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I wonder whether being killed by the Jews somehow makes you similar to Jesus Christ and benifits to your salvation?

The question is based on the facts that during the 2000 debates about the canonization of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family, many Christians put forward that they were killed by a Jewish bolshevick Yakov Yurovsky. This fact contributed to the argument that the Tsar was killed like Christ and should be considered a saint. This was supported by the evidence that Nicholas II was an anti-semite during his life and a member of the pogrom movement "Black hundreds". He and his family were consequently canonized as passion-bearers.

Similarly some Christian activists go to Israel in an attempt to provoke Israeli military or somehow suffer from them. For example, Rachel Corrie who went under Israeli bulldozer was often called "martyr" by the western media. In this post she is directly compared to Christ:

This she did in the true spirit of Christ in a Christ-like manner; much like Christ dealing with the same element 2000 years ago.

At the same time it seems that there is little evidence of similar activism in other hot spots worldwide.

So my question is whether Christian theology supports the view that upon being killed by the Jews one becomes similar to Christ and the salvation of his soul more likely? Is there such popular belief among Christians?

Update After a research I found that there were people who were canonized solely for being killed by Jews, for example, Simon of Trent. The other person of the kind, William of Norwich although was not officially canonized, received much reveration among Christian masses.

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Your update contained some falsehoods, and I have edited to correct them. Please don't answer your own question in the question. If you think you have the answer, please make it an answer, not part of the question. – DJClayworth Dec 9 '12 at 14:06
@DJClayworth their canonizations were not revoked (as follows from the answers to the other question on this site). Technically, canonization cannot be revoked. – Anixx Dec 9 '12 at 14:09
@DJClayworth I did – Anixx Dec 9 '12 at 14:17
You might also like to consider whether you want answer to the question you asked, or whether you want to know if there are isolated examples of people made saints because Jews were accused of killing them. – DJClayworth Dec 9 '12 at 14:19
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Suffice it to say, it is neither a mainstream Protestant or Catholic practice. Beyond that, I have no knowledge. – Affable Geek Dec 9 '12 at 22:10
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1 Answer

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Short answer:

No Christian theology that I'm aware of supports the view that upon being killed by the Jews one becomes similar to Christ and the salvation of his soul more likely. Likewise, there is no such popular or common belief among Christians. There are probably those that do believe this, but they are the fringe, and the view is not common.

Longer answer:

Since the question didn't specify a particular viewpoint, I'll answer from the Protestant/evangelical/fundamentalist view.

There seems to be a problem in the very first sentence, in that it asks if something "benefits your salvation", at least from a Protestant/evangelical/fundamentalist standpoint.

Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone, and not of works. (Ephesians 2:8-9) There is absolutely nothing we can do that can add to or subtract from our salvation by actions of our own in any way, shape, or form. (Doctrine of Sola Fide)

The rest moves on from the Protestant/evangelical/fundamentalist view and is more broadly applicable:

Moving on, however, to whether or not "being killed by Jews makes you more Christ-Like", there's just a bit of a problem in that sentence in that it includes "by Jews". That's a heck of a set-up for an anti-Semitic point of view. Christ Himself, in His earthly form, was a Jew. (And since I believe He existed eternally as God, pre-existing Judaism, logically, He was a Jew by choice. He chose to come to earth in the line of Abrahan, by choice, a choice He made before the foundation of the world.)

This isn't the place for anti-semitism, or any arguments about who killed who.

In general, Christians understand that Christ had to die as an atonement for sin. (See the great answers on this question.) God had ordained Christ's death before the foundation of the world. To blame Jews is ridiculous.

By the same token, being killed "by Jews" has no more or less merit than being killed "by computer programmers". Being killed by a Jew makes you no more or less "Christ-like".

Remove those two words - "by Jews", and you have a potentially answerable, less problematic question.

As to whether or not it is Christ-like to die for your faith or in God's Service, yes, most Christians would agree that this is Christ-like. Christ spoke of laying down your life for your friends. So laying down your life to protect your friends is Christ-like. Laying down your life to save others is Christ-like.

It doesn't matter who is killing you, or who killed Christ. Christ's love wasn't dependent on who was persecuting Him. What made His love great is that he was willing to lay down His life for those that hated Him, for those who did not deserve such mercy. For us to do the same would be Christ-like, regardless of who we are laying our lives down to or for.

Even in the post you referred to, the statement that she was "Christ-like" wasn't because of who killed her, it was what her mission was there in the first place:

From the post you linked to:

Huh?... ??? You seem confused, again. Ms Corrie went there to protect and stand by innocent people and the rightful owners of property who were having their land, orchards, and homes confiscated by illegal occupiers on their land....ILLEGAL OCCUPIERS who have no legal, spiritual, moral right to be their. This she did in the true spirit of Christ in a Christ-like manner; much like Christ dealing with the same element 2000 years ago.

The person making this statement is clearly arguing that Ms Corrie was Christ-like in that she was there to "protect and stand by innocent people and the rightful owners of property who were having their land, orchards, and homes confiscated by illegal occupiers on their land....ILLEGAL OCCUPIERS who have no legal, spiritual, moral right to be there." Not because she was killed.

Not to mention that the "illegal occupiers" that Christ dealt with weren't even Jews. They were Romans. Wasn't it the Romans who actually pounded in the nails? Some of the Jews in the day may have had a hand in His death, but all in all, there's no support, no amount of logic based on fact that could possibly lead to the idea that being killed by Jews makes us more like "Christ". If there were such a doctrine, it would be called "lunacy". (Which, unfortunately, is pretty popular.)

Of course, this hasn't stopped anti-semites throughout history to pervert what happened to justify their own hate, but such hate is against the teachings of Christ.

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Sola Fide is specific to Protestants, is not it? – Anixx Dec 8 '12 at 17:01
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@Anixx Sola Fide is indeed specific to Protestants, but Catholics and Orthodox would not disagree with the general point David makes. – DJClayworth Dec 8 '12 at 17:42
@DJClayworth What about being killed by the Jews contributing to sainthood of a person more than being killed by the fellow Christians? At least it seems that some Orthodox Chrisntians did bring this argument. – Anixx Dec 8 '12 at 18:15
David has it right here. Being killed by Jews doesn't make you more of a saint than being killed by anyone (or anything) else. – DJClayworth Dec 8 '12 at 18:19
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@Anixx You have chosen one example out of literally hundreds of saint martyrs killed by non-Jews. There are literally hundreds of children declared martyrs for being killed by people other than Jews, from the French Revolution to Tlaxcala. – DJClayworth Dec 9 '12 at 14:00
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