The Fifth Seal ~ The Martyrdom of the Saints

When John saw the fifth seal opened, he had a view into heaven and saw the many early Christians who had been martyred.  He also saw that many more would be.  John, in fact, was seeing one significant aspect of the time in which he lived.  This is what he wrote:

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6: 9-11)

 

This was a time of the martyrdom of the saints, beginning in Jerusalem with the stoning of Stephen, and the opening chapters of what was to become known as the Great Apostasy.  In fact, one of the factors that contributed to the Great Apostasy was severe persecution of the Christians by the Roman Empire and by other political and religious groups of the day.

One-by-one, the apostles and other righteous priesthood leaders were martyred.  Here are some whose fates are known:

• James, son of Zebedee and brother of John, was the first martyred apostle, beheaded by Herod Agrippa.
• Matthew was executed, probably by beheading, in Ethiopia where he was serving a mission.
•  Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot, was stoned to death in Jerusalem.
• Andrew, brother of Peter, was crucified on an X-shaped cross, probably in Macedonia.  The cross became known as St. Andrew’s Cross.
• Peter was crucified in Rome.  Tradition says that he claimed to be unworthy of a death like the Savior’s, so he was crucified upside down.
• Paul was beheaded in Rome about 65 AD at the order of the Emperor Nero.
•  Simon the Zealot was crucified in a Roman province in England.
• Philip was crucified by the Emperor Domitian, also upside down.
• Bartholomew was martyred, possibly near Armenia.  One account said he was severely beaten and crucified and another said he was placed in a sack and thrown into the sea.
• Thomas preached as far east as India and was killed there by a lance.
• James, the brother of Matthew, was stoned in Jerusalem.
• Barnabus, the first Seventy and missionary companion to Paul, was killed in Cyprus. [1]

As the Christian Church continued to grow, despite cruel persecution, the Roman Emperors began to realize that they were fighting a losing battle and that allying themselves with the Christian faith would be the best chance they would have, politically speaking, to unite the Empire.  The Emperor Diocletian had divided the Roman Empire into the Eastern Empire in Constantinople and the Western Empire in Rome.  The West tolerated Christianity, but the East still attacked it severely until the Eastern Emperor, Galeruis Caesar, issued an “edit of tolerance” on his deathbed in 311 AD. 

The persecution and martyrdom illustrated by the 5th seal has never really ended.  Christians have continued to be persecuted and killed, often by other Christians, from the Inquisition of the middle ages to the wolf hunts against the Latter-day Saints in the 1830s.  In parts of the world today, Christians still may lose their lives for their testimonies of Jesus Christ.

[1] Source: Scott R. Peterson, Where Have All the Prophets Gone? Cedar Fort 2005, pp 115-117.  Many historical references regarding the apostasy and reformation come from this book.  It is a well researched, carefully documented, and scholarly work and I highly recommend it to any faithful and concerned Christian.

 

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Picture of the Stoning of Stephen from www.fministry.com