Americans learned from September eleventh that we are not invincible to catastrophic events in our country. Many became Christians or stronger in their faith because of it. Blandina’s story shows what French Christians in the year 177 faced as their nine eleven.
In 177, Rome was a great empire. A holiday of many days was to begin on August 1 to celebrate that greatness and its emperor. Therefore, the governor of Lyons, France, was to provide the city’s entertainment. Like our economy, the city needed to economize in all ways possible. To hire boxers or wrestlers was much too expensive. And gladiator prices were out of sight! So the governor decided the cheapest holiday entertainment would be to torture the Christians.
By 177, Christianity had established itself for over 25 years in Lynons. Polycarp (remember him?) had sent Pothinus as missionary to France, and he had established the church of Christ in Lyons and nearby Viennes.
Yet as Christianity grew, resistance and persecution reared. Christians were closed out of businesses and houses. They endured beatings, robberies, and stonings. Often the believers were thrown into prison, in the darkest and most terrible part of prison. Many suffocated.
Torturous equipment was devised to force Christians to deny their faith to Jesus and swear their allegiance to Roman idols. Devices such as the hot-iron seat where the Christian was chained to a grate over burning coals. Christians were put into tiny, dishwasher-sized cells to cramp them into pain.
After the tortures, the Christians that lived were fed to lions in the amphitheater to “entertain” the crowd.
Blandina was a slave girl who had endured and lived through several tortures. She had also encouraged others through her intense prayers. Still faithful to Jesus, she was hung from a stake to be eaten by lions. It is reported she resembled Christ on the cross. But none of the lions touched her. So she was returned to her cell.
Christians rumored that God had preserved Blandina so her victory over evil spiritual forces might be greater.
On the last day of the amphitheater contests, Blandina and a 15-year-old boy named Ponticus were brought to the arena. They were again asked if they would refuse their faith, and they did not. Ponticus died first.
Blandina was the last of the tortured Christians to live that holiday celebration. And she had remained faithful. She was ready to join the others in her death, rejoicing. She had been scourged, thrown to lions, and placed on the hot-iron seat. Finally she was put into a net and thrown before a bull. The bull, who’d probably gone unfed or been tortured, scuffed back his front hooves. Then he charged and attacked the netted Blandina several times. She died that day. For Christ.
Torture, in a way, didn’t stop there for those Christians. Their corpses were burned or thrown to starving dogs with guards stationed to prevent anyone from burying them. That was to prevent “the hope of the resurrection” from becoming real to the Christians.
Many of the September eleventh victims are yet unaccounted for here on Earth. Still, we are assured Jesus knows where they are!
Jesus Calls Us