Riccardo Larini , Il libro di testimoni: martirologio ecumenico [A Book of Witnesses: an Ecumenical Martyrology] - under the direction of - Book Review

Ecumenical Review, The, April, 2003 by Lukas Vischer

San Paolo, Cinsello Balsamo, 2002, 672pp., 40.28 [euro].

The witness of martyrs, i.e. persons who risk their life or die for the sake of the gospel, finds today recognition well beyond the boundaries of individual confessional traditions. Grigol Peradze, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Oscar Romero are a source of inspiration not just for each of their own churches, but also for the whole of Christianity. Differences about teaching, structure and spirituality lose their importance when the ultimate sacrifice is made in the name of Christ. By their death martyrs bear witness to the very foundations without which no church can continue to exist. Would it not therefore be appropriate for churches to celebrate together the remembrance of Christian martyrs?

The issue was thoroughly discussed at the meeting of the Faith and Order commission in Bangalore in 1978. Its conclusion was that the witness of martyrs goes well beyond confessional boundaries and leads us "to the centre of the faith, the source of hope and the example of love for God and fellow human beings". The commission proposed a book telling the lives of martyrs from different traditions (cf. Sharing in One Hope, commission on Faith and Order, Bangalore, 1978, "Witness unto Death", 4.iv, p.200), but this proposal did not receive an immediate follow-up.

Through many years of work, the Comunita di Bose, under the leadership of Riccardo Larini, has now put together an "ecumenical martyrology". It is an impressive volume. It attempts to depict briefly witnesses from all Christian churches. Each day of the year is given over to one, or sometimes several, prominent figures of Christianity. The volume also reproduces the day-by-day lists of witnesses and martyrs as remembered according to the calendars of different churches. The scope of the new calendar is very broad; it presents not only those who clearly confessed Christ but also patriarchs and prophets from the Old Testament. It also finds space for members of the Jewish faith and the "righteous" of other religions. We encounter, for instance, the names of Gandhi and Confucius.

The subject matter is well thought through and, in my opinion, deserves attention from all churches. The way the book is conceived makes it possible to remember a wide spectrum of Christian witness and suffering. A rich and diverse picture unfolds before our eyes. At the same time the list also makes clear how often Christians have been the victims of persecution by other Christians. Inevitably we are confronted with the question of how to assess the witness of someone who became a martyr for the faith through the initiative of our own church. In some cases the calendar presents as witnesses not only the persecuted but also the persecutors.

However convincing the Comunita di Bose's proposal is, it nevertheless gives rise to a series of questions. I would like to mention four areas which in my opinion need further clarification.

What meaning are we to give to the word "martyr"? In everyday usage "martyrs" are those who lose their life because of their faith. In the early church there was a difference between martyrs, whose witness was sealed by death, and confessors, who freely confessed their faith but who were spared the final test. The Comunita di Bose quite consciously does not stick to this definition. Their first concern is to honour "great witnesses of Christianity". They have therefore widened their definition of martyrdom and the book's sub-title is a clear indication of this: Libro di testimoni (Book of witnesses). The calendar includes numerous great Christians who did not perish as martyrs, such as Luther, Calvin, Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, Karl Barth, John 23rd or Athenagoras.

The price paid for this decision is a certain lack of clarity. What is the book's real purpose? Does it simply want to offer the chance to remember, day by day, people who have opened new horizons through their witness to the church of Jesus Christ? Or is it a martyrology in the stricter sense of the word? A whole further list of people should be added if one is really trying to propose a book of witnesses. I am thinking, for example, of the great personalities of the ecumenical movement like John Mott, Charles Brent, Robert Gardiner, and others. If, however, it is a case of a martyrology in the strict sense of the word then numerous, to some extent less well-known, witnesses should also be remembered: for example, Calvin should not be mentioned but Reformation martyrs from early 1 &h-century France such as Jean Valliere, Jacques Pouent, Etienne Mangin, Marie la Catelle and the martyrs of Lyon should be.

How do we ascertain who is to be regarded as a martyr in the "name of Christ"? How to make this decision is not a foregone conclusion. What, after all, do we know of individual human beings and their deepest motives? Those churches which honour saints in their liturgies proceed with caution. Beatification depends upon the rigorous testing of all testimonies regarding the person concerned. But even then error is not excluded. Impure motives can be hidden behind the appearance of holiness. At the end of time, Christians whose witness was never recognized by the church may come to prominence as saints. In the end any selection of martyrs will be debatable, incomplete, even rather arbitrary.