Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Fri, 25 Dec 1992 23:40:54 EST
From:         JEK@NIHCU.BITNET
Subject:      Stephen, Daecon and Martyr (26 Dec)

STEPHEN, DEACON AND PROTOMARTYR     (26 DEC)

All that we know about Stephen the Protomartyr -- that is, the first
martyr of the early Christian Church -- is found in chapters 6 and 7
of the Book of Acts.

The early Christian congregations, like the Jewish synagogues, had a
program of assistance for needy widows, and some of the
Greek-speaking Jews in the Jerusalem congregation complained that
their widows were being neglected. The apostles replied: "We cannot
both preach and administer financial matters. Choose seven men from
among yourselves, respected, Spirit-filled, and of sound judgement,
and let them be in charge of the accounts, and we will devote
ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word." The people
accordingly chose seven men, including Stephen, and the apostles
laid their hands on them. They are traditionally considered to be
the first deacons, although the Scriptures do not use the word to
describe them. (A century or more later, we find the organized
charities of each local congregation in the hands of its deacons.)

Stephen was an eloquent and fiery speaker, and a provocative one.
(Some readers have speculated that some of his fellow Christians
wanted to put him in charge of alms in the hope that he would
administer more and talk less.) His blunt declarations that the
Temple service was no longer the means by which penitent sinners
should seek reconciliation with God enraged the Temple leaders, who
caused him to be stoned to death. As he died, he said, "Lord, do not
hold this sin against them." One of those who saw the stoning and
approved of it was Saul (or Paul) of Tarsus, who took an active part
in the general persecution of Christians that followed the death of
Stephen, but who was later led to become a Christian himself.

We remember Stephen on December 26, the day after Christmas. Hence
the song

       Good King Wenceslas looked out
       On the feast of Stephen,

describes an action of the king on the day after Christmas Day. The
tune used with this song is older than the words and was previously
used with a hymn often sung on the feasts of Stephen and other
martyrs. It begins:

       Christian friends, your voices raise.
       Wake the day with gladness.
       God himself to joy and praise
       turns our human sadness:
       Joy that martyrs won their crown,
       opened heaven's bright portal,
       when they laid the mortal down
       for the life immortal.

PRAYER (traditional language)
   We give thee thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the
   first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for
   his persecutors to thy Son Jesus Christ, who standeth at thy
   right hand:  where he liveth and reigneth with thee and the
   Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.

PRAYER (contemporary language)
   We give you thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the
   first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for
   his persecutors to your Son Jesus Christ, who stands at your
   right hand:  where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy
   Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.
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