what is the actual definition of a martyr? do you have to die to be a martyr, or just ‘suffer’? if you’re in the army, are you automatically a martyr?
If you’re looking for a dictionary definition then it’s anyone who chooses to suffer or die rather than giving up their faith or principles or anyone who is tortured or killed for their beliefs of principles. That definition can be found in a handy book everyone should have on his or her desk, a dictionary. If you are looking for a different definition you’ll need to be more specific.
By that definition I’m not quite sure how being in the army automatically makes one a martyr.
Sometimes it’s in reference to those who lost their life, sometimes those who were witnesses. I don’t know if that’s what you’re getting at though.
The Catholic Encyclopedia defines it as: “a martyr, or witness of Christ, is a person who, though he has never seen nor heard the Divine Founder of the Church, is yet so firmly convinced of the truths of the Christian religion, that he gladly suffers death rather than deny it.”
Originally it meant one who had actually witnessed Christ, and who testified to that. (From the Greek word martus, signifying a witness who testifies to a fact of which he has knowledge from personal observation.) Almost all of the original disciples were indeed put to death.
By about the 1st Century AD, the term included anyone who suffered death or torture rather than renounce their faith.
By the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD, the term “martyr” had become restricted to those who actually died; those who were tortured but survived were called “confessors” (they confessed to their faith and would not renounce it), and considered themselves to be something lower than the martyrs. That’s pretty much the meaning that has lasted since then.