Christian Martyrs in 500 Facts

[RolandVT]

It is a well-known fact that every writer writes the book he or she wants to read – but can’t find it. So, he/she has to write it himself. And I am no exception, of course.

I am Roman Catholic – one of those who takes his faith very seriously; I was baptized Protestant (American Baptist, to be more precise) and was born and raised in an Orthodox Christian country.

So, I am familiar with all three theologies – and a very important role that Christian martyrdom plays in all three. I was trained as a scientist – my first degree is M.S. in theoretical nuclear physics so it’s no surprise that I wanted to get a thorough understanding of this issue.

Unfortunately, I could not find a book that presented a sufficiently comprehensive and well-researched study of Christian martyrdom. In other words, the one based on indisputable facts (as opposed to fairy-tales), rock-solid logic and good old common sense. So, I had to write this book myself.

This book has one more objective – to serve as a pilot project for my “… in 100 Facts” series. Consequently, I wrote it for myself, first and foremost.

However, I also intended to write the best book on Christian martyrdom – the one that will be of the maximum possible value for everyone interested in this topic: historians, students of history, schoolteachers, university professors and lecturers, priests, monks, nuns, seminarians – and everyone else who is interested in a highly complicated issue of Christian martyrdom.

I wanted to write the book that would (1) contain all really important facts and theories and (2) present them in well-structured, easy to read and understand way (using modern “blog post model”).

This book is based mostly on my own research on Christian martyrdom and the Great Christian Revolution that I conducted for my fiction books written in my native language – mostly “The Charon Project” and “Forbidden Chronicles”.

[RolandVT]

One of the key weaknesses of every book on Christian martyrs is that every one of them ignores the essence of every case of Christian martyrdom: it is a criminal investigation. Either because the Christian in question committed a capital crime and was executed for it following the proper judicial procedure – or he or she was murdered by person(s) sufficiently offended by their Christian preaching.

I have neither any kind of training nor experience in criminal investigation – by the way, none of the authors of other books on Christian martyrs do. Still, I am confident that I am perfectly qualified to write this book.

I am perfectly qualified because every criminal investigation is a knowledge management project. More specifically, knowledge mining project. Its objective is to mine (extract) knowledge about the individual(s) who committed the crime from a pile of raw data and information (if a Christian in question committed a capital crime) or about a victim of a homicide – if he/she was murdered for preaching the Christian faith.

More specifically, detectives (investigators) working on a criminal case must (1) collect all relevant raw data and information – relevant being the key word; (2) extract the necessary knowledge from them; (3) structure this knowledge in the most efficient and digestible way; and (4) present this knowledge to judge and jury to prove the culpability of the defendant beyond the reasonable doubt.

Criminal profilers working on a criminal case must (1) collect all relevant raw data and information – relevant being the key word; (2) extract the necessary knowledge from them; (3) structure this knowledge in the most efficient and digestible way; and (4) present this knowledge – about the perpetrator and a victim – to homicide detectives (and subsequently to judge and jury).

Hence, this is the job for the knowledge management professional. Which is exactly my key area of expertise. Knowledge management tools, methods and technologies are applicable to any and every subject matter – and criminal investigation is no exception.

So I am, indeed, perfectly qualified to write this book – much more qualified than any other author (because none of them has knowledge on experience in knowledge management). The latter becomes immediately evident to reader of every book on Christian martyrs – or just about any history book for that matter.

[RolandVT]

I am Roman Catholic and – unlike many (if not most) Catholics – do not separate my faith from my works. Consequently, this book is written from a thoroughly Catholic perspective. More precisely, from the orthodox, traditionalist, pre-Vatican II Catholic perspective (SSPX perspective, if you will – although I am not a member of that Catholic fraternity).

As a Roman Catholic. I completely adhere to Nicene Creed:

I believe in one God,
the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through Him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation
He came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.

For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind (from a Hell on Earth, to be more precise); I believe that Devil and demons exist (and so does Hell – and it is NOT empty) and that they are constantly fighting God for control of our world.

I do have strong mystical capabilities, so I am aware of the existence of invisible, intangible, spiritual world and its inhabitants (saints, angels, demons and other invisible, intangible entities). And of spiritual (divine and demonic) energies that can not be detected with “scientific” tools.

I believe that the Holy Bible (both Old and New Testament) is fundamentally true – and so is Catholic Sacred Tradition (the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Nicene Fathers and Post-Nicene Fathers).

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