Apostleship of Prayer - - - Saints
St Stephen, Deacon and MartyrStephen, the Protomartyr, is the first martyr of the early Christian Church. All the information that we have about him is found in two chapters of the Book of Acts. The early Christian congregations developed a programme to help the widows in need and some of the Hellenistic Jews within the early Church complained that the widows in their communities were not being looked after. The apostles replied: "It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word. What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch." The people had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed over them and laid their hands on them. These seven are recognized as the first deacons in the Church.
Stephen was an eloquent and fiery preacher, and often enough a provocative one. He was blunt with all with whom he argued. Some people betrayed him to the High Priest who had him arrested. At his trial he so annoyed the High Priest and his fellow priests that they convicted him. He was then lead out to be stoned to death. One of the bystanders there was a young man called Saul who held the garments of those who were stoning StephenAs he was dying Stephen prayed, ""Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Saul pursued an active role in the searching out of Christians. These were then summarily executed. Saul encountered Christ on the way to Damascus and after that became an ardent follower of Christ. His name was changed from Saul to Paul.
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