Texts in Conversation
Jesus tells James and John they will share his “baptism,” meaning his death. Perpetua’s martyrdom story uses the same metaphor, calling Saturus’s blood from the leopard a “second baptism” as the crowd shouts “Saved and washed!”
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Mark 10:38
New Testament
37 They said to him, “Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?” 39 They said to him, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I experience, 40 but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give. It is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas 8:4
Passion of Perpetua
Early Christian
4 Saturus meanwhile, at the other entrance, was encouraging the soldier Pudens, saying, "Here I am, just as I promised and predicted, for up to this moment I have felt no beast. Now believe with all your heart. Watch — I am going out to face that beast, and I will be finished with one bite from the leopard." And indeed, as the games were ending, he was thrown to the leopard; and with a single bite he was drenched in such a flood of blood that the crowd cried out to him as he came back, bearing witness to his second baptism: "Saved and washed! Saved and washed!" Truly saved was the one who had been glorified in such a way. Then he said to the soldier Pudens, "Farewell, and remember my faith. Let these things not trouble you, but strengthen you." At the same time he asked for a small ring from Pudens's finger, dipped it in his own wound, and returned it to him as a keepsake and a reminder of his blood. Then, now lifeless, he was thrown down with the rest in the usual place of slaughter.
Search:
Notes and References
"… the Passio notes, Felicitas was ‘glad that she had safely given birth so that she could fight the beasts, from blood to blood, from midwife to gladiator (retiarius), ready to be washed after birth in a second baptism’ (18.3). The epigrammatic style of the editor strongly suggests that he was an avid reader of Tertullian, who was a master in aphorisms. … He does not mean that Felicitas’ washing is her second baptism, since that would make her being baptised thrice, but it was a widespread belief that martyrdom constituted a second baptism, and that is the belief to which the editor …"
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.