They died with prayers expressing their love for God and forgiveness for those who committed the horrific act. Such stories serve as an inspiration for many, reaffirming their faith in Jesus Christ. Here, we present some of these inspiring stories:

1. Coptic church blasts, Egypt

On Palm Sunday in 2017, bombs exploded inside Egypt’s two historic Coptic churches. The explosion killed nearly fifty parishioners and over a hundred others were injured. Amid much grief and outrage, Father Boules George stepped before his packed church just hours after the blast. 

He then gave the terrorists responsible for the act a three-point sermon, which went viral throughout the world. It was titled ‘A Message to Those Who Kill Us’. These simple points were simple, yet very powerful. They were “Thank you”, “We love you”, and “We’re praying for you”. Father George’s had said “Thank you” to the terrorists. 

It was to tell the terrorists that they had given the dead a rare honour. They got the opportunity to die as Christ died. The actions of terrorists had reminded people of their eternal destinies. It was truly surprising to see that the place overflowed with people who usually didn’t attend the church. 

Father George said “we love you” because the followers of Jesus Christ were taught to love their enemies. The message was concluded with “We’re praying for you” for the terrorists. If they ever tasted the love of God even once, it would drive away hatred from their hearts.

2. The memoir of Kim Eun Jin, North Korea

Before the Korean War, about 13 per cent of the population of North Korea was Christian. Today the number has declined to almost 2 per cent. Among them is Kim Eun Jin. She was born in a Christian family in the country’s capital city, Pyongyang. When she was in school, Kim was taught that there was no God. She was also taught that the people of North Korea should worship the leaders of their country. 

While growing up, she was also told that her hometown was once called ‘Jerusalem of the East’. This was due to the fact that it had a great base of Christianity. On Saturday nights, her family would gather at the back of their tiny apartment. Then they would whisper their worship and Bible studies with their heads covered to muffle the noise. 

Kim’s grandmother had converted to Christianity before the Second World War and had a Chinese Bible. Kim’s mother had translated it into Korean by hand. The family was held together by those precious pages. Eventually, her father was discovered and arrested by the police along with her uncle. 

She never saw her father again. Kim, her mother, her grandmother, and her siblings managed to escape North Korea. Today, she is 31 years of age, married, and has a child. She is often invited to speak to groups about North Korea and its human-rights abuses. 

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The Armenians belonged to the Christian faith and lived as second-class citizens under the Islamic Ottoman rule. Their population was largely concentrated in eastern Anatolia. The Armenian genocide destroyed more than two millennia of Armenian civilization in the eastern part of Anatolia. Nearly 1.5 million Armenians died in this massacre. Here are some of the few who survived:

1. Aris Alexanian

Born as Aris Luke Alexanian, he was a noted world traveller and a prominent Armenian Canadian businessman. He was born in the Turkish town of Agin during Ottoman rule. Owing to the untimely death of his parents, he was orphaned at an early age. 

In order to escape the Armenian genocide, he went into hiding for 6 months in the Anatolia region. Although he was shot and wounded during this period, he managed to escape. He arrived in New York City in 1920 and moved to Canada in 1921.

2. Grigoris Balakian

Besides being a survivor of the Armenian genocide, he was a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He was born in Tokat under the Ottoman Empire and graduated from the Sanasarian College. He studied architecture for two years in Germany and obtained a degree in civil engineering. Later, he was ordained under the monastic name, Grigoris Balakian, and became a celibate priest. 

He was among the prominent Armenians of Constantinople, who were arrested and deported in 1915. Luckily, he managed to escape the genocide by fleeing to a construction site on the Bagdad railway. He was helped by German engineers and finally succeeded in escaping to Paris from Constantinople.

3. Pailadzo Captanian

She was an author who survived the Armenian genocide of 1915. Pailadzo is also credited for being an inspiration for the creation of Rice-A-Roni. It is based on her own recipe of Armenian pilaf. During the genocide, she was forced to march through the Syrian desert to Aleppo while pregnant. Before the deportations, she had entrusted her two sons to a Greek family. 

In 1919, she was reunited with her sons and they moved to the United States. She worked as a seamstress and sewed draperies for the home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York. She published the Armenian original of her memoirs in 1922.

4. Arshile Gorky

He has been hailed as one of the most powerful painters of America from the 20th century. Arshile Gorky was born as Vostanik Manoug Adoian in the village of Khorgom under the Ottoman Empire. During the Armenian genocide of 1915, he escaped into a Russian-controlled territory with his mother and three sisters. 

His mother died of starvation in Yerevan in the aftermath of the genocide in 1919. He claimed to be a Georgian noble in the process of reinventing his identity and changing his name. Gorky reunited with his father after arriving in America in 1920, but they never grew close.

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Christians abhorred the pagan practices, as their religious beliefs prohibited idolatry. This led to the Christians being punished by the members of the state and civic society. Often, the victims were charged with treason, illegal assembly, and the introduction of an alien cult. Now, let’s examine the reasons for Christian persecution during the times of the Roman empire in detail:

1. Ideological conflict

Most of the persecutions carried out were a result of ideological conflict. In the Roman Empire, Caesar was considered divine and Christians couldn’t accept this. Owing to this clash of ideologies, ordinary Christians had to face a constant threat of denunciation. It became difficult for the followers of Christ to hide their religion. 

Besides, their beliefs involved several departures from the conventional pursuits and norms. Most of the civic festivals, games, and theatrical performances were held in the honor of pagan deities. The Christians couldn’t accept this and stay away from these events.

2. Privatizing of religion

This was another major factor that caused the prosecution of Christians in those times. People of the Christian faith moved their activities to the more secluded spaces. Thus, instead of the streets, they moved their activities to homes, shops, and apartments of women. 

This affected the normal ties between them and live in the cities and nations. Christians usually met in secret at night. This raised suspicion among the pagan population, for whom, religion was a public event. As a result, rumours spread to Christians that were evil and wicked people.

3. The inclusive nature of Christianity

The early Christians were highly inclusive in terms of social categories. The role of women was much greater than in Judaism or paganism of those times. Christians were told to love even their enemies. No matter which class they belonged to, they would always call each other ‘sister’ or ‘brother’. 

This was perceived by their opponents in the Roman Empire as a threat to their traditions. It was something that challenged their class or gender-based order.

4. The disregard of traditions

The tendency of Christian converts was to renounce their family and country. This aroused a feeling of apprehension in their pagan neighbours. By embracing the Christian faith, they incurred an offence that was unpardonable. They violated the religious institutions of their country and despised what their fathers had revered as sacred. The Christian converts also dissolved the sacred ties of education and custom.

5. Rejection of pagan beliefs and practices

Most of the pagans believed that if their established gods were not revered, something bad would happen. Towards the end of the 2nd century, a widespread perception prevailed about Christians. The pagan population believed that the Christians were the source of all disasters. The refusal of Christians to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods were considered an act of defiance. 

The Christians just couldn’t practice Roman religion owing to conflicting beliefs. The prejudice became much more intense. Even if a person confessed to being a ‘Christian’, it provided sufficient grounds for his or her execution.

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