Martyr

Martyr (Greek martys, meaning witness) underwent a significant semantic shift in the New Testament era. Originally denoting any witness to a fact or event, it came to refer specifically to those who bore witness to Jesus Christ by dying for their testimony. Stephen is the first Christian martyr, described in Acts 22:20 as Christ's witness (martys) at the time of his death. Antipas is similarly called "my faithful martyr" in Revelation 2:13, and Revelation 17:6 speaks of Babylon as drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

The theological weight of martyrdom in early Christianity drew on Jesus's own death as the paradigmatic witness (Revelation 1:5 calls him "the faithful witness") and on his teaching that to lose one's life for his sake is to find it (Matthew 16:25). The martyrs occupy a place of honor in the eschatological vision of Revelation: their souls cry out under the altar (Revelation 6:9–11), and they reign with Christ in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4).