What particular Church can claim the most martyrs?

[HTacianas]

Oddly, it seems to be the "godless Russians":

During the purges of 1937 and 1938, church documents record that 168,300 Russian Orthodox clergy were arrested. Of these, over 100,000 were shot.[76] Many thousands of victims of persecution became recognized in a special canon of saints known as the "new martyrs and confessors of Russia".

Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union - Wikipedia

 

[Lost4words]

Surely the Jewish faith?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

And the MILLION martyrs in China Corrie ten Boom testified about ! (the last 150 years)

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

"The invisible 'church'? "

i.e. Ekklesia , as written. Every martyr through history, of the Gospel of Jesus, was Ekklesia, no matter where they were.

re "Foxes Book of Martyrs"

 

[JackRT]

I think that it would be the pagan martyrs murdered in the persecutions by the Christians in the three centuries following Constantine.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I don't know that wars of religion can produce martyrs or not, considering that we would have to sort through which side(s) the martyrs were on.

Why ?
Anyone on any side, dying for the Gospel's sake, is a martyr, aren't they?

Not as men see things, of course, no, not at all. (such tragedy)

Rather as God declares. As God knows.

 

[JackRT]

A martyr is anyone who dies because of their faith IMHO.

 

[HTacianas]

Why ?
Anyone on any side, dying for the Gospel's sake, is a martyr, aren't they?

Not as men see things, of course, no, not at all. (such tragedy)

Rather as God declares. As God knows.

Who knows.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Sometimes NEITHER SIDE.

 

[dzheremi]

I have seen Coptic Orthodox sources (e.g., the Coptic Center in the UK, under HG Bishop Angaelos) claim that some 800,000 were martyred under Diocletian, but I don't know where that exact number comes from.

I think the Copts in Egypt (and maybe Sudan? I never asked the Sudanese Copts who were with us) seem to experience more daily persecution than many (it seems like every few weeks there's a major incident, and if you read the Arabic-language internet you can find even more local stories of conflict maybe a few times a week, if you want to specifically look for that), but it doesn't always result in martyrdom. When it does it seems to get on the news, though, which tends to give what my Coptic friends say is a skewed picture of the situation. It's less of a gauntlet of terrorism to get to work every day and more of a regular, often quite subtle sort of pressure that makes them feel alienated and unsafe in their own society. This is probably the experience of any minority in any society, to varying degrees, the difference being that in modern western-oriented countries it very rarely ends in people getting gunned down in their places of worship, or having their homes, businesses, or churches destroyed by mobs of riled up followers of the dominant religious group that hates them and government that uses them as a social safety valve/scapegoat to keep hold of their power, as can happen in places without strong protections for minorities and specifically for the free practice of religion. And when there are those types of problems, like with that racist guy who I won't dignify by looking up his name shot up the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC a few years ago, they are sentenced to death by the state, because we don't put up with that sort of thing here in the US (where I'm posting from), thanks be to God. And long may it be so.

 

[timothyu]

Is there a prize?

 

[dzheremi]

Is there a prize?

Unfading crowns. Duh.

 

[timothyu]

Were not about 8 million Ukrainian Orthodox starved to death about the same time?
Happy Christmas Eve to them btw.

 

[HTacianas]

Were not about 8 million Ukrainian Orthodox starved to death about the same time?
Happy Christmas Eve to them btw.

Yes. That's by and large the reason for the political mess in Ukraine now. Stalin starved millions of Ukrainians to death, many of whom were the "rednecks" of western Ukraine, while those of eastern Ukraine fared much better. Their treatment by Stalin was so bad they welcomed the Germans as liberators. Their distrust of Moscow still exists and likely always will.

 

[prodromos]

I think that it would be the pagan martyrs murdered in the persecutions by the Christians in the three centuries following Constantine.

Numbers?
Sources?
I don't recall anything about Pagans being murdered by Christians.

 

[timothyu]

"in the three centuries following Constantine."

Jewish followers of Jesus who refused to convert to the emerging Roman Gentile church?

 

[prodromos]

"in the three centuries following Constantine."

Jewish followers of Jesus who refused to convert to the emerging Roman Gentile church?

You have evidence they were murdered?
We are talking about people dying for their faith in Christ.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

Surely the Jewish faith?

I think the question was for Christian churches

 

[rockytopva]

“And unto the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you in prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” -Revelation 2:8-11

Ye Shall Have Tribulation Ten Days- The Foxes Book of Martyrs has the Roman persecutions as ten...

67 AD Nero The Smyrna Church Age begins with Nero setting fire to Rome.
81 AD Domitian Declaration that no Christian should be exempt from punishment.
108 AD Trajan and Adrian Severe persecution against Christians from 108 to 138 AD
162 AD Marcos Aurelius commendable in study of philosophy, sharp and fierce towards Christians.
192 AD Severus This persecution was carried out by the will and prejudice of the people and extended into Africa.
235 AD Maximus Numberless Christians were slain without trial and burned indiscriminately in heaps
249 AD Decius Began because of the amazing increase in Christianity, and with the heathen temples forsaken.
257 AD Valerian The martyrs that fell during this persecution were innumerable, their tortures and deaths painful.
274 AD Aurelian A brief persecution that ended with the emperor’s assassination.
303 AD Diocletian The last persecution ended with Constantine’s triumph against Rome in 313 AD

 

[timothyu]

You have evidence they were murdered?

Personally I doubt they committed suicide.

We are talking about people dying for their faith in Christ.

Were not the Jewish Christians the first Christians? Did they not die at the hands of Gentile Christians. Did they amicably give up their Jewish roots to the Gentiles? They were the original church. Where did they go?