Aleteia provides an overview of some recent 21st-century martyrs.
The blood of martyrs continues to be the seed of new Christians at the beginning of 2018. This is the conclusion we can draw from reviewing the testimonies of men and women who, in various countries around the world, have shed their blood for their faith in Jesus.
Below, we offer a list of present-day witnesses to the Gospel who have been faithful to the very end.
The list is necessarily incomplete. If you know other cases of Christians of any denomination who have been killed for their faith in Christ, please mention their names in the comments below this article, offering sources that will allow us to document the circumstances of their death.
1. Pakistan: Brutally killed at 15 years of age because he was a Christian [Killed by Muslims]
Mushtaq Gill, a Christian lawyer handling the case, explains that Masih’s death is a terrible example of Christian persecution in that country: “Violence begins at the desks in the schools, because even primary school textbooks incite hate against non-Muslims.”
Helena’s case reveals the challenge facing missionaries in Latin America, a sub-continent where, during 2017, eleven missionaries died (eight priests, one religious, and two lay people).
3. Nigeria: Killed by human bombs [Perpetrators were Muslim terrorists]
Joseph, who was 56 years old and the father of 11 children, had been a catechist since he as 36; John, 38 years old and father of five, had been serving as a catechist for ten years. Patrick was 27 years old, and still a bachelor.
4. China: “Living martyrs” [Killed by Communist government]
They were “living martyrs.” In 2017, numerous bishops and priests of the Catholic Church in China have died, after suffering tremendous persecution and many years of prison or forced labor.
5) Philippines: Workers give their lives so as not to deny their faith [Murdered by Muslim terrorists]
They were killed for not reciting the shahada, the Islamic profession of faith. Thus, eight Christians bore witness to their faith on the Philippine island of Mindanao.
6) India: They had warned him: “Stop preaching the Bible.” [Killed by Islamic Army]
They had told him on various occasions to stop preaching the bible. Nonetheless, Sultan Masih, 47 years old, Pentecostal pastor of the Church of the Temple of God in Ludhiana, the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, didn’t stop.
7) North Korea: Anonymous martyrs [by Communist government]
“In North Korea, the most ruthless persecutor—as the report categorizes the country ruled by Kim Jong-un—the indescribable atrocities committed against Christians include food deprivation and forced abortions, while there have also been reports of cases of believers tied to crosses and placed over fire. Others have been crushed by steam presses.”
8) Copts: Fidelity to Christ to the point of heroism [Perpetuators are Muslims]
While the world prepared to celebrate the new year, this December 30, 2017, nine people were cruelly killed in an attack against the Christian minority in Egypt, perpetrated by an armed Jihadi in a church south of Cairo, for which ISIS claimed responsibility.
It was the last of a series of attacks committed by Jihadis which, in 2017 alone, left more than one hundred dead. It’s a very high price being paid by Coptic Christians, a community making up 10 percent of the nearly 100 million inhabitants of Egypt, the largest minority in a majority Muslim country.
9) Cameroon: Death to the bishop? [Murdered by government forces]
Other examples of Catholic missionaries who died tragically and without the guilty parties being identified are Bishop Yves Plumey, archbishop emeritus of Garoua (1991); Fr. Joseph Mbassi, editor of the Catholic publication “L’Effort camerounnais” (1988); Jesuit theologian Engelbert Mveng (1995); French religious Germaine Marie Husband and Marie Léone Bordy, who ran a dispensary at a Catholic mission (1992); and Fr. Apollinaire Cloude Ndi, pastor of a church near Yaoundé (2001). Since 2010, many parishes and pastors have suffered attacks, which often met with silence from civil authorities.
10) In the hands of the Islamic State [Killers were Muslims]
A review of the witnesses of the faith who have given their lives for Christ during the past year would not be complete without mentioning the cases of Christian missionaries who have been kidnapped by the Islamic State or other Jihadist groups in various countries.
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