Saint Stephen, the first Martryr.pptx

Deacon, First martyr of the early church,

1. Saint Stephen, the first martyr.

2. Stéphanos – Greek Στέφανος , meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c . 5 – c. 34 AD

3. In the early church dissatisfaction concerning the distribution of  alms  from the community's fund arose. Seven men were selected including Stephen and were ordained deacons by the  Apostles  to take care of the temporal relief of the poor.

4. According to Orthodox belief, he was the eldest and is therefore called " archdeacon ”

5. As another deacon, Nicholas of Antioch, is specifically stated to have been a convert to Judaism, it may be assumed that Stephen was born Jewish, but nothing more is known about his previous life.

6. Since the name "Stephanos" is Greek, it has been assumed that he was one of these Hellenistic Jews.

7. It seems to have been among synagogues of Hellenistic Jews that he performed his teachings and "signs and wonders" since it is said that he aroused the opposition of the "Synagogue of the Freedmen", and "of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia".[Acts 6:9 ]

8. Stephen is stated to have been full of faith and the Holy Spirit and to have performed miracles among the people.[Acts 6:5, 8]

9. Members of these synagogues had challenged Stephen's teachings, but Stephen had bested them in debate. Furious at this humiliation, they suborned false testimony that Stephen had preached blasphemy against Moses and God. They dragged him to appear before the Sanhedrin, the supreme legal court of Jewish elders, accusing him of preaching against the Temple and the Mosaic Law.[Acts 6:9–14] Stephen is said to have been unperturbed, his face looking like "that of an angel"

10. In a long speech to the Sanhedrin comprising almost the whole of Acts chapter 7, Stephen presents his view of the history of Israel. The God of glory, he says, appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, thus establishing at the beginning of the speech one of its major themes, that God does not dwell only in one particular building (meaning the Temple ).

11. The criticism of traditional Jewish belief and practice in Stephen's speech is very strong – when he says God does not live in a dwelling "made by human hands", referring to the Temple, he is using an expression often employed by Biblical texts to describe idols

12. God appeared to Moses in the burning bush,[Acts 7:30–32] and inspired Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. Nevertheless, the Israelites turned to other gods.[Acts 7:39–43] This establishes the second main theme of Stephen's speech, Israel's disobedience to God .

13. Stephen faced two accusations: 1 - that he had declared that Jesus would destroy the Temple in Jerusalem 2 - that he had changed the customs of Moses .

14. Stephen denounces his listeners as "stiff-necked" people who, just as their ancestors had done, resist the Holy Spirit

15. " Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute ? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One . And now you have betrayed and murdered him .“ [ Acts 7:51–53]

16. Stephen looked up and cried, "Look! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!" He said that the recently resurrected Jesus was standing by the side of God .[Acts 7:54 ]

17. The people from the crowd, who threw the first stones,laid their coats down, at the feet of a "young man named Saul (Paul the Apostle).

18. Stephen prayed that the Lord would receive his spirit and his killers be forgiven, sank to his knees, and "fell asleep".[Acts 7:58–60] Saul "approved of their killing him."[Acts 8:1]

19. After Stephen's death, the remaining disciples except for the apostles fled to distant lands, many to Antioch . [ Acts 11:19–20 )

20. There are numerous parallels between the accounts of Stephen in Acts and the Jesus of the Gospels 1 – they both perform miracles, - 2 - they are both tried by the Sanhedrin, 3 - Our Blessed Lord was sentenced to death on the charge of blasphemy, because He had affirmed on oath: “I am the Son of the living God, and hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God.” In the same manner Stephen was stoned on the assumption that he was a blasphemer, and because he professed his belief in the Divinity of Jesus, and said: “I see heaven open, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

21.  4 - Both our Blessed Lord and St. Stephen were treated as outcasts, and put to death outside the city.  5 . Both, when dying, prayed for their enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” — “Lay not this sin to their charge.”  6 - Both, before dying, commended their souls to God: “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” — “Lord Jesus, receive my soul!”

22. The exact site of Stephen's stoning is not mentioned in Acts; instead there are two different traditions. One, claimed by noted French archaeologists Louis-Hugues Vincent (1872–1960) and Félix-Marie Abel (1878–1953) to be ancient, places the event at Jerusalem's northern gate,

23. another theory, dated by Vincent and Abel to the Middle Ages and no earlier than the 12th century, locates it at the eastern gate (Lion’s Gate)

24. In the Greek Orthodox church in front of Gethsemane, under the Lions’ Gate , there is a chapel whose rock floor is the same one on which St. Stephen’s body lay after being stoned

25. In 415, a priest named Lucian purportedly had a dream that revealed the location of Stephen's remains at Beit Jimal. Beit Jimal Lucian’s Vision of Gamaliel

26. Beit Jimal

27. the relics of the protomartyr were taken in procession to the Church of Hagia Sion on 26 December 415, making it the date for the feast of Saint Stephen.

28. In 439, the relics were translated to a new church north of the Damascus Gate built by the empress Aelia Eudocia in honor of Saint Stephen. This church was destroyed in the 12th century. A 20th-century French Catholic church, Saint-Étienne, was built in its place,

29. According to another tradition, the Greek Orthodox Church of St Stephen, built outside the eastern gate of the city marks the site of his death

30. The relics of the protomartyr were later translated to Rome by Pope Pelagius II during the construction of the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura. They were interred alongside the relics of Saint Lawrence, whose tomb is enshrined within the church

31. In his book “The City of God”, Augustine of Hippo describes the many miracles that occurred when part of the relics of Saint Stephen were brought to Africa

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