In sanctum Stephanum protomartyrem

On Saint Stephen the Protomartyr. 1. Let us crown Stephen with the flowers of encomia and sprinkle him with the roses of praises; for he has already crowned himself with the contests of faith. For it lay in the writings: "Do not fear those who kill the body," but the connection with the body introduced difficulty. When this young man resolved to undergo the victories of martyrdom, every difficulty was driven away; cowardice and fear learned to be idle. For he feared neither the madness of high priests, nor did he shrink from the boldness of priests, nor did the words of elders terrify him, nor did the threat of scribes disturb him, nor did the words of false accusers hinder his zeal, but with a noble spirit he hastened to the struggles for Christ. Who among mortals, then, can bring worthy praises to the contestant? What human being can weave a eulogy commensurate with his conduct? What tongue will be able to recount the glories of the champion? What mouth will open for the praise of Stephen's struggles? What lips will suffice to tell of the brave deeds of the protomartyr? For he wrestled on earth and contemplated things in heaven; he was present in life and traversed things in the highest; he conversed with mortals and was arrayed with immortals; he fought against men and danced with angels. Let every age, therefore, have steadfastness; for Stephen wrestled, and the originator of evil fell. Let even the one contending in old age, therefore, have steadfastness.

And the one who succeeds in old age receives crowns, and the young man who contends is crowned, and the youth who wrestles obtains prizes, and children who struggle receive crowns, and women who array themselves in battle are crowned with glory, and virgins who wrestle obtain victories. Therefore, since martyrdom has opened its gates, let every age now run to martyrdom. For Stephen was the first to resist the tyrant, the first to accept victories against him, the first to begin those glorious contests, the first to undergo the sufferings of Christ for Christ's sake; he showed mortals how death is mocked; he demonstrated to men how death will be laughter; he made known to those in life the heavenly ascents. For Stephen, full of grace and power, performed signs and wonders among the people. The grace of the Spirit advanced Stephen to greater progress; for the immensity of his faith guaranteed its steadfastness. For having been appointed a deacon, he was revealed a martyr; having been placed in the service of widows, he advanced to the grace of miracles; he was appointed a deacon of tables, and he was revealed a worker of wonders. And Stephen, full of faith and power. Let Stephen, he says, have the crown of victory in his name; Stephen, who made known to the world an unstudied war, who revealed to the world an untaught battle. Nature had no custom of this, and Stephen alone arrayed himself against an incorporeal army.

Faith accomplished the contests for him; hope after the end urged him to wrestle. A crown full of faith and power. Stephen, who showed the originator of evil captive, who raised trophies against him by noble choice, who made demons mourn and men dance. Stephen, the first trophy-bearer of the martyrs, the general of those who contend for Christ. For whoever begins to wrestle for Christ finds Stephen as teacher; whoever touches the contests of martyrdom imitates Stephen. Stephen, the first-fruits of those contending for Christ, the foundation of those dying for him. Stephen, full of faith and power. The soldier of Christ was fortified on all sides, the pious commander was armored on both sides. Full of faith and power. These sufficed for victory, these prevailed to provide the trophy. For faith and power both conquered the originator of evil and astounded the Jews. Full of faith and power, he performed great signs and wonders among the people. The champion displayed multitudes of wonders, the soldier of Christ worked a multitude of marvels. He performed signs and wonders among the people, granting running to the lame and sending health to the paralyzed, in order to provoke the high priests to envy. Thus he desired to taste death for Christ. Then he summons against himself a five-city gathering of the most impious men. For some from the synagogue called the Libertines, and the Cyrenians, and the Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia rose up, disputing with Stephen. Oh, what a crowd evil gathered!

Oh, how great a multitude envy has overthrown! Freedmen, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia. An infinite crowd, it is said, arrayed itself against a single soldier; measureless multitudes rushed against a single champion; men from five cities ran down upon one young man. Oh, the incurable wickedness of the Jews! From the very sight they wished to terrify the champion, so that by the excess of the multitude his sinews might be loosened. Then the utterly wicked ones also impose order on the battle, and weave arguments for Stephen in the preliminaries. For some, it is said, rose up from the synagogue called that of the Freedmen, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. What, they say, O young man, do you thoughtlessly insult the Divine? Why do you persuade the crowd with studied words? Why do you scatter the nation by the deception of wonders? Here is the conclusion of the questions: Is the one born of Mary God? Is the son of the carpenter the Creator? Is not Bethlehem his village, and Nazareth his nurse? Do you imagine as God the one born on earth? God, who for cheapness was swaddled in the manger? Who fled from the enraged Herod? Who received the Jordan as a bath for cleansing? Who was a slave to hunger and thirst? Who perceived toil and sleep, who was seized and was not strong enough to escape? Who was slapped and did not avenge himself? Who was hung up and was not strong enough to come down? Who found a cursed and insulting end? Do you imagine the one placed in a tomb to be in the heavens? Do you proclaim the one similar to mortals to be the life of the dead? Did God then deign to suffer these things? Did he not command, and did he not strike down those who attacked?

Did he not suddenly bring death upon him, not as a command? Either cease from your error, or accept the same death as his. 2. They were saying such things, debating with Stephen. Then Stephen said: Are not the writings of the prophets preserved among you? Do you not unroll the books of the Old Testament? Were you not saying to one another, "We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man comes from; we are disciples of Moses"? Did not Moses say, "The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers like me; you will listen to him"? Did not Micah foretell from afar: "And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah; for from you will come forth a ruler"? Did not Isaiah announce the birth of the unwedded one: "Behold, the virgin will conceive"? Did not Habakkuk foretell the presence of the animals in the manger: "You will be known between two animals"? Did not Isaiah speak of the flight into Egypt because of Herod: "Behold, the Lord comes on a light cloud into Egypt"? Did not David foretell the flight of the waters of the Jordan: "The waters saw you, O God; the waters saw you and were afraid"? Did not Isaiah foretell the outcome of the labors and toils: "He took our sins upon himself and bore our diseases"? Did not the prophet David foretell the force of the nails: "They dug into my hands and my feet"? Did not Moses proclaim the hanging on the wood: "You will see your life"?

hanging on a tree? Did not Jacob prefigure the burial in a tomb: "He lay down and slept like a lion"? Did not David proclaim the resurrection beforehand: "Arise, O God, judge the earth"? Did not the same one foretell the ascension: "God ascended with a shout"? Either show, then, the fulfillment in some other of the prophecies, or worship the crucified one as God. For you, O foolish ones, not knowing the prophecy of Moses, thought you were crucifying a mere man; but one from among you, or rather against you, the vessel of election, Paul, cries out: "For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." Concerning him, the chief of the apostles, refuting you, said: "But you denied the holy and righteous one, and asked that a murderer be granted to you, and you killed the author of life." Knowing this voice of yours from afar, Isaiah said: "Woe to those who call the bitter sweet, and the sweet bitter!" So then, as Stephen was discoursing in this way, they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. And it is well said, "to withstand." For since he said above, "Some from the synagogue rose up," here he says, "They were not able to withstand." So they were driven into silence of the tongue, all closed their own lips, they restrained the arrows of their words, they held back the bows of their utterances, they hid the spear of malice under the tongue. They were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. O the novelty of events! How well the renowned Luke writes! How he brings the promises of Christ to fulfillment!

For Christ said, "I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all who oppose you will be unable to withstand." So he speaks well: "They were unable to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke." What wisdom? Christ speaking in him. And that Christ is wisdom, let Paul come and say: "Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." And that he speaks in those who give thanks, writing elsewhere he said: "If you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, he who is not weak toward you but prevails in you." And they were unable to withstand the wisdom, that is, Christ. For who will withstand him and endure? And they were unable to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. What Spirit? The Paraclete, concerning which he said earlier: "Stephen was full of faith and power"; and again, "Being full of the Holy Spirit, gazing into heaven, he saw the glory of God." Then they suborned men saying, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God." False witness succeeded envy. They suborned men. They bought the lie with silver. "Come," they said, "O worthy men, serve our interests with yours; let your tongue serve our schemes; let your mouth serve our designs." For some avenger of the Galilean arose, a champion of that one was raised up and an antagonist. He honors a God lying in a tomb; he proclaims the Creator shut up in a tomb as the Demiurge. He imagines the one placed in a tomb to be in the heavens; he declares the one mocked by soldiers to be present with the army of heaven.

The one who was unable to avenge even himself is proclaimed judge of creation. Joseph laid this man’s body in a tomb, and this man imagines him to be at the right hand of God. The disciples denied him as an impostor, and this man says that every tongue will confess him. He was unable to come down from the cross, and this man announces his second coming from the heavens. The malefactors blasphemed him, saying he could save neither himself nor them, and this man cries out most clearly that he is the Savior of the world. Have you ever seen such audacity? Have you ever heard such words of madness and blasphemy at all? So then, support the pretense, and you will gain common renown from those of today. Then the descendants of the slanderers against Naboth used these words: “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” Against the lawgiver himself, he says, he dared to speak. He himself commanded us, saying, “Pay attention, my people, to my law,” and this man cries out that Jesus will change the customs that Moses handed down to us. He blasphemed against Moses, the one revered by the whole nation, the one who took the whole creation as his ally, the one who freed the nation from harsh slavery, the one who with a staff walled up the waters of the sea, the one who by prayer drowned the armies of the Egyptians, the one who by prayer in the night kindled a heavenly pillar, the one who procured heavenly bread not grown by farming, the one who with a staff drew forth streams from the barren rock. Against Moses. And why do I prolong the speech with “Against Moses”? And against God? Against heaven itself he hurled his arrows.

he stretched out his tongue against the Creator himself, proclaiming the dead one an anti-god of the Founder. Against Moses, and against God. They stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes; and they set upon him, seized him, and brought him to the Sanhedrin. They stirred the people to anger, and seized him; the beasts seized the sheep, and brought him to the Sanhedrin, that place filled with hypocrisy and envy; to the Sanhedrin, that place alien to truth and bereft of justice; and they brought him to the Sanhedrin, concerning which Jeremiah cried out from afar: "I did not sit in their council of vanity." And they set up false witnesses saying: "This man does not cease speaking blasphemous words against the holy place and the law." The temple, they say, he did not blush to insult this place, where the divine words are read, where the writings of the prophets are trumpeted, where the tablets and the heavenly manna are, where the ark and the rod of Aaron are, where the gray hair of the high priests, the dignity of the elders, and the honor of the scribes are; but he considers the place a plaything, he declares the temple worthless. And not only did he dare to speak against the place, but also against the law. He imagines the law to be a shadow; he proclaims the Old Testament without reserve to be a type; he says the Galilean is greater than Moses, he proclaims the one from Mary stronger than the lawgiver; he did not blush at the dignity of the elders, he did not shrink from the multitudes of the scribes, but he blasphemed against the place and the law.

3. And learn the proof of his words. For we have heard him saying that Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us. He threatens us with a dead Master, he proclaims to us a deceased Lord. Jesus the Nazorean will rise and destroy this place. This young man, he says, was deluded; he was ignorant of the delight of the renowned temple; the labors accomplished in it escaped him. Solomon’s wisdom designed this house; the wise man had the grace from above as his ally; he endured many struggles in the construction of the work: eighty thousand quarried in the mountain, seventy thousand cut the timber, thirty thousand transported the stone, three thousand six hundred supervised the work; he extended a generous hand to the sanctuary, and in forty-six years he barely managed to complete the work. And this man says that Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place, and not only this, but also that he will change the customs which Moses handed down to us. He says that the all-holy Sabbath will be abolished by him; he declared that the lawful circumcision will be overturned by the Nazorean; he says that our new moons are written off as worthless; he proclaims that the delight of the Feast of Tabernacles will not be succeeded by the one from Mary; he imagines that our sacrifices are unacceptable to God; he declares that the sprinklings and the customary purifications will be overturned by the dead man. Who, then, does not know the end of the Nazorean? And when can a mortal defend himself against the living?

Isaiah was sawn in two, and nowhere is the one who exacts justice; Jeremiah was strangled, and could not avenge himself; Naboth was stoned to death, and nowhere is his avenger; Zechariah was slain, and we remain unpunished to this day; and for the Nazorean, though dead, this man stands as a champion. He threatens us with a dead man as a judge; he proclaims as a judge one who lies in a tomb, being deceived. Then, while these men accuse so falsely, all those seated in the council, having fixed their gaze upon him, having sent a grim look against him, having hurled brows swollen with anger against him, wishing to terrify the contender by their very appearance, fulfill in their wickedness the prophetic saying: The sinner beholds the righteous man and seeks to put him to death. All, having fixed their gaze upon him, saw his face as the face of an angel. For the joy concerning the martyrdom, leaping forth before the countenance, flashed angelic graces around the young man. And why the face of an angel? So that the word of Christ might be fulfilled, which he spoke: In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in the heavens. Thus Moses and Elijah shone on the mountain when they conversed with Jesus, so that the disciples, seeing them, fell on their faces; thus all the righteous shall shine in the kingdom of the Father. They saw his face as the face of an angel. And the high priest said, "If indeed these things are so?" O words full of hypocrisy! O phrases adorned with cunning and envy! "If indeed these things are so? Did you dare, O man, to insult the lawgiver Moses?

If then you have waged war against God, an enemy of God? If you have spoken shamelessly against the all-holy place? If you have imagined that the law given by God is invalid? If you have thought that the Nazarene would alter the laws of Moses? You have become the author of great evils for yourself. Then to these things the protomartyr says: "Men, brothers and fathers, listen." Let each age, he says, have the honor befitting it. "Men, brothers and fathers, listen. Listen," I do not say, "Be persuaded," for I know the faithlessness of your mind, but "Listen." The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham in Mesopotamia. Not in Jerusalem, not in the renowned temple, but in Mesopotamia, where the place was full of idols, where the fatherland was choked with atheists; in Mesopotamia, where reverence was offered to carved images, where the all-holy name was set upon wood and stone, there he appeared to him. For he knew that a rose grows among thorns, and that noble wheat springs up amid tares; just as the much-suffering Job appeared in the godless land of Ausitis as a rose among thorns, and as a lily among thistles, and as a light in the darkness of ignorance he shone with virtues, and as a tower in destruction he was visible to all the higher powers, increasing his achievements from earth to heaven, sending forth the fruits of righteousness from depth to height; whence God, having smelled the fruit, as also that of Noah after the flood (for the Lord smelled the fragrance of good odor), bore witness to his own servant: "Behold, a righteous man, true, god-fearing, abstaining from every evil, fulfilling the requirements of the law before the law.

For he, possessing the innate law, had no need of the written one; for all his works were known to God from eternity. Then he says to Abraham: "Depart from your land, and from your kindred, and come to a land which I will show you. Depart from your land." What, he says, does a polytheistic region contain the father of the nations? Does an idol-filled homeland contain the forefather of the nation? "Depart from your land, and from your kindred." The commands given to the patriarch are harsh, as among men. "Leave behind," he says, "your fatherland, abandon your entire race, renounce the land in which you were born, separate yourself from your father and mother." But none of these things moved the patriarch; he did not reason with himself, as a mortal might, "The one who appeared promises me unclear things; he offers uncertain pledges. Shall I then abandon what is in my hands and pursue the invisible? Shall I let go of what is at my feet and yearn for the unseen?" But none of these things did the father of the nations consider; but he was commanded, and he agreed to the separation; he received instructions, and he longed to seek the unseen. For faith kindled this desire in him. For having fully understood the promises, he was all the more eager for the departure from his homeland. For "depart," he says, "from your land. From your loins I am about to be born, from you according to the flesh. I promise you nothing; for it is enough for you alone to be called my father. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.

Then, having recounted the events concerning Abraham—that he obeyed the voice of God when called, that he foretold the enslavement of his offspring, and that they would serve four hundred years in Egypt, and that they would be delivered from hardship by the right hand of God, and that he gave him the covenant of circumcision—he next speaks of the extraordinary birth of Isaac, and that he circumcised him on the eighth day, as he was commanded. He further recounts the generation of Jacob from Isaac, and that Jacob became the father of twelve patriarchs. He also tells of the jealousy of Joseph's kinsmen, and his sale by his brothers into Egypt, and that he found favor and wisdom with the king of Egypt, and that after his servitude he became master and wise. He also says that a famine arose over the whole world, so to speak, and that Canaan, due to scarcity of food, gave up his own dearest ones, and that Joseph revealed himself in glory to his own kinsmen, and that Joseph summoned the patriarch Jacob to Egypt, and that Jacob went there with seventy-five souls, and that Israel multiplied beyond measure in Egypt, and that another king arose, ignorant of Joseph, and that by cunning he oppressed the nation of Israel, and that he exposed the male infants to the Nile River.

He also recounts the birth of Moses the lawgiver, and that he was cast into a chest by his parents, and that the daughter of Pharaoh the king took him up, and that he was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and that he proved powerful in words and deeds, and that after the fortieth year he went up to review the nation, and that he saw an Israelite being wronged and defended him against the Egyptian, and that he counseled the warring Israelites to make peace, and that he was insulted by a fellow tribesman as having committed murder, and that he fled to the land of Midian for this reason, and that there he became the father of two sons, and that an angel appeared to him on Mount Sinai, and that he saw the invincible friendship of fire and bush, and that he heard a divine voice from heaven, and that he was trembling, not daring to contemplate the wonder, and that he was ordered to untie the sandal from his own feet, and that he heard the place where he stood called holy ground, and that he led the people out of Egypt with signs, and that he led Israel through the Red Sea as through dry land. He also recounts on the mountain the lawless idolatry, that the travelers of the sea likened the Divine to a calf, that they dedicated the victories over the Egyptians to the idol. He also tells them of the captivity of the nation in Babylon, and of David's good standing with God, that he found favor before God, and was declared father of Christ. He also recounts the house built by Solomon, and that God does not dwell in places made by human hands.

Having thus gone through the histories of the fathers, taking the Holy Spirit as his ally, he then begins his reproaches against them, and says: "Stiff-necked, unbending and untamable; for what pain bent your neck? What necessity inclined your head? Did you not serve Pharaoh in Egypt for four hundred years? Did not Chusarsath, king of Syria, take you captive in the eighth year? Were you not under the kingdom of the Moabites for eighteen years? Were you not enslaved again by the Canaanites for twenty years? Did you not again submit to the Midianites for the seventh year? Were you not again ruled by the Ammonites for eighteen years? Did you not yield to the Philistines for forty years? Did you not serve the Babylonians for seventy years? Did not Shalmaneser transplant you into the mountains of the Chaldeans? And nowhere does necessity change your minds? Stiff-necked, whom the basket of Egypt did not tame, whom the burden of the straw did not soften, whom the force of brick-making did not bend." Then, having heard these words, they cast him out of the city and stoned him. Where they crucified the king, there they also pelt the soldier with stones. And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. But even after the throwing of stones, the contestant received victories, and he used such a voice to the Creator: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord Jesus, who by the will of the Father underwent passion, who by the counsel of the parent endured death, receive my spirit.

Separate now the soul from the body, remove the incorporeal, receive my spirit crowned with every virtue, receive my spirit. For I have completed the course, I have kept the faith; therefore I ask, receive my spirit. For as long as I am clothed in this perishable body, I am timid; as long as I wear this earthly flesh, I fear lest after my labors I lose the labors; I am dizzy, lest after the struggle I remain uncrowned, lest after the contests I lose the prizes. Receive then my spirit. Then the devil will mourn, as one who has lost the victory; the author of evil will lament, as one who has not prevailed against a mortal; the incorporeal ones shall wail, because those in the body laugh at the passions. Receive my spirit. And having bent his knees, he cried out with a loud voice: Lord, do not set this sin against them. And that you may learn that he prays with earnestness, not simply prays, standing and nodding, but having bent his knees, he spoke with compunction, with great compassion: Lord, do not set this sin against them. And having said this, he fell asleep. For sleep to the righteous is death, rest to the wise is death. For this reason death is sleep, so that, as if awakened from some stupor at the resurrection, they may enjoy the eternal goods; may it be granted to all of us to partake of these, by the grace and intercession of Christ, through whom glory to the Father in the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, as from the beginning, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.