The Byzantine church rejected fallen soldiers as martyrs while Western crusaders embraced the idea

Evidence

The idea that warriors fallen in battle could be considered martyrs was abhorrent to the Byzantine church, according to Ducellier, Chrétiens d’Orient et Islam, 193–94. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1677 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Those who die are described as martyrs, and here again descriptions of their martyrdom—like that of Thiemo’s—are often modeled on those of the apostles and early martyrs of the ancient church, who refused to offer sacrifice to Roman idols and were subsequently put to death. At Nicaea, Tudebodus recounts, a bishop preaches to a band of crusaders besieged by Turks, using Jesus’ injunction to the apostles: “Be everywhere strong in the faith of Christ, and fear not those who persecute you. As the Lord said: ‘Fear not those who kill the body; indeed they cannot kill the soul.”’ This “persecution” lasts eight days, after which the Turks take the castle. We are told, in language redolent of the martyrologies: “Those who refused to renounce God were given the capital sentence, … these first happily accepted martyrdom for Christ’s name.” Throughout the remainder of his narrative, Tudebodus emphasizes that the Christian dead are martyrs. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 623 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Acts of blood vengeance were believed to cause religious defilement that rendered the actor ineligible to receive the Eucharist. By offering the Serb warriors communion without requiring their confession, the Serb Orthodox clergy take the “extermination of the Turkifiers” out of the category of blood vengeance. Instead, they present it as an act sacred in itself, with the implication of baptism by blood. Here, however, there is a twist. In the Christian doctrine of baptism by blood, it is the martyr whose sins are washed away by the baptism. In the extermination of the Turkifiers the killers who are baptizing the Turkifiers in blood are rendered worthy of communion and receive a full forgiveness for all their sins. Killing Turks or Turkified ones becomes not only worthy, but sacred, raised to the same level of sacrality as baptism or confession. — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 149 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Byzantine theology rejected battlefield death as martyrdom — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1677; Crusaders who died in battle were reframed as martyrs like the early church’s — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 623; Crusade chroniclers blurred the distinction between preaching martyrs and waging war (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Byzantine theology rejected battlefield death as martyrdom #corroborates (0.98) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1677
• Crusaders who died in battle were reframed as martyrs like the early church’s #corroborates (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 623
• Orthodox clergy inverted baptism-by-blood doctrine to sanctify the killers rather than the martyrs #complicates (0.75) — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 149