פירוש על עבודה זרה 34:14

Note the very different reaction that R. Hanina has to his accusers. Whereas R. Elazar consistently lied and thereby avoided martyrdom, R. Hanina willingly admits to his violation of Roman law and testifies that this is what he believes that God wants him to do. He seems to relish his opportunity to be executed. In reality, R. Hanina is not martyred because he only occupied himself with Torah and not with gemilut hasadim. He is martyred because he does not take the opportunity to avoid it.

The Talmud tries to find sins that would explain why R. Hanina was executed. Note that this is “overexplaining”—the Talmud explained earlier that he dies because he did not engage in gemilut hasadim
Hanina is accused of pronouncing God’s name according to its letters. But then the Talmud explains that he only did so in order to practice or understand, but not for magical purposes. Nevertheless, he was punished for pronouncing God’s name in public.