St. Martin I, Pope & Martyr


     St. Martin became pope before the terrible split between the western half of the Church and the eastern half.  But already there were divisions, some of which reflected the then-current political differences. 


     At that time, the western part of the Roman Empire (not the Church, but the political empire) retained only a shadow of its former world-power, while the eastern part of the Roman Empire was still a world-leader.  So, by extension, in the mind of the east, the pope, residing in Rome, seemed less important, more distant, and weaker.  And the Patriarch of the capital city of eastern Christendom, the city of Constantinople, seemed more important, closer, and stronger.  


     That’s the context for St. Martin, pope and martyr.  The perceived lessening in the east of the authority of the pope was the occasion, not only of political differences between west and east, but now of theological differences as well.  


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     As the Church grew, over time, in her understanding of Jesus, some leaders in the eastern Church began briefly to lose sight of his true and complete humanity.  They certainly believed and said in the Creed that he is truly God and truly human, but began to deny that Jesus actually had any human will.  It was held that, if he had, then he could not possibly always have done his Father’s will.  Jesus' sole will was to do his Father's will.


     By contrast, the western Church was led by the pope, and thus protected through him from error in dogma by the Holy Spirit.  The western Church held to the knowledge that Jesus was fully human as well as fully God, and that he had a real human will which he conformed to that of the Father.  

     

     This might sound like a somewhat irrelevant argument among ivory-tower intellectuals.  But there’s a huge reason that it’s important for us.  If the pope is right, then you and I—who also have real human wills—can really grow in sanctity and can reach the glorification of heaven.  If the then-current Patriarch of Constantinople was right, then our real human wills puts that hope out of reach.  The patriarch didn’t intend to teach that, but he failed to see the consequence of his own doctrine.


     St. Martin became pope in AD 649.  He held a council in which the then-current Patriarch of Constantinople was censured.  In response, the eastern government tried to turn the bishops and the people against the pope.  That failed, so the government sent troops to Rome to seize Pope Martin.  They brought him back to Constantinople, even though Martin was already in poor health and offered no resistance.  He was imprisoned, tortured, and condemned to death.  


     He was saved from execution at the last minute by the Patriarch of Constantinople (surprise!), who himself was very ill, and who now was horrified by his government’s intervention into the Church, an intervention which he had unleashed.  But Pope Martin died soon afterward, from the cruel treatment that he’d received.


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     The original meaning of our word “martyr” was not necessarily that one had died for the faith, but the word meant “witness.”  A person who’s willing to be a witness to the truth—to do so even when potentially violent people—even when the government—may come after you—that’s what the word “martyr” means.  The ancient saying is “the blood of the martyrs waters the plant of the church.”  Today the breviary of the eastern Orthodox Church pays tribute to St. Martin, calling him “glorious definer of the orthodox faith … unstained by error.”


     In our own day, when the government now increasingly seems to feel that it can impose its muscles at will, St. Martin is more important to us than ever.  In the last week, police in Dallas Texas invaded a Mass and threatened to arrest a pregnant woman who had temporarily removed her mask because her pregnancy was making her feel nauseous.  In London, the police invaded a Mass and shut it down in mid-course because of an alleged lack of social-distancing.  In Canada, the police invaded a church, but the pastor stood up to them and ordered them out.  They left because they were breaking the law.  


     St. Martin, pray for us to have the courage of our convictions!          

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