Martyrs, Katechontes and Heroes as Figures of Disseminated Charisma

Abstract Charismas are a particular case of the commerce between visible and invisible powers. The notion of charisma and grace is not independent of sacrifice, which entangles a divine death. St. Paul first coined the term charisma . Charisma begins by signifying the grace that derives through multiple channels from Christ’s redemptive sacrifice. For Paul grace is disseminated in every Christian who associates his or her life with that of Christ. After Christ, other sacred deaths will come to be associated with that grace, particularly the lives of the martyrs, but also those of political heroes. The paper examines the grace associated with the life of martyrs and its theological-political analogy with the life of political heroes as dispensators of some kind of grace and salvation. To deal with this topic, the paper puts in dialogue “Pro Patria Mori in Medieval Political Thought” (1951) by Ernst Kantorowicz, “Witness to the Truth” (1937) by Erik Peterson, and “The Concept of the Political” (1927) of Carl Schmitt.