It is easy to get into this mode where I can easily name and shame persons who say and do things that drag the name of Christ in the mud. Far be it that they should never be called out on their errors, it is necessary to call them out on their shenanigans, but every now and then it is good to tell others what I am for as opposed to what I am against. This blog is then my tribute to the faithfulness of Blandina, one of the great Christian martyrs from the second century. She lived and died for the sake of Christ in spite of all efforts by antichristian persecutors to force her to recant.
I was reading through Eusebius’ Church History, I was factchecking something else, when the account of Blandina’s martyrdom caught my attention. Christians of Lyons in South France at that time were falsely accused of horrendous evils like ritual cannibalism and incest, and those who despised the Church sought to force a confession by any means necessary. Blandina was one the believers who suffered for Christ in those days. Eusebius tells us,
Blandina was filled with such power as to be delivered and raised above those who were torturing her by turns from morning till evening in every manner, so that they acknowledged that they were conquered, and could do nothing more to her. And they were astonished at her endurance, as her entire body was mangled and broken; and they testified that one of these forms of torture was sufficient to destroy life, not to speak of so many and so great sufferings.
But the blessed woman, like a noble athlete, renewed her strength in her confession; and her comfort and recreation and relief from the pain of her sufferings was in exclaiming, “I am a Christian, and there is nothing vile done by us.” (Eusebius, Church History, 5.1.18-19).
Still bent on forcing a confession to crimes never committed Blandina and other Christians were taken into an amphitheater to face off against wild beast. A very cruel punishment for the believer made into a form of entertainment for the masses. But, the plan of the persecutors backfired. According to Eusebius,
Blandina was suspended on a stake, and exposed to be devoured by the wild beasts who should attack her. And because she appeared as if hanging on a cross, and because of her earnest prayers, she inspired the combatants with great zeal. For they looked on her in her conflict, and beheld with their outward eyes, in the form of their sister, him who was crucified for them, that he might persuade those who believe on him, that every one who suffers for the glory of Christ has fellowship always with the living God.
As none of the wild beasts at that time touched her, she was taken down from the stake, and cast again into prison. She was preserved thus for another contest, that, being victorious in more conflicts, she might make the punishment of the crooked serpent irrevocable; and, though small and weak and despised, yet clothed with Christ the mighty and conquering Athlete, she might arouse the zeal of the brethren, and, having overcome the adversary many times might receive, through her conflict, the crown incorruptible (Church History, 5.1.41-42).
Instead of extinguishing the light of the Church, the world witnessed authentic faith, the kind of faith which forsakes all to follow Christ in life and death then inspires others to do the same. Eusebius writes,
After all these, on the last day of the contests, Blandina was again brought in, with Ponticus, a boy about fifteen years old. They had been brought every day to witness the sufferings of the others, and had been pressed to swear by the idols. But because they remained steadfast and despised them, the multitude became furious, so that they had no compassion for the youth of the boy nor respect for the sex of the woman.
Therefore they exposed them to all the terrible sufferings and took them through the entire round of torture, repeatedly urging them to swear, but being unable to effect this; for Ponticus, encouraged by his sister so that even the heathen could see that she was confirming and strengthening him, having nobly endured every torture, gave up the ghost.
But the blessed Blandina, last of all, having, as a noble mother, encouraged her children and sent them before her victorious to the King, endured herself all their conflicts and hastened after them, glad and rejoicing in her departure as if called to a marriage supper, rather than cast to wild beasts.
And, after the scourging, after the wild beasts, after the roasting seat, she was finally enclosed in a net, and thrown before a bull. And having been tossed about by the animal, but feeling none of the things which were happening to her, on account of her hope and firm hold upon what had been entrusted to her, and her communion with Christ, she also was sacrificed. And the heathen themselves confessed that never among them had a woman endured so many and such terrible tortures (Church History, 5.1.53-56).
I thought paying a bit of tribute to the martyrdom of Blandina would be apropos for this Holy Week as it ties in to the central focus of the suffering of Christ and prepares us for Resurrection Sunday. Christ shows us the way to glory through His own suffering and death upon the cross. He dies on behalf of sinners so that they can receive eternal life with God. Blandina follows in the footsteps of the Christ, forsaking all for the sake of the cross, and being confident in the blessed hope of resurrection from the dead.
Peter reminds us,
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name….
…Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen (1 Pet. 4:12-16; 5:8-11 ESV).
There are many, many Christians who abandoned everything for the sake of the cross, and the testimony to Christ flowing from their life and lips is the genuine article. They glorify God in both life and death. In all of this, they direct us to the cross, to the one who suffered and died so that we might live. Blandina is a faithful witness to Christ, one who is rarely mentioned in evangelical Christian circles, at least from my personal experience, but one whose legacy must never be forgotten.
WGN
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