
as a truly living human being, bearing witness to the paradoxical words_ ~f
Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory" (Luke 24:26-27),
Christ that his strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9). The Spmt
that their hearts start to burn, so that they recognize him in the breaking
inherits the flesh, possesses it in such a manner that the flesh itself adopts
of the bread. At this point, however, he disappears from sight, so that the
the quality of the life-giving Spirit, and so is rendered like the Word of God
disciples are left to await his coming, looking backwards at the Scripture
(cf. Haer. 5·9·3). The paradigm of the living human being-flesh vivified by
the Spirit-is the martyr.
84 THE R 0 L E 0 F DEATH IN L I F E : PAR 1' I V
JOHN BEHR LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF MARTYRDOM g
5
seen in the light of the passion to seck the coming Lord. And so it is in
But, having declared all these things into existence by a word alone,
terms drawn from the Scriptures that they present Christ in their gospels.
God then announces his own project-not with an injunction, but in the
The Gospel of John, however, begins where the other gospels con-
subjunctive: "Let us make the human being [avBpwno~] in our image, after
clude: that which the disciples only know at the end of the Synoptics-the
our likeness" (Gen 1:26). This is the only thing that God is described as spe-
opening of the Scriptures by the slain Lamb-is where John begins. After
cifically deliberating about; this is his divine purpose and resolve. That this
the opening verses (known as the "Prologue"), the narrative begins with
is indeed the work of God is shown, for Irenaeus, by the manner in which
the Baptist crying out when he sees Jesus: "Behold the Lamb of God" (John
Christ heals the blind man, recounted only in the Gospel ofJohn. The blind
1:29). Then, when Philip says to Nathaniel, "we have found the one of whom
man healed by Christ was born blind not because of his fault or that of
Moses in the law and the prophets wrote;' that is, what the disciples are
his parents, but, as Christ says, "in order that the works of God might be
taught by the risen Christ in the Synoptics, Christ promises that "you will
made manifest" (John 9:3). As the way that Christ heals the blind man,
see greater things than these'' (John 1:44-51)! The Gospel ofJohn, known
mixing spit and earth, parallels our initial fashioning, mixing the power of
from the earliest times as the "spiritual gospef' written by "the theologian;'
God and the dust of the earth, Irenaeus concludes: "The work of God is the
thus reflects a movement from a human, historical perspective, recounting
fashioning of the human being" (Haer. 5.15.2, opera autem Dei plasmatio
what had happened as it happened, to a divine, eternal perspective, telling est hominis).
all things, with the Scriptures already opened. And so, in his gospel, John
However, returning to Genesis, this divine deliberation and resolve is
depicts Christ as the exalted Lord from the beginning: Christ repeatedly
the only thing in the creation account that is not followed by the words "and
tells his disciples that he is from above-from the heavens, born of the
it was so:' This project of God, God's own work, is not completed by his
Father-while they are from below, from the earth, born of Adam. As such,
word alone. Only with the culmination of theology in the Gospel of John
if Christ goes to the cross, he does so voluntarily, and therefore his elevation
do we hear that the work of God is complete. Shortly before Christ declares
on the cross is his exaltation in glory. Identified as the Lamb of God from
that it is "finished;' we hear confirmation of the completion of God's proj-
the beginning of John's Gospel, Christ is crucified, naturally, at the time of
ect in the words uttered unwittingly by Pilate: "Behold the human being"
the slaying of the lamb in the temple, rather than on the following day as
(John 19:5). That Christ is the first true human being in history is a position
in the other gospels. His crucifixion is also depicted differently: he is not
maintained right through the first millennium and more. Nicholas Cabasi-
abandoned and his words are not a cry of abandonment. Rather, after ad- las, writing in the fourteenth century, put it this way:
dressing his mother and beloved disciple, Christ says with stately majesty:
"It is finished" (John 19:30). It was for the new human being [&vBpwnos-] that human nature was
What is it, though, that is "finished"? Here, perhaps, we can turn back created at the beginning, and for him mind and desire were pre-
to Genesis to catch a deeper allusion than simply the opening words of the pared.... It was not the old Adam who was the model for the new,
but the new Adam for the old.... For those who have known him
book of Moses and that of John, "In the beginning:' In the opening chap-
first, the old Adam is the archetype because of our fallen nature.
ter of Genesis, there is a striking difference in the way that God's activity But for him who sees all things before they exist, the first Adam is
is described. Scripture begins with God issuing commands: Let there be the imitation of the second. To sum it up: the Savior first and alone
light. . . . Let there be a firmament. . . . Let the waters under the heavens showed to us the true human being (&v9pwnos-), who is perfect on
be gathered.... Let the earth put forth vegetation.... Let there be light account of both character and life and in all other respects. 3
in the firmament. ... Let water bring forth swarms of living creatures ....
Although within the scope of our history, as we collectively and indi-
Let the earth bring forth living creatures..... God speaks everything into
vidually experience it, Christ comes later, nevertheless the biblical Adam
existence by his "fiat" -"Let it Be:' This "fiat" is sufficient for the existence
is already made in image of Christ (Gen 1:27), who is the image of God
of the universe: "and it was so ... and it was good:'
(cf. Col1:15). From a divine perspective (meaning, reading the books of

3- Cabasilas, Life in Christ, 6.91-94 (6.12 Eng)

 JOHN BEHR LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF MARTYRDOM 87
THE ROLE OF DEATH IN LIFE: PART IV
86
death, and so it is his death that is the means of life for others, because it
. t m· the l"Ight of the passion) Christ preexists Adam; Christ is "in
Scnp ure u1 · " was the death of an innocent victim, one over whom death had no claim,
the beginning" (John 1:1). As such, Adam is only ever, as Pa puts It, a
and so whose death for the sake of others was completely voluntary and
type of the one to come" (Rom 5:14), a preliminary sketch of the fullness of
freely given.
humanity that is Christ. This is the heart of the theology defended by the councils of the first
. lly I.f this is the culm inntion of creatlon, then the Sabbath on
Frna ' h" hCh · t millennium. That which we see in the crucified and risen Christ-as pro-
which God rests from his work is none other than the day on w 1C n~
claimed by the apostles through the words drawn from the Scriptures, the
rests in the tomb. As an ancient Eastern Christian hymn for Pascha puts It:
prophecies and narratives, the poetry and the prayers-is what it is to be
Moses the great mystically prefigured this presmt day, saying: God. This is the meaning of the affirmation that Christ is "consubstantial
'~d God blessed the seventh day:' For thJs is the blessed Sab- with the Father," asserted by the Council of Nicaea (325 AD): Christ is
bath, this is the day of rest, on which the only -begottl!n Son of God what it is to be God, and yet other than the Father, something only known
rested from all his works, through the econumy of death he kept
in and through the Holy Spirit, by whom alone one can confess Christ as
the Sabbath in the flesh, and returning again through the resurrec-
tion he has granted us eternal life, for he alone is good :rnd :oves Lord (1 Cor 12:3) and through whom one adopted as sons of God, and so
humankind [<jnA.-ll.v9pw7ro~ literally: loves-the human bemg]. is also confessed to be what it is to be God, one of the Holy Trinity. The
heart of the affirmation of Chalcedon (451 AD) regarding the person of
The project, the work of God announced at the begin~ing, is com- Christ is that what it is to be human and what it is to be God-death and
pleted at the end by one who is God. As Maximus put it: Chnst, as human, life-are seen together in one concrete being (hypostasis), with one "face"
completes what he himself, as God, has predetermi~ed to take place.s And, (prosopon): that is, we do not look at one being to see God and another
as such, for us to become human requires, as Ignatms affirms so resound- to see the human; both are revealed together in one, "without confusion,
ingly, our own martyria. change, division, separation:' What it is to be God and what it is to be hu-
man remain the same, but the miracle is that each is now revealed together
, . ("b. th") in one and, therefore, also through each other: mortality is not a property
2: From Genesis ("coming-to"'be ) to Gennests tr
of God, creating life is not a property of humans, but Christ has brought
One further point to be drawn, from our considerati~n _ab~ve, about how it both together, conquering death by his death and in this very act conferring
e disciples finally came to know who Chnst IS, Is that the revela- life, a life which can no longer be touched by death.
wasa th t th ··h ·
f of Christ as God coincides with his death as human. It IS m t e way m To take this reflection further, we should consider again the words of
~:ch he died as a human being that Christ shows us what it is to be_ God. Ignatius, that, through his death in conformity with Christ, he is about to
. b b . "almi"ghty" as we tend to think of this, but rather, m the be born as a living human being. A contrast is implied here, which becomes
It IS not y emg ' . . b
Pauline inversion of the cross-strength in weakness, wisdom m folly- y fully explicit with Maximus the Confessor several centuries later, between
his all-too-human act of dying, in the particular manner that he does, offer- genesis ("coming into existence") and gennesis ("birth"). 6 Through genesis
ing his life for others, that he shows us the life of God and the love that God we have all come into existence, without any choice on our part (as Kirilov
is (1 John 4:8). It is not that Christ died because he was h~an,_ ~d ~at put it in Dostoyevsky's The Demons: "No one asked me if I wanted to be
because he is God he was able to conquer death. That would spht Chnst born!"). We are, to use Heideggerian language, thrown into an existence in
an d be of no help to anyone else! Rather, as the disciples concluded- which, whatever we do, we will die. Mortality, in fact, is the only thing that
ap art' k S · tu C is common to life on earth; and the ability to contemplate and to use our
not simply by seeing the risen Christ but by going hac to cnp re m
particular Isaiah 53· the suffering servant)-it was his death that conquers
6. The two words, YEVECTI' and YEVVJI)CTI,, distinguished only in graphical not aural
form, derive from two different verbs, y[yvofLCll, "to come into being;' and yEvvciw "to
4. Doxastikon,-Holy Saturday Vespers.
beget:'
5
. Maximus the Confessor, Ambig. 41.
 JOHN BEHR LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF MARTYRDOM 89
88 THE ROLE OF DEATH IN LIFE: PART IV
you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
mortality is that which is distinctively human. Despite our knowledge of
baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism
our mortality, however, or rather because of it, we are tempted ~o ~old o~ to
into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
this "life" as we know it, to do whatever we can to secure it, to hve 1t as mme
Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united
for as long as I can perpetuate it. It is the "fear of death;' as the Letter to the
with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a
Hebrews put it, that has held us "in life-long bondage" (Reb 2:15).
resurrection like his" (Rom 6:3-5). By freely "dying" to oneself (to "the old
However, the Christian gospel turns this upside down: "whoever
man;' to ''Adam;' to our involuntary created existence) and beginning to
would save his life will lose it, and whoever would lose it for my sake will
live ecstatically, beyond ourselves, for others and for God, the life that is
gain it'' (Matt 16: 25 ). Following the language o~ He~rews, it is not from
begun is, even now, a life that has been entered into through death and,
death itself that Christ has delivered us (we all still d1e, after all), but from
therefore, a life that can no longer be touched by death. In so doing, we
"the fear of death''. Through his death, as Maximus the Confessor puts it,
transcend the limitations of the life into which, through genesis, we have
Christ has changed the "use'' of death for all men and women throughout
involuntarily come into existence. In and through Christ, we now have the
time: possibility of freely using the givenness of our creaturely mortality to enter,
When willingly submitting to the condemnation imposed on our freely and willingly, through birth, gennesis, into existence as a human be-
passibility [that is, our passive subjection to s~eri~g], ~e turned ing with a life without end, "born from above ... from the water and the
that very passibility into an instrument for erad1catmg sm and the Spirit" (John 3:3, 5). In this way, freedom, rather than necessity, becomes
death which is its consequence? the basis for a truly human existence in Christ. This is a new existence,
Christ has provided, as Maximus explains: "another beginning and beginning with an act of freedom-that of Christ voluntarily going to his
a second birth for human nature, which through the vehicle of suffering, passion, "converting the use of death'' for all-and in this way, enabling us
ends in the pleasure of the life to come:' In this way, Maxinlus co~tinues, also to start over-freely-by following him.
Christ has "converted the use of death;' so that "the baptized acqmres the To live in this divine manner, however, requires growth and maturity.
use of death to condemn sin, which in turn mystically leads that person to At several points in his magnum opus, Irenaeus addresses the question of
divine and unending life:•s Rather than being passive and frustrated victims why God did not simply create human beings as such at the outset, and
of death and of the givcnncss or our mortality, in Christ we can freely and offered various reasons. He suggested, for instance, that Adam and Eve,
actively "use death;' in Maximus' striking phrase, ~ol as a~ a~t ~f d~spera­ whom he depicts as infants (having but recently come into existence) in
tion, bringing about the end, or as passive Nubmisston to V1ctrm1zatwn, re- paradise, needed to grow in order to achieve perfection, the fullness of be-
signing oneself to one's fate, but rat her as tlte l1eginnl ng of new life .. ing human to which they were called by God. He gives the example of a
Losing life for the sake of Christ is lhe path taken by Ignatms and mother, who could give a newborn child meat rather than milk, though this
Blandina in the most dramatic terms possibll~, thro~tgh their martyrdom, would not benefit the infant at all, for the infant needs to grow before being
which is nothing other than their birth into llfe. 9 It ls also, somewhat less able to receive such food. So also, he suggests, God could have given us a
dramatically, the step taken by those who would be baptized in Christ: "Do full share in his life and existence from the beginning, but we would not
have been able to receive such a magnificent gift, without being prepared
7. Maximus the Confessor, Ad Thai. 61
by learning through experience (Haer. 4.38.1). This doesn't necessarily
8. Ad. Thai. 61.
imply any imperfection in that which comes into existence, but qualifies
The resonance of this with Michel Henry's Phenomenology of Life is striking and
9 the notion of perfection: in the same way that a newborn infant may have
dese~es further study. Cf. Henry, I am the Truth, 59-60: "To be born is not to c~~e
into the world. To be born is to come into life.... To come into life here means that 1t ts "perfect" limbs, but needs to exercise (and to fall) before being able to walk
· li£ d from out of it alone that this coming is capable of being produced. To come and to run; so, too, a creature needs to be exercised in virtue before they can
m e an h . . b" th'
into life means to come from life, starting from it, in such a way t a~ 1t 1~ not tr. s
share in the uncreated life of God (cf. Haer. 4-38-4).
point of arrival, as it were, but its point of departure:' See also the contrlbution of Crma
Gschwandtner to this volume.
90 THE ROLE OF DEATH IN LIFE: PART IV
JOHN BEHR
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF MARTYRDOM
91
He further explains that this growth is bound up with different kinds
in the image of God-who is Christ the true human being, "the firstborn
of"knowledge'' (Haer. 4.39.1). There is knowledge that is acquired by hear-
of all creation" (Col1:15)-we must be born into a new existence in Christ
ing and there is knowledge that is only gained by experience, such as, what
by a birth effected through our voluntary use of our mortality, as an act
it is for something, such as honey, to be sweet. Moreover, someone who has
of sacrifice through baptism, thereby freely choosing to exist as a human
lost their sight, but then regains it will value sight much more than those
being and grounding that being and existence in an act of freedom, and
who do not know what it is like to be blind. Likewise, he suggests it is only
so living the same life of love that God himself is. Only in this way can a
by our mortality, by the experience of death in our separation-apostasy-
created being come to share in the uncreated life of God, a life that Christ
from God, that we come to value life, knowing that in ourselves we do not
has shown to be one of self-sacrificial love: one cannot come into existence
have life, but depend for it upon God. Our experience of death drives home ,i I
(genesis) already "in'' that state; it requires growth and maturity.
this point in a way that we will never otherwise fully know. We need to
In this way, then, the desired intention of God expressed in Genesis, to
know experientially what it is to be weak, if we are to know the strength
make a human being, is realized, when-the creature brought into existence
of God, for as Christ both exemplified and affirms: "my strength is made
gives his or her own "fiat"-"Let it be!" For every other aspect of creation,
perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). .
all that was needed was a simple divine "fiat" -"Let it be!" But for the hu-
Irenaeus points to the case of Jonah as an analogy for understandmg
man being to come into existence, required a creature able to give their own
the wisdom of God in these matters (Haer 3.20.1-2). As God appointed a "fiat!"
whale to swallow up Jonah, not to kill him but to provide an occasion for
This is accomplished sacramentally in baptism, and the life of the bap-
Jonah to learn-so that having been in the belly of the whale for three days
tized thereafter is one of "learning to die;' learning, that is, specifically to
and nights and then unexpectedly cast out, Jonah would acknowledge him-
take up the cross of Christ. However, until I actually die and lie in the grave,
self to be a servant of the Lord, dependent upon him for his life-so, like-
I'm caught in the first-person singular. I can only say: "Didn't I die well to
wise, Irenaeus suggests that in preparing beforehand the plan of salvation
myself today?" It is still I who am working, while I learn how to let go of all
worked by the Lord through the sign ofJonah, God allowed the human race
that pertains to my self. Until I actually die, it is still I who am doing this,
to be swallowed up by the great whale from the beginning, not to destroy
dying to myself. When, on the other hand, I am finally returned to the dust,
the human race, but so that once they unexpectedly received salvation, they
then I stop working. Then, and only then, do I finally experience my com-
would then know that they do not have life from or in themselves, and so
plete and utter frailty and weakness. Then, and only then, do I become clay
be willing to receive it from God. In this overarching arc of the economy
(for I never was this), clay fashioned by the Hands of God into living flesh.
of God, which leads from Adam to Christ, the human race comes to learn
And so, it is also only then that the God whose strength is made perfect in
of its own weakness, but also and simultaneously comes to know the great-
weakness can finally be the Creator: taking dust from the earth which I now
ness of God manifest in their own weakness, transforming the mortal to
am and mixing in his power, he now, finally, fashions a true, living, human
immortality and the corruptible to incorruption. In this way, intriguingly,
being-"the glory of God:'
Jonah is a sign of the perishing human race and, at the same time, a sign of
the savior, for it is precisely by his death that Christ has conquered death.
Finally, Irenaeus adds that only in this way can there be created beings 3: From Breath to Spirit
who can freely respond to God in love, who can adhere to him in love, and
so, in love, come to share in his existence. Any other approach would have Another way of putting all this is in terms of the contrast between breath
resulted merely in "automatons:' He then concludes, rather shockingly, that and Spirit, as Paul explains it with reference to Genesis. While the first
if we ignore all this, and especially the need for experiential knowledge of Adam was animated by "a breath of life" to become "a living being" (Et~
our own weakness: "we kill the human being in us" (Haer. 4·39-1). From \jlux.~v ~wo-av c£ Gen 2:7), the "last [or final] Adam became a life-creating
what we have seen, we might also say that in order to be a true human being spirit" (El~ 7rVEUfLa ~~onotoi.iv 1 Cor 15:45). In context, Paul is discussing
the resurrection of the dead and what kind of body the raised shall have.
92 THE R 0 L E 0 F DEATH IN L I F Jl.: Jl A Jl 'r IV JOHN BEHR LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF MARTYRDOM
93
The difference is not between a "physical" body (as the RSV translates life, as bios, no longer lives for itself, but rather lays itself down for others, in
\jluxncov) and a "spiritual" body; the continuity ls pn~c:lsely the body itself, the manner initiated by Christ and exemplified in the martyrs.
and the difference lies in the manner in which it live&, either as animated The pledge of such life, given in the Spirit through baptism, will be
by a breath of life or vivified by the life-creating spirit. And the transition completed when we finally die and are raised in Christ. Breathing our last
is effected through the death of the body: "What you sow does not come to breath-expiring-we are no longer animated as by the breath of life, but
life unless it dies" (1 Cor 15:35). Animated by a breath oflife, Adam could rather, the pledge, which had been kindling the spark of new life, will be set
have used this gift of life in a divine manner. But to do so, as Christ shows ablaze in the fullness of the life-creating power of the Spirit through our ac-
us, requires living not for oneself, but rather being willing to die to oneself tual death and resurrection in Christ: "What is sown in an animated body
and live for others. Christ himself shows us what divine life looks like by is raised in a spiritual body" (1 Cor 15:44). This movement, from breath to
his own sacrifice. But, not having yet seen this, Adam took his life to be Spirit, is affirmed in the Psalm of creation, which may well antedate Genesis
his own possession to do with as he pleased, and trying to secure his own itself (and which is said at the beginning of every vespers in the Byzantine
immortality he ends up dying. Yet, through the work of Christ, our very tradition, the beginning of each new day):
mortality itself now becomes the very means by which we learn to live the
life of God-through our experience of weakness and all the other things When you take away their breath they die and return to their dust;
when you send forth your Spirit, they are created and you renew
we considered. Through this mortality, when we now embrace it actively,
the face of the ground. May the glory of the Lord endure forever
by taking up the cross following Christ and living for others, we come to and may the Lord rejoice in his works. (Ps 104 (103): 29-31)
live, even now, the life given by the life-creating Spirit, a life that, as entered
into through death (dying to ourselves, living for others), can therefore no I From breath, through the earth, to the Spirit-and so, finally, created.
longer be touched by death, but is eternal, everlasting. It is, in fact, only with our actual death, completing that which begins in
This distinction could also be rendered in terms of a contrast between baptism, that we become earth: this is our end-point, rather than our be-
~[o~ (bios) and ~w~ (zoe), both terms meaning "life;' with the difference ginning, but it is an end-point that becomes our beginning, as creatures
that, in Christian theology, the first is used of all that which is animated of God, creatures not simply in the sense of having come into existence
by a "soul" whereas the latter is that which comes about through Christ: "I by creation, but creatures reflecting or embodying the will of the Creator
have come that they might have life and have itin abundance" (John 10:10 ). through their own fiat and birth into life through death, thus completing at
Gregory of Nyssa, following the Stoic philosopher Posidonius, differenti- the end the stated intention of God at the beginning.
ated three different kinds of soul manifest in things that "live": the power
of growth and nutrition found in plants; the power of sensation and move-
Conclusion
ment found in animals; and the power of rational thought found in human
beings. Each level of "soul" or animation includes the previous level and The witness of the martyrs, and the theology of those who reflected on
raises it up to a higher level, an order that he found in the opening chapter .;'I their witness, provides a stark challenge to us today, on a number oflevels:
of Genesis, such that he was able to say that "nature makes an ascent as it it consistently, and coherently, reverses our usual understanding of life and
were by steps-I mean the various properties of life-from the lower to death, creation and what it is to be (truly) human, the beginning and the
the perfect form:' 10 In contrast to such animation, life as zoe is what comes end. It is theologically challenging, for we have come to think of perfection
about in Christ: "what came to be in him is life:'u Life, as zoe, lives when much more in terms of protology, as the way things were in the beginning
10. Gregory of Nyssa, De hom. op. 8.7. before "the fall;' and of Christ's work as being a remedy for our deviation.
11. Cf. John 1:3-4: '~things came to be by him and without him nothing came to That is, we tend to think of creation and salvation as being two distinct
be. What came to be in him was life [a YEYOVEV EV auTc;i ~w~ ~v l' and the life was the light moments or operations, a Plan A followed, after human error, by Plan
of human beings:' This is the way that many of the early writers, including Irenaeus, cite B. For these early theologians, however, Christ is not Plan B, but rather
the verse, as well as a number of early manuscripts.
94 THE R 0 L E 0 F D EAT H IN L IF E: PART IV
JOHN BEHR LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF MARTYRDOM 95
the realization of God's intention, stated at the beginning, and brought to
as we desire, as traced out so well by Herve Juvin, but when we die the body
completion by the arc that leads from Adam to Christ. The work of Christ is discarded as nothing but our earthly shell.
in the passion is not simply a remedy, but the expression of the life, love,
In such a culture, the idea that life comes through death, and that
and being of God, which encompasses and transforms human deviation
death therefore has a role to play in life, giving birth to a life beyond the
and death itself: our devi~tion becomes a pedagogic instrument (cf. Jer 2:19
reaches of death, cannot but strike us as bizarre. Yet, as Irenaeus under-
"your own apostasy shall teach you;' cited by Irenaeus in Haer. 4·37·7), and
scores, death nevertheless will have its final say, though, as he would add,
death becomes the means of life, not a resuscitated breath continuing our
the final say is that of God who uses our mortality to educate us of our
bios, but rather the life, zoe, created by the Spirit through the act of losing finitude, our embodiedness, and our earthiness, and so enables us, finally,
our life for the sake of Christ and others. Life comes through the cross, and
to receive that which we don't have in or from ourselves, that is, life. Or, as
only the one who lives in this way is truly a human being.
Juvin concludes his fascinating study: ''Alone the body remembers that it is
The challenge of this vision is accentuated greatly by the fact that in
finite; alone, it roots us in its limits, our last frontier (for how long?); and
most Western countries we no longer "see" death today. People still die, of
even if-especially if-it forgets, the body alone still prevents us from being
course, whether peacefully at home or tragically in acddents, and we hear of God to ourselves and others:'12
many more deaths than ever before, whether through warfare, or terrorism,
or natural calamities such as famines and disea11es. But in a very real sense,
we no longer "see" death. Until a century or so ago, it was normal to have
at least one sibling die in childhood 1md ior one parent to die before one
reached adulthood. Their bodies would be looked afte1· at home, laid out in
the bedroom or the dining room, tendered and cared for, with friends and
neighbors keeping wake, until they were taken to church to be commended
to God and interred in the earth. Today, however, the bodies are removed
as quickly as possible, to the morticians, who prepare the body to be placed
under pink lights in the funeral home, so that they appear to be living and
that comments might be made such as "I've never seen him/her looking so
good:' The bodies are increasingly disposed of in crematoriums, with only
a few people present, and a "memorial service" is held, without the person
being there (for after all they have "left" the body behind) in which their
"life" is celebrated. This discarding of the traditional funeral liturgy (in all
the senses mentioned above), such that we no longer "see" death, is perhaps
the biggest change in human existence in history. If it is true, as I have
argued above, that, at least from a Christian perspective, Christ shows us
what it is to be God in the way that he dies as a human being, the removal
of the "face" of death from society and our experience, is simultaneously
the removal of the "face'' of God. It results in a very imminent perspective
on human life-human life is what we now live, as we "live life to the full"-
and a very odd relationship to our bodies: while we are "liVing;' our life is
all about our body and its plasticity, ready to be fashioned and refashioned

12. Juvin, The Coming of the Body, 177.