The Martyrdom Of Perpetua And Felicity
Pro-orthodox Christians responded to persecution/accusations in one of two ways. One response to persecution was martyrdom. Before persecution the Romans gave Christians a choice, deny Jesus or die. An example of this would be The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity. In this reading we see Perpetua’s father come to her, while she’s in prison awaiting a hearing, and beg her to deny Jesus (and perform the Roman rituals instead) so she wouldn’t be killed. She couldn’t do it. Even on the day of her hearing when the Roman in charge of sentencing asked her to think about her family and deny Christ she refused. She was sentenced to death. Many early Christians chose the same path as Perpetua. They would rather die than deny their Savior. Another