ABSTRACT
Christian martyrdom was inherited from the Jewish tradition enshrined in the earlier books of the Old Testament such as Ezekiel and Jeremiah and especially the three young men in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3). In the Ptolemaic period, we see the Maccabees who have the profile of proto-Christian martyrs. In the New Testament, we encounter the idea of martyrdom in the following words of Jesus: “Whosoever shall confess me, him will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven” (Mt. 10:32). The Christian was called upon not merely to suffer but to undertake a life of positive witness (witness in Greek means martyr). In the New Testament we find that John the Baptist bore witness in front of King Herod, as it is reported in the Gospels (Mt. 14:1-12; Mk. 6:1429). The account of the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 6:15) became the model for all the Christian martyrs. Our knowledge of Christianity in North Africa begins with a story of martyrdom.1 Some scholars have advanced their doubts about the number and the ferocity of persecutions that created early Christian martyrs.2
