For the source text click/tap here: Avodah Zarah 18
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They brought up Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon and asked him: Why have you occupied yourself with the study of Torah?
He replied: as Hashem, my God has commanded me. Immediately they sentenced him to be burnt, his wife to be killed, and his daughter to dwell in a brothel.
The Gemora explains the reasons for these punishments: He was sentenced to death by burning because he pronounced Hashem’s Name (of forty-two letters) in its full spelling (and he did with it whatever he desired).
THE Romans found Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon sitting and occupying himself with the study of Torah, publicly gathering assemblies, and a Torah scroll in his bosom. Immediately they brought him, and wrapped him in the Torah scroll, and placed bundles of vine shoots around him and set them on fire. They then brought tufts of wool and soaked them in water, and placed them over his heart, so that his soul should not depart quickly.
We explore the story of his death and the struggle between sanctity of life and a painless death.