As we move into the summer season, I thought that I might take a few weeks and write a brief expose on a few heroes of the Christian faith throughout the history of the church. If you know me, that means mostly people who have been long dead and are all but forgotten except by church historians, a few theologians, and weird pastors who read too much history and biography. We’ll start this week with a great woman of the faith and her young friend/slave who suffered martyrdom alongside her.
Perpetua was a Christian noblewoman who, at the turn of the third century, lived with her husband, her son, and her slave, a young woman named Felicitas, in Carthage, North Africa. At this early stage in the Gentile church, North Africa was the center of a vibrant Christian community. The emperor at the time, Septimius Severus, believed that Christians were causing Roman patriotism to wane. Although it is not believed that he took up an intentional attack against Christians, it appears he was lax in calling local officials to account for sporadic outbreaks of persecution in their regions. One such pogrom (period of persecution) erupted in North Africa, and among the first to be arrested were five new Christian catechumens (those preparing for baptism), one of whom was Perpetua.
As a noblewoman, Perpetua would normally have been punished and released, but in this case she refused to recant her new faith or offer the obligatory sacrifice for the welfare of the emperor, and neither would any of the other believers arrested with her. In response, they were thrown into prison to await execution in the amphitheater at Carthage. Her father came to see her and begged her to consider his own sorrow and recant her faith (he was not a believer). Again she refused. Perpetua was a nursing mother, and after two deacons from her local church bribed the guards, she was moved to a healthier part of the prison and allowed to nurse her child. Again her father came, begging her to consider her child, her family, and his “old grey head.” Again, although moved to tears, she refused to recant. In her own journal she wrote that when her father told her to simply say she was not a Christian, even if it was untrue, she picked up a nearby vase and said, “Father, do you see this vase? Could it be called by another name and yet still identified?” He responded, “No.” “Then neither can I be called by another name other than ‘Christian,’” she replied.
As the day of the tournament grew near, other believers recently arrested were added to the prison, including Felicitas, Perpetua’s slave girl. Although treated kindly by the prison administrator, who was himself a secret believer, Perpetua still had to face her trial. Brought before the Roman governor of Carthage, she was asked to recant her faith and offer the sacrifice. At that moment her father was ushered into the tribunal to plead with his daughter one last time. The governor asked her to consider her parents and her child, and then she was asked one last time, “Will you sacrifice?” “No, I will not,” was the answer. “Are you then, in fact, a Christian?” “I am,” was her reply. Her father fell to his knees to beg her to recant, but the governor had seen enough, her father was beaten before her eyes and thrown out of the tribunal, and she was sentenced to be thrown to the beasts.
The evening before her martyrdom Perpetua recorded a vision or dream in her journal. She saw another believer whom she knew well showing her a stairway to heaven, and he beckoned her to join him, but to not allow the dragon at the foot of the staircase to bite her. She responded in her dream that she had no fear of the dragon, and then trod on his head as her first step toward her friend. She believed this was a sign from God that she had made the right decision, and that she would in fact die, but would not ultimately be killed by an animal.
The next day Perpetua, Felicitas, and others were ushered into the arena. Although attacked by a wild ox and injured by a leopard, the animals refused to kill her. Therefore, a gladiator dispatched not only her but all of the Christians in her group by the sword, and Perpetua, Felicitas and their friends gained eternal life.
“Do not fear what you are about to suffer, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison… Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life.” -Revelation 2:10
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym