Martyrdom as one of the characteristics of the first Christian times

Na početku članka autor u najkraćim crtama govori o društveno-religioznim prilikama u kojima je rođena Kristova Crkva, jer je potrebno i Crkvu i njezine mučenike staviti u povijesni kontekst. Zatim se u radu razrađuje etimologija pojma, a onda i značenje riječi mučeništvo. Nakon ovoga iznesen je kratak pregled državnih progona Crkve. Ovdje je naglasak stavljen na one najžešće progone kako bi se oslikala najvažnija događanja iz prva tri stoljeća u kojima je Crkva proživljavala strahovite muke i patnje, ali to je i vrijeme u kojemu je krv mučenika postala sjeme novih mladica Kristove Crkve. Četvrti i najvažniji dio ovoga rada jest teologija mučeništva u ranom kršćanstvu. Ovdje su o mučeništvu iznijeta razna mišljenja kršćanskih otaca iz prvih stoljeća. Neki od tih crkvenih otaca i sami su postali mučenicima.At the beginning of the article the author shortly speaks about social-religious circumstances in which Christ\u27s Church was born, because it is necessary to put both the Church and its martyrs in the historical context. The article later on elaborates etymology of the term and meaning of the word martyrdom. Short overview of the governmental prosecution of the Church is given the next. The emphasis is put on the most severe prosecutions in order to illustrate the most important events from the first three centuries in which the Church was going through terrible pain and suffering, but it was also the time in which martyrs\u27 blood became the seed for the new shoots of the Christ\u27s Church. The fourth and the most important part of this article is theology of martyrdom in the early Christianity. Different opinions of the Christian fathers from the first centuries are given here. Some of these Church fathers also became martyrs