Dear Brothers and Sisters of Christ Jesus
Today we remember the martyrdom of St. Stephen. He was the first of the believers of Jesus Christ to be martyred for His name. His life and death are a constant reminder to the followers of Jesus on how to live a true Christian life.
Life of St. Stephen
Stephen's name is derived from the Greek language Stephanos, meaning "crown". In the words of Asterias, St. Stephen was "the starting point of the martyrs, the instructore of suffering for Christ, the foundation of righteous confession, since Stephen was the first to shed his blood for the Gospel."
Stephen was a Jew and is believed to have been the student of the renowned rabbinical tutor Gamaliel, who had been the mentor of the great St. Paul. We hear of Stephen in Acts of the Apostles 6:5 to 8:1. Stephen was among the seven chosen deacons of the original church of Jerusalem to help the apostles in the distribution of food and water among the widows from both the Hebrew speaking and the Greek speaking population. Stephen was the foremost among the seven because "he was a man full of faith and Holy Spirit" (Acts 6:5). Being so filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, he worked many miracles and spoke as a messenger from God. Apart from the service he did, he was well versed in the Scriptures and was a great orator and debater.
Since his acceptance of Jesus as his Savior, he was seen as a defector of the Jewish teachings. His staunch faith must have occasionally led him to take a stance which was opposing to that of the teachers of the law. His knowledge of the Jewish teachings were so true that the leaders of the Jewish faith would often find no words to contradict him. The inspired words that sprang forth from his mouth through the grace of God, so filled his heart and so heavenly that his face was illuminated with divine light. All who sat gazing at him, saw him thus clothed in shining glory like an Angel (Acts 6:15)
"Which one of the Prophets did your fathers not persecute, and they killed the ones who prophesied the coming of the Just One, of whom now, too, you have become betrayers and murderers." (Acts 7:52)
While on trial, he experience a theophany in which he saw both God the Father and God the Son:
"Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." (Acts 7:56)
In the end, he was taken to court on false charges and he was accused for blasphemy against God and Moses. He was stoned by an infuriated mob at the gates of Jerusalem, where the then Saul, and later known as Paul stood watch. This incident is then to be one of the life changing incidents of Saul's life.
Even at the point of death we see how close St. Stephen was close to Jesus that he knelt and prayed for those who stoned him to be forgiven.
"Lord. don't charge them with this sin!" (Acts 7:60)
Relics
His body was then left at the foothill of the city to be eaten by the dogs for two days. But on the second night, Gamaliel— teacher of the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Barnabas— along with his son, secretly came and took the body to his own estate, in Capharganda, to be buried.
Nicodemus, who died while weeping at this grave, was also buried there along with Gamaliel's godson Abibus and Gamaliel himself upon his repose.
After many years the memory of St. Stephen's burial place had left the minds of men, until 415 when Gamaliel appeared three times to Father Lucian, priest at Capharganda. He revealed to Fr. Lucian the place of his burial and everything about it. Fr. Lucian received the blessing of the Patriarch to exhume the saints from their grave where a strong, sweet fragrance filled the cave.
St. Stephen's relics were translated to Zion and honorably buried, and many of the sick were healed by his relics. The other three relics were placed inside a church atop the cave on a hill. Eventually, his relics were translated to Constantinople.
Today, you wil find his whole right arm at The Holy Trinity of St. Sergius Lavra, established by St. Sergius of Radonezh in 1345, at Sergiyev Posad, Russia
Prayers
Troparion (Tone 4) [Holy Tradition]
O First Martyr and Apostle Of Christ,Thou hadst fought the good fight.And didst expose the perversion of the persecutors,For when thou wast killed by stoning at the hands of wicked men,Thou didst receive a crown from the right hand on high,And didst cry out to God saying,"O Lord do not charge this sin against them!"Yesterday the Master came to us as a man,And today his servant departs from life.Yesterday the King was born as a man,And today His servant is stoned to death.For the sake of Christ Holy Stephen became the first martyr.
Kontakion (Tone 3) [Holy Tradition]
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