Deacons: Part 6 Timon and Parmenas

Deacon Timon

Timon left Jerusalem and went on a missionary trip to Syria. There he became the Bishop of Bosra. Many people came to faith through his preaching. After awhile, he was arrested and thrown in a red hot furnace. He miraculously survived and continued to be a witness for Christ. He was a New Testament Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I wonder if he saw Christ in the midst of the flames as well.

He was arrested again and later crucified, dying as a martyr.

Deacon Parmenas

Parmenas left Jerusalem and preached in Asia Minor. He eventually took up residence in Macedonia. During the persecution under Emporer Trajan, he was killed in Philippi as a martyr.

The Ministry of Martyrdom

Only some Christians are called to be martyrs. Christian martyrdom does not involve taking the lives of others and killing yourself, but laying down their life for Christ by the hands of a persecuter.

Not all Christians who are murdered are martyrs, but only those who are a witness of Christ and His gospel. Martyrs are killed for making a stand for Jesus.

Martyrs in the Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John. He writes that after the fifth seal is broken, the martyrs cry out.

Revelation 6 v 9-11

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

The martyrs petition God for judgement, and are given white robes. These represent holiness and purity. Though when God gives earthly clothes to Adam and Eve for succumbing to temptation, it is to cover their nakedness. But to the martyrs He gives heavenly robes, a testament of their faithfulness and resisting the temptation to reject Jesus.

God tells them that the Judgement will not come until all the martyrs have been murdered. This suggests more persecutions of the Church will happen, followed by more acts of martyrdom.

Symbolism of Martyrdom

Tertullian was a Church Father who wrote in the 2nd Century AD. He said in his work, The Apology,

“However often we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed”

He was explaining that even as the authorities persecute and kill Christians for the sake of Christ, the Church grows.

Symbolically, it reminds me of Jesus’ comments in the Gospel according to John,

John 12 v 24

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds

Here Jesus is talking about His death, but this could also relate to the martyrs. They are like seed which after it goes into the ground, it becomes fruitful and then many come to Christ.

Palm Trees

In the early Church, palm trees were considered a symbol of the martyrs.

It was believed palm trees produced abundant fruit when they died. And so I find it interesting that Christ, in the Gospel according to John, is welcomed into Jerusalem with palm leaves. A sign of martyrdom for the Lord of Martyrs.

John 12 v 12-13

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting…

Another connection is with the temple in Israel.

1 Kings 6 v 29

On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.

The Temple of God is carved throughout with images of palm trees. From a Christian standpoint, this symbolically would mean that the Church, the Living Temple, is adorned with those who laid down their lives for Christ.

1 Corinthians 3 v 16

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

By recalling the martyrs, throughout the history of the Church, it reminds us of what is at stake.