Magundat began life in Persia as part of the magus class (remember those magi who came to offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus?). When the Persians battled the Byzantine Empire in the early 7th century, the Persians took Jerusalem and carried away the True Cross (by tradition the very cross Christ was crucified on). When the Persians brought the cross back with them, Magundat became transfixed by the idea of Christianity and sought to learn all he could about it. Eventually he went to Jerusalem, and there Magundat received baptism, converting from Zoroastrianism to Christianity and taking the name Anastasius (from the Greek, meaning “resurrection”).

In his zeal, now-Anastasius undertook efforts to proselytize fellow Persians with claims that theirs was a false religion. This did not endear him to them; in fact he was arrested as a spy and when he told them he was not a spy but a magus-turned-Christian, he was imprisoned.

Butler tells us in gruesome detail the many tortures that Anastasius was subjected to. Among these were being starved; chained and shackled and forced to carry inhuman weights; beaten with “knotty clubs”; beaten with staves for three days on end; burdened on both legs with heavy weights that smashed him flesh to the bones; hung by one hand for two hours with great weights placed upon his feet; observed fellow Christians strangled in front of him; peppered the torture with promises of restoration to social prominence by his renunciation of Christianity; and, at length, was strangled and beheaded.

Undoubtedly a martyr, Anastasius’ death nevertheless leaves me with great discomfort: This man was not simply killed for refusing to renounce Christianity, but for publicly calling out his former religion as false, a sham, empty, and wrong. Is this an indication of brave or of boorish behavior? Is this an exemplary or a cautionary tale?

Using language from my own religious upbringing–it is one thing to “testify”; that is, it is one thing to say “here is something that has given me meaning, that has turned my life around, that has helped me.” It is another thing to tell others that what gives them meaning is hollow, empty, or wrong. Boorish behavior certainly does not, in my view, merit torture and sadism, no matter how badly one wants it to Just STOP.

It is very brave and powerful for one to “come out” to former friends and family in any way that separates you from those ties. It challenges and disturbs and is frequently misunderstood and attacked. If the story of Anastasius is to hold value for me today, it is surely because he insisted on speaking truth to power and not because he trashed the beliefs of others. Yet to read Butler’s write-up, it seems as those so many of those who are to be honored as martyrs (Greek for “truth-tellers”!) is not because of their authenticity but because of their complete insistence that Christianity is the only true religion. That, I cannot do.

Thoughts?