Martyr

Greek for 'witness'.

A person who dies for their faith or cause. A martyr is killed for maintaining their religious belief, knowing that such a belief will almost certainly result in imminent death (though without intentionally seeking death).

When a martyr is killed, all of the following situations must be true:

• They have been directly told to give up their religion for another.
• They resist by passive means but they can never deny their faith.
• They have a bold courage that does not make them shrink from capture.
• When they are captured, they submit to death without violent resistance.
• They are murdered because they practice their faith in spite of the threat.
• They do not provoke or deliberately cause the enemy to attack in order to be killed.
• They do not kill themselves.

This means that a true martyr does not die in violent defence of their faith, nor does a martyr commit suicide or violent acts to defend their faith.