Saint Cassian of Tangier models the ultimate Christian act of brotherhood and friendship. His decision to speak up for what is right clearly left him standing alone in the courtroom and later on at his beheading. There were no groups or persons with him to support his choice. There were no character witnesses to speak up for this one who embraced the unpopular Christian faith. Except for the unconditional love of our redeemer, Cassian was alone. With the simple utterance of “I am a Christian,” he was condemned. One might ask why he didn’t remain quiet. In more contemporary times, we have witnessed what can happen when men and women remain silent. The transatlantic slave trade, the Holocaust and, more recently, the genocides in Rwanda and Sudan are just a few cases of what happens in our world when silence is the acceptable mode of behavior. Throughout time many good men and women, among them Edmund Burke and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., have been quoted as saying, “All that is needed for evil to rise is for men of goodwill to remain silent.”
— from African Saints, African Stories: 40 Holy Men and Women
