First-Martyr & Archdeacon Stephen

Ministry in Jerusalem

Stephen appears in the Acts of the Apostles as the first named of the seven deacons chosen to assist the Apostles in the practical care of the early community. Their appointment followed a dispute in which Hellenistic (Greek-speaking) believers complained that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food and alms compared with the Hebrew widows. The Apostles, wishing to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word, set seven reputable men over this charitable work.

Scripture describes Stephen as full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and records that he performed wonders and signs among the people. He is thought to have been a Hellenist himself, and his preaching was directed especially toward Greek-speaking Jews and converts. He disputed in several synagogues, including the Synagogue of the Libertines and communities drawn from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia, and his opponents could not withstand the wisdom with which he spoke.

Trial and Martyrdom

Defeated in argument, Stephen's opponents suborned false witnesses who accused him of blaspheming against Moses and against God, alleging that he had said Jesus would destroy the Temple and change the customs handed down by Moses. He was seized and brought before the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish council.

In his defense Stephen delivered a long discourse, preserved in the seventh chapter of Acts, surveying the history of Israel from the patriarchs through Moses and showing that God is not confined to any single building, while charging his hearers with having resisted the Holy Spirit as their ancestors had resisted the prophets. He then proclaimed that he saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

This declaration enraged the council. Stephen was cast out of the city and stoned to death. As he died he prayed, by the account of Acts, that the sin not be charged against his killers, and he commended his spirit to the Lord. Present at the execution was a young man named Saul, at whose feet the witnesses laid their garments and who consented to the death; he would later become the Apostle Paul.

Relics & Shrines

The location of Stephen's tomb was lost for centuries. In the year 415 a priest named Lucian is said to have discovered the relics through a revelation at Caphar Gamala, identified with Beit Jimal. The relics were brought to the Church of Hagia Sion in Jerusalem on December 26, 415.

In 439 the empress Aelia Eudocia built a church in his honor north of the Damascus Gate at Jerusalem. The Orthodox Church keeps August 2 as the feast of the translation of his relics from Jerusalem to Constantinople, and September 15 as the uncovering of his relics. In the West, his relics were later translated to the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome.