A Martyr for the Faith vs. a Victim of Circumstance

What’s the difference between a victim and a martyr? A victim is
always described as dying “of” or “from” something. But when you
describe a martyr, you talk about what they died for. While a
victim is hurt by something, a martyr is suffers for something or
someone. While a victim is having something happen to them, a
martyr is choosing what happens to them by their will. “...I lay
down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me,
but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:17-18) The word
martyr comes from the Greek word for witness. So when we see Jesus
in Acts 1 telling his disciples that they are called to be
witnesses of the faith, he is also calling them to martyrdom for
the sake of spreading the Gospel. The apostles were not
victims—they were martyrs, because they lived their lives for
Christ until death. This turns their death into the fulfillment of
their lives—the crowning achievement—instead of something that
defeated them. While not all of us may be asked to lay down our
lives for Christ at our death, we are all called to live our lives
for the faith.