Oru Nazrani: Persecution For The Sake of Christ

Reality of Over a 100 Million Christians Martyred for Faith

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution
[2 Timothy 3:12]

Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
[Gospel According to St. John 15:20]

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
[2 Corinthians 4:9]

Jesus Christ was persecuted and so were the Apostles persecuted and martyred (except St.John, tradition relates that he was by order of Emperor Dometian cast into boiling oil but came forth unhurt and was banished to the island of Pathmos for a year. He died at an extreme old age, at Ephesus around 100 AD). The persecution of Christians was mentioned in the Holy Bible and it has continued to even this day and will be continuing till the last days. It is more so in the case of earnest Christians, persecution and martyrdom are inseparable from Orthodox experience.

It started with Nero (64–68 AD) and then the Diocletianic Persecution (302-313 AD), there were sporadic instances in between as well. Later on the persecutions periodically continued similarly

during Zoroastrian Shapur II, Dhu Nuwas, by Persians and Jews during Roman-Persian Wars, by Timur (Tamerlane), by the Arabs and other Islamic rulers, by the Roman Catholics in the name of heresy, In India by the Portuguese and Tipu sultan, in the Byzantine empire by the Ottomans, by the Nazi Germans, by the Atheist Soviets and similar ultimate mass murders and persecutions, the annihilation continued in several other countries and eras, the severity kept increasing every time.

For example
1.80 million Armenian Christians martyred between 1894-1923
1.75 million Greek Christians martyred between 1914-1922
12 million Ukrainians were either systematically and deliberately starved to death or murdered in Ukraine between 1928-1933
Est. 25-30 million were decimated in USSR Collectivization under Stalin between 1927-1937
More than 66.5 million Orthodox Christians alone perished in 20th century and this number has been the worst since the inception of Christianity. The 20th century in itself witnessed about 45 million more murders of Christians than what had happened over the whole of earlier 19 centuries! and that's a mind boggling figure.
It is shown with evidence that 160,000 Christians are killed every year in the 21st century and they downplay the number to 100,000 by the Christians in the west and the mass media.

Christians in the Middle East and Africa are being slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and forced to flee the birthplace of Christianity. Even if you consider Syria alone more than 130,000 people have been killed since the fighting began, and at least two million others have fled the country,
their homes to escape the escalating violence and ruthless persecution. The real numbers are probably much worse and not much details can be known in the war torn country.

There is no country in the world where Christians haven't faced persecution especially we orthodox Christians.

"Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" – Tertullian

For The sake of our Church Multitudes have laid down their life with unwavering faith...these martyrs have been a pillar of our church since the seed was sown by our Lord... “The precious heritage that these courageous witnesses have passed down to us is a patrimony shared by all the
Churches and ecclesiastic communities.”

It’s a severe condition and more needs to be expected in the days to come. We have to be ready and pray for our brothers worldwide for strength to face this persecution for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord give peace to the souls of those martyred.
Let His Name Be Glorified.