tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/martyr-23587/articles
Martyr – The Conversation
2024-03-05T17:56:48Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225008
2024-03-05T17:56:48Z
2024-03-05T17:56:48Z
The Martyrdom of Saint Alexei: Navalny’s death is the latest instance of a long tradition of self-sacrifice in Russia
<p>Since the news of Alexei Navalny’s death broke on Friday 16 February 2024, a good deal of analysts and journalists have taken to framing it in terms of sacrifice and martyrdom.</p>
<p>To the best of our knowledge, there is nothing to suggest that the Russian dissident was driven by any sense of <a href="https://www-cairn-info.ressources-electroniques.univ-lille.fr/revue-cliniques-mediterraneennes-2023-1-page-7.htm">“morbid enjoyment”</a>. Baptised, he described himself as a <a href="https://www.lavie.fr/actualite/geopolitique/mort-dalexei-navalny-fol-en-christ-orthodoxe-dresse-contre-le-kremlin-93100.php">“typical post-Soviet believer”</a>. And yet, having survived an <a href="https://theconversation.com/alexei-navalny-poisoning-what-theatrical-assassination-attempts-reveal-about-vladimir-putins-grip-on-power-in-russia-145664">attempted Novitchok poisoning</a>, he was also fully aware of the risks he was taking when he returned to Russia in January 2021. Were he to be killed, he had said his death would be a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4PxsTqcZtw">testament to the strength of his movement</a>.</p>
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<h2>The Russian ideal of self-sacrifice</h2>
<p>Navalny’s return to Russia can be explained by political considerations – namely, his refusal to go into permanent exile, as the Russian regime wanted. But insofar as he knew the risks to which he was exposing himself, his death – whether the result of “accidental” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/17/world/europe/navalny-health-prison-death.html">ill-treatment</a> or an <a href="https://meduza.io/en/news/2024/02/26/putin-killed-navalny-because-negotiations-for-his-release-in-prisoner-swap-were-nearing-completion-navalny-associate-maria-pevchikh-says">assassination in due form</a> – can be understood as self-sacrifice.</p>
<p>The phenomenon of martyrdom – particularly political martyrdom – is obviously <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/political-selfsacrifice/7FA97CDA5F984B12FD9D45CABC7F8081">not unique to Russia</a>. To regard it as an intrinsic component of a supposed “Slavic soul” is, in my view, a Western fantasy. That said, martyrdom and suffering <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg1cj">occupy an essential place in Russian history and culture</a>.</p>
<p>From autocracy to communism, Russia has throughout history experienced eminently repressive political regimes, often one after the next. The serfdom of a large section of the population until 1861, as well as the military’s critical role in bloody colonisation campaigns, have further helped to forge a culture of suffering as a way of life. Such a Russian ideal is marvellously illustrated by the works of Dostoevsky, Anna Akhmatova and Vasily Grossman – a list that is far from exhaustive. In fact, the etymology of the Russian word <em>moutchenik</em> (martyr) is “suffering” (<em>muka</em>), whereas in French or English, for example, “martyr” comes from the Greek <em>martus</em>, “witness”.</p>
<p>However, Russia’s singularity has less to do with the existence of a culture of sacrifice in defiance toward authorities, which I name here “defiant sacrifice”, than in a specific tension between it and sacrifice in the name of the State between “martyrs” on the one hand and patriotic “heroes” on the other. Understanding this dual culture of sacrifice can help us better grasp Navalny’s tragic fate.</p>
<h2>The martyr factory</h2>
<p>The first culture of “defiant sacrifice” comprises several historical layers, the oldest of which is religious. Russia’s orthodox Christianity is indeed based on the <a href="https://www.persee.fr/doc/ccmed_0007-9731_1981_num_24_93_2161">life and death of the saints</a>, while the country is also marked by the repression of dissident religious movements.</p>
<p>The best-known example of the latter is that of the <a href="https://www.cairn.info/moscou-troisieme-rome--9782010107795-page-139.htm">Old Believers</a>, who opposed the reform undertaken by Patriarch Nikon in the mid-17th century to bring the Russian Orthodox Church into line with the Greek Church. The contested reform ultimately led to a schism within the Orthodox community, the <em>Raskol</em>. Convinced that the disappearance of the traditional Church marked the beginning of the reign of the Antichrist, the Old Believers <a href="https://www.rbth.com/history/332188-how-russian-old-believers-burned-alive">often set themselves on fire</a> to oppose authorities, whom they perceived as corrupt.</p>
<p>But Russia’s culture of sacrifice also extends to politics. In 1830-1840, <a href="https://www.cairn.info/histoire-de-la-russie-des-tsars--9782262042516-page-337.htm">the sociological stratum of the intelligentsia</a> emerges. The individuals constituting it are educated, but above all driven by political ideals inspired by the Age of Enlightenment.</p>
<p>On the death of Alexander I<sup>er</sup> in December 1825, a group of officers, the <a href="https://www.cairn.info/le-tsar-c-est-moi--9782130652182-page-397.htm">“Decembrists”</a>, demanded an end to the autocracy, with the view of ushering in a constitutional monarchy. The uprising, which saw its leaders executed, paved the way for what came to be known as the “revolutionary martyrs” from the second half of the 19th century onwards.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577592/original/file-20240223-15016-fl3i6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577592/original/file-20240223-15016-fl3i6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577592/original/file-20240223-15016-fl3i6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577592/original/file-20240223-15016-fl3i6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577592/original/file-20240223-15016-fl3i6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577592/original/file-20240223-15016-fl3i6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577592/original/file-20240223-15016-fl3i6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">During the Soviet era, the ‘Decembrists’ were often portrayed as heralding the revolution of 1917, and their fate was the subject of numerous hagiographies (Semion Levinkov, 1957).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cyclowiki.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8B-1957-b.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>Their example nurtured several generations of opponents, right up to the generation of those who chose the path of violence. One of their heiresses was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/obituaries/overlooked-sophia-perovskaya.html">Sophia Perovskaya</a>, who helped orchestrate the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 and was the only woman executed during Tsarism for a political crime. She, too, knew full well what price she might pay for her act.</p>
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<p>The third dimension of Russian self-sacrifice was forged in the Soviet era, and is both religious and political in nature. Two groups stand out: the martyrs of the faith, including members of the Orthodox Church or other religious sects such as <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781442644618/conscience-on-trial/">Jehovah’s Witnesses</a>, whose martyrdom has a fairly limited influence. On the other, the historian can also note “liberal” dissidents, whose action has contributed to the emergence of a public diplomacy based on suffering – a phenomenon not seen since the tsars’ anti-Semitic policies provoked a crisis between Russia and the United States in the early 20th century.</p>
<p>Examples include the <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-fabrique-de-l-histoire/dimanche-midi-place-rouge-4754717">seven Soviets who defied the KGB</a> on 25 August 1968, demonstrating in Moscow against the invasion of Czechoslovakia; the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2022/08/04/andrei-sakharov-une-vie-a-combattre-l-inertie-de-la-peur_6137100_3451060.html">physicist Andrei Sakharov</a>, placed under house arrest in 1980 for openly denouncing the invasion of Afghanistan and the hunt for dissidents; or <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1986/12/11/l-etrange-fin-d-un-grand-temoin_2932068_1819218.html">Anatoly Marchenko</a>, whose death in a prison camp in December 1986 prompted Gorbachev to free Sakharov and extend his <em>glasnost</em> policy.</p>
<p>All knew perfectly well that by speaking out against the Soviet state they were exposing themselves to immense risks, but felt that the cost of inaction would have been higher.</p>
<h2>The factory of heroes</h2>
<p>This defiant self-sacrifice coexists in Russian political culture with another type of self-sacrifice, this time <a href="https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2017/11/03/role-war-sacrifice-russias-mythic-identity/ideas/essay/">in defence of the Russian and Soviet state</a>.</p>
<p>Weaponising the past toward political ends is absolutely central to what appears to be a process of heroisation through sacrifice, even if its impact on the population remains difficult to quantify. The history of this process is linked to the emergence of Russia as an ideological entity in the 16th century, as ideas such of Moscow as the <a href="https://www.la-croix.com/Definitions/Lexique/Quand-Moscou-proclame-troisieme-Rome-2022-05-18-1701215666">“third Rome”</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1848883">“Holy Russia”</a> gain ground. Throughout the centuries, Russians are brought up on the idea of <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA66355314&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=02756935&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E45a2d361&aty=open-web-entry">“Mother Russia”</a> (<em>Rodina</em>), which carves out a sacred homeland which must be defended at all costs.</p>
<h2>Navalny’s death and Russia’s future</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0265691419897533r">her book on the making of martyrs in Russia</a>, American civilisation scholar, Yuliya Minkova, describes the pervasiveness in Putin’s Russia of this phenomenon inherited from Stalinism, and the enduring tension between heroes of resistance and heroes of power.</p>
<p>Initially, during the years 2000-2014, a moderate Putinism had succeeded in defusing the risk of the emergence of martyrs who could have posed a risk to those in power. The first figure to bear the brunt of the repression, the oil tycoon <a href="https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/113639-003-A/un-livre-pour-ma-vie-mikhail-khodorkovski/">Mikhail Khodorkovsky</a>, was imprisoned between 2003 and 2013 following an eminently political trial, and had come to embody a Putin martyr during those years.</p>
<p>Khodorkovsky could have continued to languish behind bars had he not been pardoned by the president in December 2013. One of the reasons for his release was the death in prison in November 2009 of <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2012/12/11/affaire-magnitski-l-histoire-sordide-d-un-machiavelisme-d-etat_1804010_3214.html">Sergei Magnitsky</a>, an accountant who uncovered large-scale embezzlement while he was working for an American businessman, Bill Browder. Khodorkovsky’s new freedom worked in Putin’s favour, as the former businessman, exiled in London, lost his aura of “messiah” and dashed the hopes of uniting the opposition.</p>
<p>The Putin regime’s headlong rush after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 was accompanied by a confrontation unprecedented since the Cold War era between the defiant martyrs and patriotic heroes. Nowhere is this more visible than in the annual tussle between Russian progressives coming to lay flowers at the site where renowned opposition figure, Boris Nemtsov, was assassinated in 2015, and <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-nemtsov-memorial-removed-activists-detained/31112141.html">the authorities removing them</a>.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget that Putin’s immediate justification for invading Ukraine was the need to prevent the “genocide” of the Russian-speaking population of Donbass, victims of a Ukrainian regime described as “Nazi”. Imaginary martyrs, <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affaire_de_l%E2%80%99enfant_crucifi%C3%A9">such as the child supposedly crucified by Ukrainian forces</a>, had been invented to encourage Russian soldiers to sign up in the name of a noble cause, and then, later, to respond to the call for mobilisation.</p>
<p>For a long time, Putin’s government had succeeded in limiting Navalny’s influence, going to great lengths to deny his very existence. Putin’s refusal to name him or, for days, of <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/02/17/navalnys-killers-refusing-to-hand-over-body-allies-say-a84125">returning his body to his family</a> was part of that strategy. By having him killed, the Russian leader has confirmed Navalny’s status as a martyr in the eyes of a section of the population – those who have not been “zombified” by propaganda and conspiracy theories about links between Navalny and the CIA – and at the same time, the criminal nature of the Russian regime.</p>
<p>Far from erasing Navalny’s message, Putin has on the contrary amplified it, undermining the effect of his own propaganda and undermining the already slim chances of a negotiated solution to the conflict in Ukraine: Navalny’s death has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/european-union-sanctions-russia-ukraine-war-28a5d7faabbcbc5fe3a0de3ec84fd87d">further strained relations between Russia and the West</a>. His widow, Yulia, has announced her intention to take up her husband’s torch. It remains to be seen whether she will be able to give substance to his project, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2024/02/16/alexei-navalny-firebrand-campaigner-for-beautiful-russia-of-the-future/">“The marvellous Russia of the future”</a>, so that his sacrifice will not have been in vain.</p>
<p>One thing appears to be certain: the courage of the thousands of mourners who came to Navalny’s funeral on 1 March only reinforced the existing tension between the culture of heroes as martyrs, who sacrifice themselves for Russia’s democratic future, and the culture of heroes as combatants of the “special military operation”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreï Kozovoï ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
In Russia, individual sacrifice is an integral part of the national psyche.
Andreï Kozovoï, Professeur des universités, Université de Lille
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/193731
2022-11-04T10:18:28Z
2022-11-04T10:18:28Z
What is beatification? How the Catholic church determines the path to sainthood
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492980/original/file-20221102-12-sx5ihr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On 5 November 2022, the Catholic Church will formally recognise Sister Maria Carola Cechin (<a href="https://www.cottolengo.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Biografia%20in%20Inglese.pdf?x12356">1877-1925</a>) as “Blessed”. The Italian-born nun spent two decades serving in Kenya. </p>
<p>After this, in places closely associated with Sister Carola or within her religious order, Catholic church services can be held in her honour. An annual celebration in the church calendar of seasons can also be dedicated to her. Additionally, churches and other institutions in those areas can be named after her. </p>
<p>The process culminating in calling Sister Carola “Blessed” is known as beatification. This marks the second-last step before canonisation, which is the official admission into sainthood. </p>
<p>So how does the Catholic church decide who may be honoured in this way? </p>
<h2>The history</h2>
<p>From the earliest years of Christianity, some people after they died were recognised as having been exceptionally holy. For the first 500 years of the Church, they were given the title “saint” by popular acclaim. They were looked at as being already in heaven, close to God. Their prayers for people on Earth who sought their intercession were thought to be especially effective.</p>
<p>Gradually, local bishops became involved in such cases. From the beginning of the second millennium – to avoid potential abuses and to create universal standards – the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/romancuria/en/dicasteri/dicastero-cause-santi/profilo.html#:%7E:text=The%20Dicastery%20for%20the%20Causes,the%20instruction%20of%20a%20cause">process of formal recognition as a saint</a> became increasingly centralised in the Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. </p>
<h2>How to become beatified</h2>
<p>Currently, the path towards being acclaimed as a saint involves several stages and may take many years to complete.</p>
<p>To allow for some objectivity and to avoid purely emotional reactions, at least five years must normally pass after the death of a person before a request is made to the local bishop to start the “cause for canonisation.” </p>
<p>This local enquiry into someone held to have lived a very holy life involves interviewing people who knew the person. Historians, archivists and theologians also look deeply into the person’s deeds. This process is to confirm their exceptional holiness and investigate their writings for assurance that they wrote nothing contradicting the Catholic faith. If bad behaviour or scandal is discovered, evidence of a thorough change of life must also be presented.</p>
<p>Other bishops and the Vatican are then consulted. Following a positive evaluation, the Vatican grants the person the title “Servant of God” and their cause for canonisation officially opens. </p>
<p>At this stage, their body may be exhumed and examined, and relics taken and preserved. However, public religious services in their honour are forbidden. </p>
<p>Following more extensive investigation by the Roman authorities into their lives and their work, and with evidence that other people have taken them as a model for Christian life, they can then be known as “Venerable”. With this title, the church recognises that someone lived an outstandingly good life, and that their reputation for holiness and virtue is well deserved. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-a-miracle-heres-how-the-catholic-church-decides-170183">What's a 'miracle'? Here's how the Catholic Church decides</a>
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<p>The next stage is beatification. With the change in title to “Blessed”, the Catholic church effectively states that it is “worthy of belief” that the person is now with God in heaven. </p>
<p>In most cases, evidence for this comes in the form of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-a-miracle-heres-how-the-catholic-church-decides-170183">miracle</a> attributed to the person’s intervention. (In cases of martyrdom, where a person has suffered death or persecution for their Catholic faith, a miracle is not required for beatification or canonisation.) </p>
<h2>Sister Carola’s miracle</h2>
<p>The Catholic church investigates claimed miracles meticulously. The vast majority of these miracles involve cases of scientifically inexplicable healing. </p>
<p>A panel of scientists is convened in the diocese where the miracle is alleged to have occurred. For the process of potential beatification to continue, the scientists’ positive verdict is required, stating that a healing was spontaneous, instantaneous and lasting. </p>
<p>The medical dossier is then scrutinised in Rome by a different scientific panel. And a team of Rome-based theologians re-investigates the life of the “Venerable”. </p>
<p>Positive scientific and theological evaluations are passed to a panel of cardinals and bishops. They pass on their recommendations to the pope, who declares the person to be worthy of the title “Blessed”. </p>
<p>At Sister Carola’s beatification ceremony in Kenya, a bishop will present an account of her life and a representative of the pope will read a letter granting her the title “Blessed.”</p>
<p>Sister Carola’s beatification follows the confirmation of a <a href="https://cottolengokenya.org/blog/2021/12/16/the-miracle-attributed-to-the-venerable-sister-maria-carola-cecchin-has-been-recognized/">miracle attributed to her</a>. In December 2021, officials in Rome agreed that a prayer made for her intervention led to the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/eastern/article/2001448010/catholic-church-to-declare-sister-carola-blessed-on-november-5">survival of a boy</a> born with no heartbeat in a village in Meru, central Kenya. </p>
<p>Sister Carola becomes the second person who worked in Kenya to be beatified after <a href="http://consolatasisters.org/blessed-sr-irene-stefani/">Sister Irene Stefani</a> in May 2015. The miracle attributed to Sister Stefani’s intercession involved not a healing, but the multiplication of water in a fountain at a Mozambican parish used as a hideout during a civil war in 1989.</p>
<h2>How to become a saint</h2>
<p>There is no official tally of the number of saints, but the last three popes have beatified and canonised many more people than their immediate predecessors, often during their international travels. This has usually been in places where they have strong local connections, and in countries where Christianity is comparatively new and local saints few in number. Africa has a handful of saints canonised in modern times. They include the 22 <a href="https://theconversation.com/martyrs-day-how-life-in-uganda-today-mirrors-the-dark-old-days-of-kabaka-184274">martyrs of Uganda</a> who were granted the title in 1964.</p>
<p>In 1983, Pope John Paul II (who was declared a saint in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/27/popes-john-paul-ii-and-john-xxiii-saints-canonisation">April 2014</a>) simplified the process of beatification. He reduced the time between the person’s death and the opening of the process from 50 years to the current five. </p>
<p>During his papacy, <a href="https://epicpew.com/john-paul-ii-death-anniversary/">1,340 people</a> were beatified. This is more than all his predecessors since the 1660s when beatifications became common after the Vatican centralised saint-making. </p>
<p>The current pontiff, Pope Francis, has continued the <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/money-and-saint-making">process of reform</a>. In 2016, greater financial transparency was instituted regarding the considerable costs that the process can involve. In 2020, he also added a new path to beatification in the case of someone who offered up their life so that someone else might live. </p>
<p>Many “Blesseds” remain at this level for centuries or forever. Recognition as a saint requires an additional miracle to be confirmed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorian Llywelyn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From the earliest years of Christianity, some people have been recognised as having lived exceptionally holy lives.
Dorian Llywelyn, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/181699
2022-05-04T12:34:49Z
2022-05-04T12:34:49Z
What makes religious relics – like pieces of the ‘true cross’ and hair of saints – sacred to Christians
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461043/original/file-20220503-43085-in1z5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=83%2C58%2C5474%2C3641&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Christian clergymen carry a wooden relic believed to be from Jesus' manger at the Notre Dame church in Jerusalem in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/HolyLandJesusManger/aee3c0798d49413ca518397ae20040db/photo?Query=%20relic%20christian&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=63&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Russian missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/22/europe/moskva-russia-casualties-intl/index.html">sunk after it was heavily damaged</a> in April 2022. Kremlin officials said that a fire on board caused munitions to explode, while <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/14/1092799610/moskva-flagship-damaged">Ukrainian officials claimed</a> they had attacked the Moskva. Several <a href="https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-704498">media reports noted</a> that the ship might have been carrying a relic of the “true cross,” a piece of the actual wooden cross on which Christians believe that Jesus suffered and died. </p>
<p>The possibility of the relic being on the sunken ship cannot be ruled out. A collector is said to have donated the relic in 2020 to the Russian navy, which planned to place it <a href="https://tass.com/society/1123855">in the Moskva’s onboard</a> chapel. It is unclear, however, whether the relic was on board the ship in its chapel when the vessel went into combat. But the widespread interest in the possibility of this ancient relic being on board points to its importance for many Christians.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">expert in medieval Christian liturgy and worship</a>, I know that veneration of relics has a long history in Christian devotional practice.</p>
<h2>Venerating martyrs</h2>
<p>In the first three centuries of Christianity, Christians, whose religion was outlawed, prayed at the entombed bodies of martyrs, who were executed for refusing to renounce their new faith.</p>
<p>After the Roman Empire legalized Christianity in the early fourth century, smaller buildings called <a href="https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/practices-values/shrines-pilgrimage">shrine churches</a> were sometimes built around the tomb of a martyr. At times, the <a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/ambrose-letter22.asp">bodies of the martyr were exhumed by local bishops</a> and reburied within the city itself, in a special tomb beneath the floor of a larger church or basilica. </p>
<p>Prior to this practice, bodies of the dead were kept in <a href="https://ontheruinofbritain.wordpress.com/2019/02/21/christianity-and-relics-part-four-the-public-cult/">tombs and catacombs built outside of the city’s walls</a> so as to separate them from the “city” of the living. But Christians believed in the power of the martyrs and, later, other saintly persons to intercede on their behalf with God. Saints were respected and their relics and images venerated, but they <a href="https://www.catholic.com/qa/why-veneration-isnt-idol-worship">were not adored or worshipped</a> as God might be.</p>
<h2>Jesus’ cross</h2>
<p>After Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, Jerusalem became an important center for Christians who wanted to make religious trips to visit the places where Jesus and his apostles lived and preached. The term pilgrimage, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/pilgrim#:">meaning journey</a>, originated at the time.</p>
<p>During this time, what was believed to be a piece of the “True Cross” <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-cross-and-its-many-meanings-over-the-centuries-123316">was brought back to Europe</a> – supposedly by St. Helena, the emperor’s mother – and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/23/living/jesus-true-cross/index.html#:%7E:text=The%20true%20cross%20of%20Jesus%20had%20been%20revealed.,make%20a%20big%20ship%2Dload">broken up into smaller pieces</a>. </p>
<p>Another section remained in Jerusalem and was venerated there, until in the early seventh century a Persian emperor, a Zoroastrian, conquered the city and removed the relic among the spoils of war. Several years later, the Persians were themselves conquered by the Christian emperor Heraclius, <a href="https://aleteia.org/2019/09/14/when-an-emperor-tried-to-carry-jesus-cross-with-great-pomp-this-miracle-happened/">who returned the relic to Jerusalem</a>. There it remained, even after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem later that century. </p>
<h2>Pilgrimage to see relics</h2>
<p>As Christianity spread throughout Europe, beyond the boundaries of the Roman Empire, so did the practice of venerating the saints. </p>
<p>The demands for a saintly “body” increased, and so the remains of famous or local saints were divided into pieces, which included clippings of hair, or sometimes whole body parts. These “relics” – from a <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/relic">Latin word meaning</a> “something left behind” – were frequently placed in special containers or display cases, called reliquaries. </p>
<p>These were usually especially elaborate, <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/relc/hd_relc.htm">made of precious metals and adorned with jewels</a> as a reflection of the special reverence for these elements that had touched the body of Jesus Christ. </p>
<p>The more famous the relic, the more pilgrims would make their way to the church or monastery where it was kept, and the more the clergy <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2011/12/pilgrimage/">could earn through the offerings visitors made at the shrine</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461047/original/file-20220503-6157-f74bu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Devotees carrying the relic of Saint Gregory, in a procession through green fields in Sorlada, northern Spain." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461047/original/file-20220503-6157-f74bu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461047/original/file-20220503-6157-f74bu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461047/original/file-20220503-6157-f74bu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461047/original/file-20220503-6157-f74bu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461047/original/file-20220503-6157-f74bu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461047/original/file-20220503-6157-f74bu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461047/original/file-20220503-6157-f74bu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Devotees take part in a pilgrimage with the ancient relic of Saint Gregory in Sorlada, northern Spain, in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXSpainSaintGregoryRomeria/d248fee6cfd940b3bb75fff0dd695869/photo?Query=%20relic%20pilgrimage&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=27&currentItemNo=20">AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the turn of the millennium, the number of pilgrims traveling to visit Jerusalem from Europe increased, but <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/story-of-christianity-volume-1-the-justo-l-gonzalez?variant=32130902097954">tensions mounted</a> between Muslim rulers and Christian leaders. There was friction among various Christian nobles and kings as well. Because of this, in the late 11th to the late 13th centuries, Christian political and religious leaders <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-cross-and-its-many-meanings-over-the-centuries-123316">led a series of major wars – the Crusades</a> – to regain control of the Holy Land from its Muslim ruler. </p>
<p>One result was an increase in the number of “relics” of Jesus, Mary and other New Testament figures brought back to Europe and circulated as authentic. </p>
<p>Some of these included fragments of bone or hair from apostles or other saintly figures, while others consisted of scraps of fabric from their clothing. Most esteemed of all were objects that <a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2016/04/crusaders-pilgrims-and-relics-bearers-of-the-cross-material-religion-in-the-crusading-world-1095-1300/#:">supposedly had touched the body of Jesus himself</a>, especially those connected with his suffering and death, such as the spikes used to nail him to the cross.</p>
<h2>Power of relics</h2>
<p>By the end of the medieval period, there was an overwhelming number of stories associating relics with miracles, such as unexpected healings or protection from the dangers of weather. </p>
<p>Many ordinary Christians treated the relics as a kind of lucky rabbit’s foot, owned or reverenced for personal protection. This was true for relics of the true cross as well. In Venice, for example, several <a href="https://brewminate.com/medieval-relics-and-society-the-miracles-of-the-true-cross/">miracle stories of the true cross</a>, especially of it saving ships from storms, circulated widely.</p>
<p>During the Reformation of the 16th century, many European Protestant writers objected to the Catholic veneration of relics. Most felt that it was a practice not found in the Bible; others felt that many believers were worshipping saints as if they were divine, and that many devotional practices involving relics involved fraud and superstition, not genuine prayer. The Protestant theologian John Calvin <a href="https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/treatise_relics.v.html">suggested</a> that if all of the supposed fragments of the “True Cross” were gathered together, they would fill an entire ship. </p>
<p>Even some Catholic scholars of the period, notably Erasmus of Rotterdam, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30201/30201-h/30201-h.htm">criticized the fraudulent manipulation of believers</a> for cash offerings when visiting shrines, and questioned the authenticity of many relics. </p>
<p>In 1563, the Catholic Council of Trent responded to all of these criticisms by clarifying the Catholic view of relics in an official decree. In the document, the assembled bishops stressed that <a href="https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct25.html">devotional activities involving relics should not border on superstition</a> in any way, that “filthy lucre” – buying and selling of relics – be “abolished” and that veneration ceremonies not devolve into “revellings and drunkenness.”</p>
<h2>What makes a relic more precious</h2>
<p>Until very recently, Catholic tradition divided relics into several classes, depending on their relationship to Christ or the saints. A <a href="https://www.scripturecatholic.com/catholic-relics/#First_Class_Relics">first-class relic</a> was a fragment of a saint’s actual body, like a tooth, hair clipping, or sliver of bone.</p>
<p>Pieces of objects involved in the Passion of Christ were also included in this class, since traditional theology teaches that Jesus Christ <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2024%3A1-12&version=NRSV">rose again from the dead after three days in the tomb</a> and ascended bodily into heaven 40 days after. </p>
<p>Whether prized as a lucky charm or venerated as a powerful reminder of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, this Russian relic of the true cross has taken its place in the paradoxical history of these valuable religious objects: The peaceful message of Jesus has often been lost in the violent chaos of war.</p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne M. Pierce does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Relics often provided a way to bring more pilgrims into a church – and therefore, more offerings.
Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/80989
2017-07-18T11:42:53Z
2017-07-18T11:42:53Z
The violent birth of ‘martyrdom’ – how the ancient concept informs modern religious violence
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178093/original/file-20170713-2491-1uns3cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The martyrdom of the Maccabees by Antonio Ciseri.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/florencetuscanyitaly-church-saint-felicita-martyrdom-maccabeesoil-34034521?src=2Hco7SDikK_VuwGWEj65PA-1-0"> m.bonotto/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The word “<a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09736b.htm">martyr</a>” has evolved into one of the most emotive terms in the English language. The faithful venerate their memories, celebrate their feast days, name places of worship, schools and hospitals after them. And yet, those who would claim the title blow themselves up in explosive-laden cars in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/blast-in-busy-baghdad-market-kills-at-least-60/2015/08/13/6e0f03e1-4be9-4792-b268-508c1403c049_story.html?utm_term=.69d2c6f2aec6">crowded market-places</a>, eviscerate their own bodies and those around them with bombs <a href="https://theconversation.com/manchester-arena-attack-amid-the-horror-the-strength-of-an-incredible-city-took-hold-78202">in concert halls</a>, turn vehicles into <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/07/truck-crashes-crowd-people-stockholm/">instruments of mass murder</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/islamophobia-and-causes-of-terrorism-must-be-part-of-awkward-conversations-after-london-bridge-attack-78954">kill and maim with knives</a> and machine guns on city streets. Many would protest about a terrorist’s claim to the title of martyr. That their act of murderous self-destruction bears no relation to the steadfast, but essentially passive, courage of those persecuted for their beliefs in ages past.</p>
<p>The history of martyrdom is not clear cut. The ideology of martyrdom has always been contested and has long contained a potential to commit violence against others. The word martyr itself derives from the Greek for “witness”, originally applied to the apostles who had witnessed Christ’s life and resurrection. Later it was used to describe those who, arrested and on trial, admitted to being Christians. By the middle of the second century, it was granted to those who suffered execution for their faith. Christians were not alone in their admiration of those willing to die for their principles. The philosopher <a href="http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/socrates.htm">Socrates</a> was unjustly condemned to death in 399 BC for “refusing to recognise the gods” and “corrupting the youth” of Athens. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178099/original/file-20170713-12241-14bxjh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178099/original/file-20170713-12241-14bxjh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178099/original/file-20170713-12241-14bxjh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178099/original/file-20170713-12241-14bxjh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178099/original/file-20170713-12241-14bxjh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178099/original/file-20170713-12241-14bxjh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178099/original/file-20170713-12241-14bxjh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Statue of ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in Athens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/statue-ancient-greek-philosopher-socrates-athens-571662343?src=ccwGkESpBxr6cZG_Erk6mw-1-6">markara/shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There was, however, a striking difference between Socrates and those <a href="http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/martyr.htm">martyred in the arenas</a>. The philosopher hoped for, but was not sure of, an afterlife. The martyr, however, was very certain of an afterlife. Indeed, the martyr was certain not just of an afterlife but of salvation and reward in heaven. Their example in this belief was the Holy Maccabees, the second-century Jewish family executed for refusing to break Jewish law by the king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes. In death, the Maccabees <a href="https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Maccabees-7-9/">claimed victory</a> and said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The king of the world shall raise us up those who have died for his laws, unto everlasting life. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Christian martyrs and ‘volunteers’</h2>
<p>Then arose the possibility that those who desired such a reward might volunteer for martyrdom. <a href="http://equip.sbts.edu/publications/journals/journal-of-theology/the-maltreatment-of-early-christians-refinement-and-response/">Roman persecution</a> of Christians, at least before the middle of the third-century, was usually sporadic. Christians were widely despised and scapegoated for natural disasters and urban fires. Professing the name of “Christian” publicly was dangerous. Some Christians, however, pursued martyrdom. Towards the end of the second-century, Arrius Antoninus, proconsul of the province of Asia, was confronted by “the whole Christians of the province in one united band” who loudly and insistently confessed the name of Christ. Having executed a number without having stifled the clamour, Arrius finally declared:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You miserable wretches, if you want to die, you have cliffs to leap from and ropes to hang by.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The close relationship between the sinful act of suicide and voluntary martyrdom was a matter of fierce controversy within the church. <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04583b.htm">St Cyprian</a>, bishop of Carthage, was one critic of voluntary martyrdom but his own story reveals the depth of disagreement among Christians over how to behave in the face of persecution. In the third-century, successive emperors made efforts to compel all subjects to participate in the sacrificial rituals thought necessary to retain the favour of the gods. Christians who refused became victims of renewed persecution. In 249AD, Cyprian chose exile from Carthage to avoid the authorities, an act some of those who shared his religion regarded as cowardly. Yet Cyprian did not lack courage and accepted his own martyrdom in the arena in 258AD. </p>
<h2>The move to terror</h2>
<p>It was the deliberate courting of death that was clearly sinful. The worthy would be gifted martyrdom by God. To try and achieve martyrdom by one’s own efforts was an act of defiance. By this time, though, there were those who did not merely volunteer for martyrdom, <a href="http://biblehub.com/library/scholasticus/the_ecclesiastical_history_of_scholasticus/chapter_xv_martyrs_at_merum_in.htm">they provoked it</a>. They smashed idols, disrupted pagan rituals and assaulted temple priests knowing they would die in the ensuing violence. The ideology of martyrdom had shifted subtly – for some, martyrs did not simply die for God, now they killed and terrorised in his name.</p>
<p>Such beliefs were always contested. Bishops at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Council-of-Elvira">the Council of Elvira</a> in 300AD firmly decreed that those killed in retaliation for smashing idols were to be denied the name of martyr. Yet bishops had to repeatedly remind militant elements of their congregations of this judgement. A dangerous and persistent tradition had been born. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178106/original/file-20170713-4303-23nf5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178106/original/file-20170713-4303-23nf5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178106/original/file-20170713-4303-23nf5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178106/original/file-20170713-4303-23nf5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178106/original/file-20170713-4303-23nf5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178106/original/file-20170713-4303-23nf5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178106/original/file-20170713-4303-23nf5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Angels with symbols of martyrdom on the portal of Sant Andrea della Valle Church in Rome, Italy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rome-italy-september-01-angels-symbols-591034100?src=1y22GzTb46mZJArYFpSHQQ-1-9">Zvonimir Atletic/shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Martyrdom became a shared tradition of the <a href="http://interfaithexplorers.com/for-teachers/teaching-information-and-guidance/the-three-abrahamic-faiths">Abrahamic religions</a> – in Hebrew, <a href="https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/research_sites/cjl/texts/cjrelations/resources/articles/Lander_martyrdom/index.html">Kiddush Ha-Shem</a> (sanctification of the divine name); in Arabic, <a href="http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195390155/obo-9780195390155-0124.xml">shahada</a> (witness). For each, however, martyrdom has been a contested concept of shifting definition and legitimacy. Yet martyrdom contains within its history an ancient violent tradition that is now fuelling Islamist terror attacks. As a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/no-religion-outnumber-christians-england-wales-study">largely secular society</a>, it may be hard to understand this. Worldly answers to the puzzle of the suicide bomber seem to make more sense: who radicalised them? What role did the internet play in their indoctrination? How have socio-economic conditions fashioned terrorists? </p>
<p>But at least part of the answer to the puzzle concerns the immaterial: the promise of eternal reward in the hereafter. This is a religious question and those with influence among religious communities need to address it. Like the bishops at Elvira they must be clear: the terrorist can be no martyr.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gervase Phillips does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The violent evolution of martyrdom.
Gervase Phillips, Principal Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/69769
2016-12-02T05:44:46Z
2016-12-02T05:44:46Z
Pinchgut’s Theodora brings the irrational power of love to uncertain times
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148331/original/image-20161201-25677-1mxumy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Valda Wilson as Theodora: a triumph.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Robert Catto/Pinchgut Opera</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Art has an ability to conflate the past, the present and the future; it does not follow the strictures of linear history. Pinchgut Opera’s Theodora, a George Handel oratorio of 1750, was the most contemporary creative work that I have seen this year.</p>
<p>Many are sick of the pointless scepticism of much contemporary theatre and art. A question present in much contemporary philosophy and cultural production is: “How can we retain some faith, some authentic belief in an age of uncertainty?” Handel teamed up with the librettist, Reverend and political philosopher, Thomas Morrell to answer just that question.</p>
<p>Thomas Morrell was a character straight out of the English Enlightenment of the mid 18th century. It was a period when the old worldview was being challenged from all sides, both in politics and science (perhaps embodied by thinkers such as John Locke and Isaac Newton respectively). It is not a surprise that the Baroque’s fragmentation and anxieties have found fertile ground in our current age.</p>
<p>In his notes on John Locke’s treatise on human understanding, Morrell countered Locke’s new empirical and rational outlook with the wish to maintain some of the irrational power of the spirit and love. Theodora is a creative expression of this aim. Through music and text, it invests the everyday material world (our laws, the flowers, our relationships) with the beauty of divine light. This stunning intellectual construction was reified in this brilliant production of Theodora. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148332/original/image-20161201-25645-1avd4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148332/original/image-20161201-25645-1avd4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148332/original/image-20161201-25645-1avd4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148332/original/image-20161201-25645-1avd4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148332/original/image-20161201-25645-1avd4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148332/original/image-20161201-25645-1avd4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148332/original/image-20161201-25645-1avd4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148332/original/image-20161201-25645-1avd4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christopher Lowrey, as Didymus (left), Andrew Collis as Valens (centre) and Valda Wilson (Theodora).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Robert Catto/Pinchgut Opera</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The story is set in the town of Antioch (now in present day Turkey), where a debauched Rome is forcing its gods and will on the underground Christian community. In the end, Theodora and her lover Didymus become martyrs to their cause.</p>
<p>In some of the pre-performance interviews conducted by Pinchgut, the context of Trump’s win in the US presidential election was mentioned. But the magic of Lindy Hume and Dan Potra’s direction and design is that it suggests we are all implicated in the rise of divisive and racist politicians. Peter Sellars’ 1996 production made more of Valens, the Roman president of Antioch, as a form of alt-right fascist. In Pinchgut’s, everyone is in a politicians’ suit; the opening was directed as a cabinet meeting, much closer to home. </p>
<p>In a piece of magic realism, Potra has gloved one of Valens’ arms; the sleeve coloured as if a gangrenous growth of violence and cruelty is infecting the bodies of the Romans, almost like a Dorian Grey or Mr Hyde character.</p>
<p>They are all held together by this shared, but perhaps secret, ugliness. Valens himself, played by Andrew Collis, is base, and bumbling, part drunk clown/part angry fool. Collis controls his voice skilfully in his arias, moving between the sonorous and something more colloquial.</p>
<p>The set is largely horizontal and never really lifts above the ground. The world is spare and desolate. In a way, the solemnity of the performance sat somewhere between an opera and the ministration of the oratorio. There were some elegantly restrained moves. The feasting table of the beginning of Act 2, becomes the floor of Theodora’s brothel prison. The drunken bodies of the feast before lie down beneath the table to become the miserable and lusty bodies of the brothel floor.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148334/original/image-20161201-25677-14bsnjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148334/original/image-20161201-25677-14bsnjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148334/original/image-20161201-25677-14bsnjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148334/original/image-20161201-25677-14bsnjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148334/original/image-20161201-25677-14bsnjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148334/original/image-20161201-25677-14bsnjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148334/original/image-20161201-25677-14bsnjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148334/original/image-20161201-25677-14bsnjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Valda Wilson as Theodora, with Caitlin Hulcup as Irene and Chorus of Christians.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Robert Catto/Pinchgut Opera</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Chorus too was used a number of times to turn between pity and hope. The Chorus not only sang tightly as an ensemble but was the most important aspect of the spatial construction of the set. The intimacy of the space, and the humility of the direction engendered a direct relationship between the audience and the performers.</p>
<p>Above this spareness of an oppressive society, raised in defiance, was the sublimity of the voices. The vertical was represented in the set by a space between the stage and a stormy cloud of fate through which occasionally, and at careful moments, the divine light – by lighting designer Matthew Marshall – pierced through like the hand of providence.</p>
<p>Conductor Erin Helyard was uncharacteristically firmly placed on his feet the whole night; he controlled the orchestra in a steady constancy that also encompassed the piety of the music. The orchestration was again a form of horizontal pulse on which the singers took flight.</p>
<p>Valda Wilson as Theodora was a triumph. Her voice was full of loving intimacy tempered by a clarity of purpose and strength. This contradiction was often played up by an acted fragile physicality (especially in the aria “With Darkness Deep”). “Angels, Ever Bright and Fair” was equally bright and warm while maintaining strength along the line.</p>
<p>Didymus, sung by Christopher Lowry, had the sublime purity and heroism of the counter tenor and his Baroque flourishes were crisp. But it was in the three duets that these two really took flight. The easy balance showed a generosity of artistic creation.</p>
<p>The whole conceit of the oratorio became apparent under a strange blue light in their duet, “Thither let our hearts aspire”. In this production it was unclear whether this was during, before or after death. It was in fact outside the spatial and temporal constraints of the play. The power of the singing doubled the radicalness of their act. Their love and faith was not, in the end constrained by the oppressive society. It was above and beyond it.</p>
<p>When the chorus then sang “O love divine”, the import of Theodora was made clear. What we should be striving for is a politics and social construction made not on hatred and control but on love and faith. </p>
<p>The martyrs’ act of self-destruction and sacrifice was not an end but instead an opening up to new political constructions. Perhaps opera is the perfect vehicle for this sort of expression: as the bodies die, the music still raises up to new possibilities, to a contemporary political imperative.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Watts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
This brilliant production of Handel’s Theodora, written in 1750, has great contemporary resonance.
Oliver Watts, Lecturer, Sydney College of Arts, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/51614
2015-12-29T10:29:03Z
2015-12-29T10:29:03Z
We see sacrifice as going without – is that what’s holding us back?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103886/original/image-20151201-21714-22v1pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kneel young</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=8mt-Szap2bRrMTynukI-IQ&searchterm=fasting&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=197401883">zurijeta</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humankind is fit only to be exterminated – that might sometimes seem like the only answer to our <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/08/daily-chart-growth-areas">ever-growing</a> population, <a href="http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com">environmental degradation</a> and the <a href="http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/biodiversity/biodiversity.html">human threat</a> to biodiversity. But if you accept it’s impossible to reconcile this with any meaningful morality, we need a new approach to how we conduct ourselves. </p>
<p>We have come to think of the shop workers and farmers before we think of the animal and plant produce they supply us with. We think of the house rather than the plants and animals sacrificed to produce it. This wouldn’t matter if we lived in balance, consuming no faster than the Earth can replenish itself. But <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN">life expectancy</a> in most countries keeps rising and we compete for ever scarcer resources, feeding a consumer culture that does little to improve happiness, and much to harm. The illusion is that this consumer life is desirable – and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/paris-2015-climate-summit">Paris climate talks</a> did nothing to challenge this.</p>
<p>Only since the 20th century has prosperity been measured in the economic model of “growth”. This has led us to develop indefensible models of production and consumption such as <a href="http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/plannedob1.html">built-in obsolescence</a>. The recent fashion for false minimalism, in which consumers favour “experiences over things” should not distract us from the resource-greedy lifestyles that these affectations illustrate. The “must-see” destinations on bucket lists leave a heavy ecological footprint.</p>
<p>We discuss sustainability against a background noise of conflicting consumer values from <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/brands-increase-fast-food-marketing-kids">entities with</a> extraordinary material resources and powers of seduction. The word “enough” is anathema to these businesses. Yet it is at the heart of both <a href="http://www.plosin.com/work/AristotleMean.html">Aristotle’s virtue ethics</a> and <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html">Buddhist philosophy</a>; and Christianity, Judaism and Islam all warn against the dangers of excess.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103887/original/image-20151201-26549-1y54klq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103887/original/image-20151201-26549-1y54klq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103887/original/image-20151201-26549-1y54klq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103887/original/image-20151201-26549-1y54klq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103887/original/image-20151201-26549-1y54klq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103887/original/image-20151201-26549-1y54klq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103887/original/image-20151201-26549-1y54klq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103887/original/image-20151201-26549-1y54klq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Minimalism to the rescue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=D_81uY8IWYjJzfTvKjZcfw&searchterm=backpacking&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=264070967">Dudarev Mikhail</a></span>
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<h2>Gratitude through sacrifice</h2>
<p>So what is to be done? Turning our backs on industrialised society in an obsessive drive to make the world “green” again is probably not the answer, but we do need to find a way to sustain the dignity and quality of human lives without the catastrophic impact we are currently having on the planet.</p>
<p>One way forward is to rediscover the value of sacrifice. Sacrifice has become associated with going without, with giving things up, along the lines of <a href="http://www.catholic.org/clife/lent/giveUp.php">Lent</a> and <a href="http://www.radioislam.org.za/a/index.php/library/140-friday-khutbahs-sermons/9739-ramadan-the-month-of-sacrifices.html">Ramadan</a>. It seems like a form of piety, with the noxious whiff of martyrdom. </p>
<p>But sacrifice comes from the idea of making something sacred by offering it to the deity, acknowledging the source of everything beyond ourselves. It does not matter whether the deity is real or imagined. What matters is gratitude – a psychologically healthy acknowledgement that we do not live by our own means, but in relationship with a vast network, the source and origin of which are profoundly mysterious. </p>
<p>In Hindu tradition, for example, sacrifice (“puja”) is seen as the ritual celebration of gratitude for abundance. In the temples of Hindu India, offerings are made by anyone and everyone, from each according to their ability, and distributed (as “prasad”) to each according to their need. Nobody need go hungry.</p>
<p>The value of getting rid of things we do not need is also recognised in the Hindu conception of a guru as a teacher of truth. This is different from the Western concept of teaching, which is too often characterised by <em>adding</em> knowledge and skills to the learner. The guru’s teaching consists of <em>removing</em> illusions and ignorance, leaving only what is real, true and beautiful. Compare this to the process of cutting rough diamonds into sparkling jewels – it can only be done with a thorough knowledge and appreciation of the material. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103889/original/image-20151201-26585-1dq823c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103889/original/image-20151201-26585-1dq823c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103889/original/image-20151201-26585-1dq823c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103889/original/image-20151201-26585-1dq823c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103889/original/image-20151201-26585-1dq823c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103889/original/image-20151201-26585-1dq823c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103889/original/image-20151201-26585-1dq823c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103889/original/image-20151201-26585-1dq823c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is East least?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=rpIW1ELSbF6jZGOY56KfSQ&searchterm=hindu%20guru&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=206440555">Vasily Gureev</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>We need to develop a better understanding of a good life, well lived. Satisfaction and contentment are linked closely to the idea of having enough – “satis” is Latin for “enough”, for instance. </p>
<p>The disruptive force of the internet offers a useful means of reconceptualising how we see wealth. The internet has meant that much of what we have traditionally paid for is available for free – often illegally, of course. But in sharing information we lose nothing, and stand to gain a great deal. Misgivings about “who got rich off the internet” are misplaced. Anyone with access to it is rich. </p>
<p>What we need is another great leap forward, abandoning the economics of scarcity and the fear of losing out – and move into a renewed relationship of gratitude and appreciation with the world. We have nothing to lose but excess. This Christmas holiday period is an excellent opportunity to reflect on how we should live in 2016 and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51614/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leon Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Whenever we talk about refraining from things, it is bound up with piety and martyrdom. A different approach could help realign us with the planet.
Leon Robinson, University Teacher (Creativity, Culture and Faith), University of Glasgow
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.