The ideal of Christian perfection does not change from age to age but remains forever essentially the same. Nevertheless, the manner in which Christians attempt to realize that ideal in their own lives may vary considerably according to the age in which they live, and according to the circumstances in which they find themselves placed. During the apostolic age, and during the time of the great persecutions, when almost every Christian might expect to end his life as a martyr, the disposition to offer one's life for the faith was considered the highest expression of Christian perfection.
When the age of the martyrs had passed, it became necessary for the Christian to express his desire to imitate Christ in some other way. Many Christians wishing to disengage their affection entirely from the world, sought to apply the evangelical counsels to their lives in a very literal fashion. This ascetical ideal was accepted by many of the rigorists of the second century as a substitute for martyrdom as the highest expression of the love of God. Thus the ascetical life came to be looked upon as a martyrium cotidianum, and the concept of spiritual martyrdom was born.