See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues.
Matthew 10:16-17 (NRSV)
Chou Wen-Mo (1801)
Handed Over
This missionary was twice betrayed to the Korean authorities before being condemned to death and executed on 31 May 1801. Chou Wen-Mo, a Chinese orphan, had been helped to enter Seoul by two Koreans in December 1794. He began to pastor Christians there until he was arrested, having been reported to the authorities by a convert. On this occasion he was able to escape with the help of some friends and went on to have several successful years as an “underground” pastor.
During the 1801 persecution in Korea that saw around 300 Christians martyred, he was again betrayed by someone he thought to be a fellow believer. After his execution, Wen-Mo’s body was secretly buried by the authorities so that no Christian would ever discover it.
Lord Jesus Christ, who came to this world as a man
and suffered your passion, allowing your hands to be nailed to the cross for our sins, give me the strength to endure my passion.
It comes not from my enemies, but from my own brother:
Yet, Lord, do not account it to him as sin.
Boris of Kiev (martyred 1015)