How did Christians remember and honor their martyrs?

Answer 1

A:The second-century Christian writers developed a new genre of Christian literature known as Martyr Acts to commemmorate and remember the early Christian martyrs. They were brief and purposive accounts of martyrs' heroism, suffering and death, read out in church meetings and on the anniversaries of martyrs' deaths. The events they described were most unlike the official Roman court transcripts for the corresponding trials. There seems to be a common structure:

• The hero's modest reluctance but unshakeable faith
• The volunteer who then fails and recants
• A crude, uncultured Roman underling
• The governor/judge's initial courtesy and evolving cruelty
• His curiosity about Christianity and his easy deception by the martyr, whose double-entendre jokes only the Christians understand
• The martyr's incredible bravery and endurance under torture
• The pagan crowd as chorus and swing voters
• A loyal minority of fervent Christians
• Miracles
• Death, burial and more miracles.

The Christian record of the trial and death of Polycarp is a classic Martyr Act:

• First the incredibly brave Germanicus is tortured and devoured by a wild beast
• A volunteer recants, then Polycarp is dealt with.
• Polycarp agrees to say "down with the atheists", with a different meaning than intended by the easily-deceived Romans.
• Polycarp refuses to condemn Jesus, and they have a brief discussion about Christianity. His face is suffused with grace, while the mob goes to gather wood to burn him.
• The flames are lit and blaze mightily and surround Polycarp, but do not burn him, a fact proven by the autopsy.
• A soldier stabs Polycarp and blood gushes out, extinguishing the flames
• A dove flies out of Polycarp's body.