Today's Martyrs

Resources for understanding current Christian witness and martyrdom

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Documents
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    …“I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,  saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes.”  –  Luke 19:40-43

    In recent years people who oppose the Christian Gospel have made the charge that Christians of the recent past have failed to oppose the evils of their time.  Perhaps the most fragrant examples revolve around cases where these Christians did speak out against evil but the contemporary documentation of their words have become lost or difficult to find in today’s world.  Scholars often know that such documentation exists but pretend as if it did not, thus lending apparent credence to the criticisms.  Yes, Christians – and others – may be legitimately criticized in many details for their actions at such times, but not for wholesale silence.

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    Papal encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge (With Burning Anxiety) – dated March 14, 1937, publicly read March 21, 1937

    This page lists several such historical documents and links to their full texts.  Some documents of interest exist but full translations in English are unknown; they are listed on this page in the hope that translations will become available in the future.  One compilation of a number of individual documents also deserves mention. It is The Power of Civil Society in a Time of Genocide: Proceedings of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on the Rescue of the Jews in Bulgaria 1940-1944.  A PDF version of this book may be read by clicking here.

    It is hoped that today’s and tomorrow’s students will be able to make full use of these documents in their research.

    The Today’s Martyrs site also has a Reports page that lists governmental, scholarly or advocacy reports on the plight of persecuted Christians.


     

    November 30, 2021

    The Untold Stories of Religious Persecution in Nigeria by Rev John Joseph Hayab, Christian Association of Nigeria, Kaduna State Chapter

    • Regarding the U.S. abandonment of Nigerian Christians

     

    December 17, 2018

    In the Face of Persecution, What Will I Do? by Pastor Wang Yi, Early Rain Covenant Church, Chengdu, Sichuan province, China

    • Regarding one personal response to state repression

     

    June 29, 2018

    Press Statement Shameful Inversion of Values: The Plateau Massacre by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria

    • Regarding the continuing mass murder of Christians in Plateau state

     

    June 21-22, 2018

    The Challenge of Cultural Marxism to the Church by Bishop Gavin Ashenden

    Click here for the expanded audio version from the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem

    • Regarding Christian surrender to the spirit of the age

     

    December 15, 2017

    Created Male and Female: An Open Letter from Religious Leaders

    • Regarding gender ideology and protection of children

     

    November 25, 2017

    Constitutional Concerns by Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ

    • Regarding Hindu attacks on the secular constitution of India

     

    September 22, 2017

    Presentation on the Christian Future of Europe by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

    • Regarding parallels between pre-Revolutionary Russia and today’s Europe

     

    August 29, 2017

    The Nashville Statement by A Coalition for Biblical Sexuality

    • Regarding the Biblical basis of traditional Christian marriage

     

    August 12, 2017

    Homily in Remembrance of the Vendean Revolt by Cardinal Robert Sarah

    • Regarding Christian resistance to persecution and the imposition of policies that attack the family

     

    August 4, 2017

    An Open Letter to the Heads of all Churches and other Christian Leaders signed by one hundred prominent Indian Christians

    • Regarding the need for Christian determination and unity in the face of the steady shift from a pluralist and secular democracy to a Hindu Rashtra [the supremacist Land of the Hindus], and the systematic undermining of the Constitution

     

    July 12, 2017

    Urgent Message to Catholics and People of Good Will in Venezuela by the Bishops of Venezuela

    • Regarding persecution, constitutional violations, and suffering due to economic collapse

     

    May 21, 2017

    Letter from Depok Jail [Indonesia] by Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama aka Ahok

    • Regarding forgiveness for wrongful prosecution

     

    February 28, 2017

    Statement by Angaelos, General Bishop of the United Kingdom

    • Regarding the accelerating murders of Christians in Egypt

     

    February 5, 2017

    Pastoral letter For I Find No Pleasure in the Death of Anyone Who Dies by the Bishops of the Philippines

    • Regarding the extrajudicial killing of persons involved in the illegal drug trade

     

    January 13, 2017

    Pastoral exhortation Jesus Christ, the Light and the Way for Venezuela by the Bishops of Venezuela

    • Regarding the continuing economic and political crisis  – no full translation available

     

    December 10, 2016

    Pastoral letter Enough of the Bloodshed by the Bishops of Kafanchan, Nigeria

    • Regarding civil conflict with Muslim herdsmen

     

    April 29, 2016

    Pastoral letter Stop This Madness! by the Bishop of Nsukka, Nigeria, Godfrey Igwebuike

    • Regarding the massacre at Nimbo

     

    April 16, 1963

    Letter from Birmingham Jail [Birmingham, Alabama, USA] by Rev Martin Luther King Jr.

    • Regarding timely opposition to racial segregation

     

    July 14, 1958

    Encyclical On Prayers for the Persecuted Church by Pope Pius XII

    • Regarding persecution in the East, the Cold War, and the allure of vice in the West

     

    June 29, 1958

    Encyclical On Communism And The Church In China by Pope Pius XII

    • Regarding persecution in China

     

    February 11, 1956

    Pastoral Letter The Morality of Racial Segregation by the Archbishop of New Orleans, Joseph Rummel

    • Regarding the incompatibility of racial segregation with Christian doctrine

     

    October 7, 1954

    Encyclical On the Super-Nationality of the Church by Pope Pius XII

    • Regarding persecution in China

     

    March 15, 1953

    Pastoral Letter Blessed are the Peacemakers by the Archbishop of New Orleans, Joseph Rummel

    • Regarding the end of racial segregation in the Church

     

    December 15, 1952

    Encyclical The Oriental Churches by Pope Pius XII

    • Regarding persecution in Bulgaria and Ukraine

     

    January 18, 1952

    Apostolic Letter The Catholic Church in China by Pope Pius XII – translation required

    • Regarding persecution in China

     

    Autumn 1944

    Letter from the Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, Josef Frings

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews – no full translation available

     

    May 18, 1944

    Homily by the Bishop of Alba Iulia, Romania, Aron Marton

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews – no full translation available

     

    March 1944

    Homily by the Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, Josef Frings

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews – no full translation available

     

    June 29, 1943

    Encyclical On the Mystical Body of Christ by Pope Pius XII

    • Regarding racial hatred and the murder of the unfit

     

    June 1943

    Homily by the Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, Josef Frings

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews and other non-Germans – no full translation available

     

    May 24, 1943

    Homily by the Metropolitan of Sofia, Bulgaria, Stefan Popgueorguiev

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews – no full translation available

     

    March 23, 1943

    Letter from the Archbishop of Athens, Greece, Damakinos Papandreou

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews

     

    December 24, 1942

    Vatican Radio broadcast Holy Christmas and Aching Humanity by Pope Pius XII

    • Regarding the persecution of all minorities

     

    December 1942

    Pastoral letter by the Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, Josef Frings

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews and other non-Germans – no full translation available

     

    November 21, 1942

    Pastoral letter Thou Shalt Not Kill by the Metropolitan of Lviv, Ukraine, Andrey Sheptytsky

    • Regarding the Ukrainian civil conflict and complicity with Nazi atrocities

     

    November 15, 1942

    Letter from the Bishops of Norway to the Quisling government

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews  – no full translation available

     

    November 1942

    Homily by the Bishop of Berlin, Germany, Konrad von Preysing

    • Regarding the right to life of all persons – no full translation available

     

    August 30, 1942

    Pastoral letter by the Archbishop of Toulouse, France, Jules-Geraud Saliege

    • Regarding the persecution and deportation of the Jews – no full translation available

     

    July 26, 1942

    Pastoral letter by the Bishops of the Netherlands

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews

     

    June 21, 1942

    Homily by the Bishop of Berlin, Germany, Konrad von Preysing

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews – no full translation available

     

    May 24, 1942

    Pastoral letter by the Archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia, Aloysius Viktor Stepinac

    • no full translation available

     

    August 3, 1941

    Homily by the Bishop of Munster, Germany, Clemens August Graf von Galen

    • Regarding the murder of the unfit by the German State

     

    July 20, 1941

    Homily by the Bishop of Munster, Germany, Clemens August Graf von Galen

    • Regarding persecution by the German Gestapo

     

    July 13, 1941

    Homily by the Bishop of Munster, Germany, Clemens August Graf von Galen

    • Regarding persecution by the German Gestapo

     

    March 1941

    Homily by the Bishop of Berlin, Germany, Konrad von Preysing

    • Regarding the murder of the unfit by the German State – no full translation available

     

    June 23, 1940

    Homily by Pastor Andre Trocme, Chambon-sur-Lignon, France

    • Regarding non-cooperation with the German occupation – no full translation available

     


     

    October 20, 1939

    Encyclical On the Supreme Pontificate AKA Darkness Over the Earth by Pope Pius XII

    • Regarding racism, totalitarianism, and war and persecution in Poland

     

    January 25, 1939

    Pastoral letter of the Bishop of Presov, Slovakia, Pavel Peter Gojdic

    • Regarding the persecution of the Jews – no full translation available

     

    September 29, 1937

    Encyclical On the Rosary by Pope Pius XI

    • Regarding persecution by the totalitarian ideologies

     

    March 21, 1937

    Encyclical With Burning Anxiety by Pope Pius XI

    • Regarding persecution in Germany

     

    March 19, 1937

    Encyclical Of the Divine Redeemer by Pope Pius XI

    • Regarding persecution in Mexico, Spain, and the Soviet Union

     

    February 9, 1936

    Homily by the Bishop of Munster, Germany, Clemens August Graf von Galen

    • Regarding current martyrdom

     

    May 31, 1934

    Declaration of the Barmen Synod, Germany

    • Regarding the imposition of Nazi ideology on the Protestant churches

     

    January 29, 1934

    Pastoral letter by the Bishop of Munster, Germany, Clemens August Graf von Galen

    • Regarding German neo-paganism – no full translation available

     

    June 3, 1933

    Encyclical Most dear to us by Pope Pius XI

    • Regarding persecution in Spain

     

    September 29, 1932

    Encyclical Sorrow of soul by Pope Pius XI

    • Regarding persecution in Mexico

     

    June 29, 1931

    Encyclical We do not need by Pope Pius XI

    • Regarding persecution in Italy

     

    November 18, 1926

    Encyclical Iniquitous affliction by Pope Pius XI

    • Regarding persecution in Mexico

     

    November 7, 1918

    Epistle to the Soviet of People’s Commissars by Patriarch Tikhon aka Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin

    • Regarding the Russian Civil War and persecution by the Communists

    Meditations – Down the Memory Hole Technical Difficulties

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