{"id":142794,"date":"2026-04-06T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=142794"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:47:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T15:47:41","slug":"the-persian-martyrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/the-persian-martyrs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Persian Martyrs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dear Sal,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With spring in the air and summer around the corner, you are probably getting antsy. \u00a0We humans are part of this biosphere, and our bodies and emotions really do react to the change of weather and seasons, sometimes violently \u2013 just like the trees and flowers that burst out of their winter slumber with new buds. \u00a0You know from past years that it\u2019s a time when you find it difficult to keep your good resolutions and stick to your priorities. It is the season when the world renews its worship of the \u201cfun god\u201d; but you, my dear niece, should take a lesson from today\u2019s saints: have plenty of healthy fun, but prefer to suffer death itself before you let the \u201cfun god\u201d draw you into temptation. \u00a0The martyrs we commemorate today (we don\u2019t know any of their names, but about 100 of them were decapitated in Seleucia, near modern-day Turkey) refused to worship the Persian sun god. The king, who believed his power depended on appeasing this god, left them in dark, damp, filthy, smelly dungeons for six months to see if they would change their minds. (That \u201csemester\u201d was probably not too fun.) \u00a0But they stuck to their guns, and emerged just as resolute in their proclamation that Christ alone was God as they had been when they went in. And they lost their heads for it. So ask them to say a little prayer for you as you go into spring exams, so that you don\u2019t lose your head over something much less worthy than martyrdom. Much love, Uncle Eddy.<\/span> \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Sal, With spring in the air and summer around the corner, you are probably getting antsy. \u00a0We humans are part of this biosphere, and our bodies and emotions really [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.8 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - 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