STS. PERPETUA AND FELICITY: A CALL TO FULLNESS OF LIFE IN CHRIST (MARCH 7TH)

A Contemporary Icon of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity

Edited by Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a call to comfort but a call to life-life abundant, life eternal, life unshaken by fear or suffering. It is the call to take up the cross and follow Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Few in history have answered this call with greater clarity and courage than Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, two young women in the Church of North Africa, who, though newly baptized into Christ, bore witness to the fullness of His Kingdom with their very lives. 

In AD 203, the Roman Empire sought to silence the Church through fear. Yet fear has no power over those who belong to Christ. Perpetua, a noblewoman and new mother, had every reason to shrink back - her infant son still depended on her, and her father begged her with tears to deny Christ and live. But she knew that the only true life is found in the Lord Jesus. "I cannot call myself by any name but that which I truly am - a Christian," she said, standing firm in the face of family, empire, and death itself. 

Felicity, a servant and sister in Christ, was heavy with child when she was arrested. In the darkness of the prison, she suffered both physical pain and the waiting of those who longed to be delivered into the presence of Christ. Roman law forbade the execution of a pregnant woman, but just days before their appointed death, she bore a daughter who would be raised among the faithful. When the guards mocked her for crying out in labor, she answered, "Now I suffer, but when I stand before the beasts, it is Another who will suffer in me, for I suffer for Him." 

These holy women, along with their fellow believers, were led into the arena, where they faced the full fury of Roman cruelty. Yet nothing - neither wild beasts nor the sword - could shake their peace. Perpetua, struck down but still filled with the fire of the Spirit, gave up her throat to the sword, her life already surrendered to Christ long before that moment. In death, they did not fall; they rose above the fallen world and proclaimed their faith in Christ’s resurrection! In suffering, they did not lose their lives - No! They gained the crown of life. 

And what of us, who live in a time and place where the sword does not yet threaten our faith? Can we, who say we love Christ, live with anything less than the boldness and joy of these martyrs? The world calls us to compromise, to serve two masters, to hold back from giving our whole selves to Christ and His Church. But the Gospel calls us higher. It calls us to fullness - fullness of faith, fullness of truth, fullness of joy in the presence of God. It calls us to embrace the Ancient Church, not as a mere institution, but as the very ark of salvation, the Body of Christ in which we are called to live, worship, and witness to the world. 

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity did not die with sorrow, but with triumph. They left this world not with regret, but with great rejoicing. Their witness is not one of loss but of gain - gain in Christ, gain in the Kingdom, gain in the life that never ends. Will we, who have received the same Gospel, live with such faith? Will we stand firm in Christ, embrace the fullness of His Church, and proclaim His Name in both word and deed? 

Their story is not just a record of the past, but a sincere invitation. Come, follow Christ fully. Come, embrace His Church completely. Come, live the life of the Gospel with joy, boldness, and the certainty that nothing - not even death - can separate us from the love of God found only in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

COLLECT

O Almighty God, who didst give to thy servants Perpetua and Felicity boldness to confess the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to suffer joyfully for His sake: Grant that we, after their example, may be found steadfast in faith and constant in love, even unto the end; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

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