in the moment of his confession

A third conclusion to be drawn from the words of Jesus concerns the fact that the martyr demonstrates the public claim of the Church of Jesus Christ. As it belongs to the concept of the martyr to be brought for reckoning before the public organs of the state - in councils and synagogues, before governors and kings - to be subjected to a public judicial proceeding and the penalties of the public law, so too the public confession of the name of Jesus belongs to the concept of the martyrs. But insofar as the martyr before the court. in the public realm of the state, confessed him who will return publicly in the glory of the Father in order to judge this word, both Jews and Gentiles, in this very confession the martyr leaps beyond this world's concept of "public" and demonstrates in his words the public claim of another, a coming new world. He who confesses Jesus publicly on this earth is, in the moment of his confession, confessed publicly by Jesus in heaven. The significance of the act of confession on earth is matched by Jesus' solemn confession of the name of his confessor before God and the holy angels (cf. Luke 12:8). Because it is a confession of faith and not a confession of guilt, the words that the martyr speaks before the organs of the public authority are not human words but words that the Holy Spirit of the Father in heaven speaks in the confessors of Jesus Christ. Though the world sees in the confessor's words only a confession of guilt and not a religious profession, the Church knows that in the simple confession "I am a Christian," testified before the representatives of the state, God's Holy Spirit speaks, in that the public claim of the dominion of Jesus Christ is also testified to. The Church also knows that when the martyr steps forward as a witness for Christ the heavens open, as happened at the stoning of Stephen, and the Son of Man becomes visible, he who in heaven before the angels not only solemnly confesses his confessor, but also, when he stands at the right hand of God, makes known the future tribunal, before which the judges of this world... will receive their judgement.

- Erik Peterson, Witness to the Truth