Musurillo's The Acts Of The Christian Martyrs

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The conversion of Constantine brought about a wave of Christianity and inspired many to follow the monastic tradition as the meaning of martyrdom for faith had changed significantly.
Although, persecutions of the Christian community were sporadic and scattered through the Roman Empire, the periods of persecutions that happened were considered an opportunity to prove the Christian communities' faith and love to God. These 'trials' were best displayed in the story of Perpetua and Felicitas; their martyrdom was a welcome challenge they accepted. In Musurillo's "The Acts of the Christian Martyrs", the conflicts and trials that Perpetua and Felicitas faced are seen as part of the experience of martyrdom for the greater glory of God and are best …show more content…

This vast expansion of popularity in Christianity made it hard for certain followers to find their footing and ways to show their dedication, this led to a new creation of a movement called monasticism. Monasticism is the practice of leaving civilized life and devoting life to the worship of God, practiced by monks called the Desert fathers. This practice grew in popularity and led to many highly regarded people such as St. Anthony, coming into their own. The monastic scene revolved around following the core Christian values and essentially amplified them to the extremes, examples of the extremes these people would go through to remain faithful included one example of a man digging up a dead woman and keeping his blood soaked cloak from her in his cell, "So he punished himself with the smell until his passions died down" (St. Anthony of Egypt, 40). The monks who participated in monastic life were fully dedicated to the idea of 'new martyrdom' in giving their lives to God in a devotional way they equated it to the martyrdom of earlier saints such as Perpetua and Felicitas. Monasticism was an outlet for the devoted to expand their faith and devotion without literally sacrificing their bodies to God, instead they gave they gave everything they could. With the spread of Christianity, the view of martyrdom in the traditional sense changed and with little to no outlet for people to expand their faith amongst the growing popularity of Christianity, people turned towards monasticism as a way to further their faith to

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