"If I die, I live." -- St. King Edmund the Martyr (+869)
Today is the Feast of the Holy Martyr and King, Edmund of East Anglia.
As the heathen army of the Danes invaded his Kingdom, and approached where the Holy King resided, few options seemed open to the King. Either he submit his Kingdom to slavery in order to preserve himself, or he flee. Abbot Aelfric of Eynsham, translated in a brief and paraphrastic form the longer "Passion of St. Edmund" (composed by Abbo of Fleury in the late 10th century, in concord with St. Dunstan of Canterbury); in which we find the following:
"Then King Edmund summoned a certain Bishop with whom he was most intimate, and deliberated with him how he should answer the fierce Ivar. The Bishop was afraid because of this emergency, and he feared for the King's life, and counselled him that he thought that Edmund should submit to what Ivar asked of him. Then the King became silent, and looked at the ground, and then said to him at last: 'Alas, Bishop, the poor people of this country are already shamefully afflicted. I would rather died fighting so that my people might continue to possess their native land.' The Bishop said: 'Alas, beloved King, thy people lie slain. You do not have the troops that you may fight, and the pirates come and kidnap the living. Save your life by flight, or save yourself by submitting to him.' Then said King Edmund, since he was completely brave: 'This I heartily wish and desire, that I not be the only survivor after my beloved thegns are slain in their beds with their children and wives by these pirates. It was never my way to flee. I would rather die for my country if I need to. Almighty God knows that I will not ever turn from worship of Him, nor from love of His truth. If I die, I live."
Friends, the Holy Martyr speaks as a true Christian; who is not reminded of St. Paul's words: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21)
As well as the same Holy Apostle's words to the Romans: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, 'For Thy Sake we are killed all the day long; we are account as sheep for the slaughter.' Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus Our Lord." (Rom. 8:35-39)
To read Abbot Aelfric of Eynsham's edition of the Martyrdom of St. Edmund in full, one may go here:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/870abbo-edmund.asp
To read the longer version, from which Abbot Aelfric took his account, that is Abbot of Fleury's, one may go here:
https://torrencia.org/edmund/lattrans.html
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