Women Martyrs: Martyrdom as a Means of Liberation from Gender Stereotypes in the Early Church
Contrary to the stereotype of women as having weak minds and flighty associations with religions, women chose to openly follow Christ with the knowledge that their adherence to the faith would attract persecution not only from without but also from within the Church itself. For a woman to proclaim herself a servant of Christ and to act as a leader within the Church was a bold move that many Christian men opposed. In addition, the Roman Empire sought out Christians to persecute because of their refusal to worship the polytheistic Roman religion. Though more men than women were martyred, the Roman government considered the martyrdom of women an opportunity to make a public spectacle of the Christian faith. Expecting Christian women to react in terror and cowardice when faced with painful deaths, the Roman government concluded that the martyrdom of women would prove that any faith in which this flawed sex is given freedom and equality with men before a deity is a weak and foolish religion. However, such women as Blandina, Perpetua, and Felicitas shocked the Empire with their refusal to recant their beliefs. Their allegiance was to God alone, and for Him, they sacrificed their roles in the world as mothers, wives, and daughters. No fate however terrible shook these women from their convictions and adherence to the Truth, and for their unwavering belief for which they would give their lives, these women gained the respect of the Church and the pagan world.
Not only did female martyrs defy the stereotype of women lacking the capacity to adhere firmly to a belief or to distinguish truth, they also proved that they could stand up stoically to extreme mental and physical torture. In the ancient world, Stoicism became the ideal philosophy that all good Romans should embrace. Of course, women were perceived as being incapable of demonstrating this virtue, especially when undergoing suffering. However, Christian women were in fact empowered by their experience of persecution and saw their suffering as an opportunity to participate with Christ in His. They also retained their dignity in persecution and in death. The accounts of all three martyrs that Mary T. Malone cites refer to how the women seemed unaware of their pain. Perpetua fixes her hair and clothing and actually aids the gladiator when he wavers in killing her. In the record of her martyrdom, both she and Felicitas even express humor after they have endured rounds of torture in the Circus. The example of these women before the public proved that they indeed have the capacity to endure horror and pain for the sake of their faith.
Perhaps the biggest key to the benefit to women that their martyrdom brought, these followers of Christ found persecution to be a great equalizer between the sexes, an opportunity for women and men both to stand firm for Christ, to sacrifice all – including their identity in the world – for the Lord, and to suffer on His behalf. Gender differences fell aside as women left their families and their duties in order to obey Christ’s call. The grace of God rescinded the traditional hierarchy of the pagan and Jewish worlds and replaced it with what Malone calls the “equality of discipleship.” Through martyrdom, women grasped this equality and stood side by side with men in dungeons and prisons, in trials and courtrooms, and in arenas before crowds awaiting their deaths. Somehow, though, this stripping of all gender identity provided women with an opportunity to assert themselves and indeed gain control over their circumstances. For the first time, they were no longer women; they were simply Christians. They chose their persecution because they chose to follow Christ. They have transcended their circumstances and are no longer affected by the worst the world can hand them. Instead, women, through martyrdom, gained their liberation because they finally were allowed to follow their passion for the Lord and willingly suffer the consequences. Women and men alike shared in Christ’s sufferings as the body of Jesus Himself.
Ironic as it may seem, women in martyrdom were not subject to the oppression of a pagan society but were liberated by the illegal status of Christianity. The criminality of the faith provided women with license to assert themselves and prove their mettle in following Christ, and in so doing, they demonstrated that Christ makes all who follow Him strong, regardless of gender. The Lord is no respecter of gender. Women performed just as impressively and courageously in martyrdom as men did. Through persecution and martyrdom, woman’s obedience to Christ, the only proper choice for a Christian female, placed her in a position to represent not only her faith but her gender before the Church and the world, and in so doing, she proved that she too has the capacity for honor, courage, and tenacious adherence to the Truth.
