The loss of focus and theology concerning martyrdom after the Constantinian Shift is in direct relation to assimilation of Platonism into the Christian worldview. As such the essential amnestic witness of the Church was lost, and likewise the essential meaning of martyrdom itself was lost. 

Within a Platonic worldview, the mission of God, and therefore of the church, is either dominionistic (if sovereignty is emphasized) or escapist (if salvation is emphasized). Therefore martyrdom is either seen as: 

1. a failure (cf. dominionism), since God/church has failed in establishing sovereignty over injustice, or 
2. a waste (cf. escapism), since God/church has lost another worker unto saving souls. 

Within a Biblical worldview, the mission of God, and therefore of the church, is amnestic which supplies inherent meaning to the event of martyrdom (if the intentions are actually motivated by the same loving intentions as God). - John P. Harrigan