Faith, Culture, and Spirituality - Essay Example

Angeline Yunita THST 198 Prof. Matthew Pereira September 29, Essay Faith in the Martyrdom of Perpetua There is little documentation on the early life of Perpetua and her conversion. We are told however that she was not a Christian for very long before her martyrdom. Thanks to her diary and that of a fellow prisoner, we have a record of her persecution and martyrdom. Her testimony appealed to Christians in the early third century. Then, later on four occasions, Augustine (354-430) preached about her suffering and death. Perpetua lived in the North African region (modern day Tunis) in the third century with her husband, son and slave Felicity.1 This region was characterized by a vibrant Christian culture. In 203, Emperor Septimius Severus called for the systematic persecution of Christians. Perpetua and Felicity were among the first five Christians to be arrested. During their capture, they were participating in a baptism lesson. Following their arrest, they were imprisoned, subjected to trial and later persecuted. Though Perpetua remained strong in faith throughout the ordeal, her actions brought a lot of pain to those who had close relations with her, notably her infant son and her father. In as much as Perpetua was steadfast in fulfilling the demands of God, she paradoxically went against one of the Ten Commandments, which states that children should honor their parents.2 This essay aims to analyze the pain and suffering that Perpetua and her family went through on account of her faith in the course of her trial and death. Perpetua was born and raised in the noblest manner. She was raised in a loving family. She received education and after attaining the appropriate age, she joined the next phase of life, meaning marriage, where she was blessed with a son. Perpetua had a discussion with her father before becoming a Christian and shortly thereafter, she was baptized. Perpetua and her friends were captured after the baptism process. This imprisonment prevented her from demonstrating ideal motherhood to her son. Perpetua was denied an opportunity to bond with his son soon after she was captured as he lived away from prison.3 The intervention of Perpetua’s father allowed for her to see her son behind prison walls. Soon after her trial, she did not get the chance to live with her son again. This denied the son an opportunity to be breastfed and similarly, prevented the infant from receiving motherly love. Ideally, parents are normally expected to do all they can so that they can bring the best out of their children. Perpetua’s willingness to remain firm in faith at the expense of her son also contravenes the Bible, which states that parents should bring up their children in instruction and training.4 In as much as parents are supposed to bring the best out of their children, the roles are to be reversed as the parents become aged. This is to imply that children are to take great care of their parents as they approach old age. Perpetua did not live up to such expectations. This is because, it was her father who took care of her son when she was in prison and frequently visited her to check on her well-being. Perpetua confessed that her father’s love challenged her faith because it was hard to see him suffer because of her strong faith. Thus, Perpetua declared, “my father was liked to vex me with his words and continually strove to hurt my faith because of his love.” Perpetua admits that she always felt comforted whenever her father was away as she was not in a position to see his weary face, thus she recalls, “Then because I was without my father for a few days I gave thanks unto the Lord; and I was comforted because of his absence.” Out of love, Perpetua recounts that her father always pleaded with her to review her stance, “my father returned from the city spent with weariness; and he came up to me to cast down my faith saying.”5 This is because he knew that Perpetua would be put through much pain and suffering as an individual. As Perpetua refused to give in to his continuous requests, her father respected her decision though it was a difficult call to make. In fatherly love, Perpetua reports he kissed my hands and groveled at my feet; and with tears he named me, “not daughter, but lady.”6 In saying that, Perpetua’s father had acknowledged that her daughter was the final decision maker and that however difficult it was, he had accepted the decision that her daughter had settled on. Perpetua and Felicity along with their imprisoned friends were among the first females to be persecuted due to the failure to honor the Roman Emperor; “there were apprehended the young catechumens, Revocatus and Felicity his fellow servant, Saturninus and Secundulus.” Faith and spirituality made complete sense to them as it enabled them to conquer fear. Given the situation in which Perpetua and Felicity found themselves, people expected that they were to be faced with the fear of facing trials and finally being persecuted. Nevertheless, this did not happen; they kept their faith and had strong perseverance in their spirituality. Hoping that they would emerge victorious due to the suffering, they underwent because of their faith. In like manner, Perpetua and Felicity were assured of reward by the painful experiences that they went through. Given that Perpetua had just been a recent convert, the major concern was whether the suffering she was undergoing for the sake of her faith and spirituality was worth. As an adult, she reserved the right to make her decisions. This implies that her disregarding the then Roman Emperor Septimius Severus along with his gods was within her jurisdiction as an individual. Perpetua went through a lot of suffering, one of them being separated from her son7. The second was watching her father go through a lot of pain; “father to me, spent with weariness, and began to pluck out his beard and throw it on the ground and to fall on his face cursing his years and saying such words as might move all creation. I was grieved for his unhappy old age.” The only positive aspect that came out of all she underwent was the fact that they emerged victorious, “Now dawned the day of their victory, and they went forth from the prison into the amphitheater as it were into heaven, cheerful and bright of countenance.” Dunn describes Perpetua as someone born from a well-organized family of honorable parents and one who was liberally educated. His brothers made life easier for her and after a well-spent childhood, she got married and had a first-born son.8 Dunn illustrates how the faith and spiritual beliefs held by Vibia Perpetua brought her pain and suffering under the leadership of the then Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, and resulted in her persecution on March 7th 202 AD. Dunn’s main argument is that we should always be firm on our beliefs and be ready to account for our decisions. Dunn’s perception is that Perpetua ought to have found a way of combining both his responsibilities as a member of the family with those of a Christian9. I share the same ideology as Dunn, and I presume true the fact that even though Perpetua was of age, and had the right to make her own decisions, she would have honored God’s commandments by considering his father’s advice. That would not have implied honoring the emperor, but would have eased the father’s pain and provided his son with an ideal growth opportunity. Over and above, the pain and sufferings that Perpetua and her loved ones went through deserve the recognition of martyrdom. This is because she kept being strong in faith at the expense of her son and her loving father. The same can be said about her slave Felicity who was imprisoned when she was eight months pregnant and had to deliver while in prison. The lives of their other friends; Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus cannot be ignored either, because they too did not have an easy ride. Though they went through a lot, we have them to thank, for setting the pace and giving courage to other martyrs. They joined Christianity with the hope of fulfilling the demands of God; they grew strong in faith but were subjected to pain of both the spirit and the flesh. They were persecuted due to their strong faith, and that explains why we refer to them as martyrs and regard them in high esteem. Bibliography Dunn, Shannon. 2010. The Female Martyr and the Politics of Death: An Examination of the Martyr Discourses of Vibia Perpetua and Wafa Idris, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 78.1 (2010): 202- 225. Fordham University. Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity. Medieval Sourcebook http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/Perpetua.asp. Scholer, David.1989. And I was a Man: The Power and Problem of Perpetua Daughters of Sara 15.5 10-14. 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