Ranavalona I’s Decree (26 Feb 1835)

On February 26, 1835, Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar (r. 1828–1861) issued a royal decree banning the growing Christian faith within the Merina kingdom. Believers were ordered to abandon Christian worship, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, and foreign missionaries—many connected with the London Missionary Society—were driven out. The queen’s policy aimed to guard Malagasy identity and royal authority from foreign influence, but it also set the church on a path of costly obedience.

Persecution in Imerina and Antananarivo

The suppression was enforced through imprisonment, forced labor, confiscation of property, ruinous fines, and public punishments designed to intimidate. Some were compelled to participate in traditional rites as proof of loyalty. Trials could be arbitrary, and accusations spread fear through villages and the capital, Antananarivo. A notorious weapon was the tangena ordeal, in which the accused were forced to ingest poison; many died, and survival was treated as “proof” of innocence.

Martyrs and Steadfast Witness

Among the best-known early martyrs was Rasalama, remembered as the first Protestant martyr of Madagascar. Refusing to renounce Christ, she was executed near Antananarivo, and her death strengthened wavering hearts. In later waves—especially in the 1840s and 1850s—Christians were executed at places associated with judgment and death, including the cliffs at Ampamarinana, where some were thrown down or killed in public view. Their courage was not bravado but settled conviction: suffering was preferable to denying the Savior who had bought them.

A Church That Could Not Be Silenced

With missionaries expelled and Bibles seized, Malagasy believers met quietly, prayed in whispers, and memorized Scripture so the Word could not be taken from them. Leadership shifted to local Christians who exhorted one another to holiness, forgiveness, and patient endurance. Their testimony echoed: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). And though many were “bound with chains,” they proved the promise: “But the word of God cannot be chained!” (2 Timothy 2:9). In time, persecution failed to extinguish faith; instead, the church in Madagascar grew, purified by suffering and strengthened by hope.