<P> The Apostles, from the beginning, faced grave dangers, until eventually almost all suffered death for their convictions . Thus, within the lifetime of the Apostles, the term martys came to be used in the sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what he testified to, under penalty of death . From this stage the transition was easy to the ordinary meaning of the term, as used ever since in Christian literature: a martyr, or witness of Christ, is a person who suffers death rather than deny his faith . St. John, at the end of the first century, employs the word with this meaning . </P> <P> A distinction between martyrs and confessors is traceable to the latter part of the second century: those only were martyrs who had suffered the extreme penalty, whereas the title of confessors was given to Christians who had shown their willingness to die for their belief, by bravely enduring imprisonment or torture, but were not put to death . Yet the term martyr was still sometimes applied during the third century to persons still living, as, for instance, by Cyprian who gave the title of martyrs to a number of bishops, priests, and laymen condemned to penal servitude in the mines . </P> <P> Religious martyrdom is considered one of the more significant contributions of Second Temple Judaism to western civilization . It is believed that the concept of voluntary death for God developed out of the conflict between King Antiochus Epiphanes IV and the Jewish people . 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees recount numerous martyrdoms suffered by Jews resisting the Hellenizing of their Seleucid overlords, being executed for such crimes as observing the Sabbath, circumcising their children or refusing to eat pork or meat sacrificed to foreign gods . With few exceptions, this assumption has lasted from the early Christian period to this day, accepted both by Jews and Christians . </P> <P> According to Daniel Boyarin, there are "two major theses with regard to the origins of Christian martyrology, which (can be referred to) as the Frend thesis and the Bowersock thesis ." Boyarin characterizes W.H.C. Frend's view of martyrdom as having originated in "Judaism" and Christian martyrdom as a continuation of that practice . Frend argues that the Christian concept of martyrdom can only be understood as springing from Jewish roots . Frend characterizes Judaism as "a religion of martyrdom" and that it was this "Jewish psychology of martyrdom" that inspired Christian martyrdom . Frend writes, "In the first two centuries C.E. there was a living pagan tradition of self - sacrifice for a cause, a preparedness if necessary to defy an unjust ruler, that existed alongside the developing Christian concept of martyrdom inherited from Judaism ." </P>

Who was the first martyr and how were they persecuted
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