St._Stephen

Martyr When talking about martyr’s the saint that comes to my mind is St. Stephen but not only because I have the same name. The name Stephen is a Greek name stemming from the name Stephanos. The name Stephen itself means “crown”. Stephen is said to be a Hellenist Jew meaning he was a Jew born in far land and native language was Greek. Stephen is not only the first Christian martyr but one of the first deacons of the church. When talk of the appointment of the first deacons is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles Stephen is the first mentioned in the acts as well as the most common deacon talked about. The apostles decided to appoint seven deacons to help take care of the poor and widows. After St. Stephen was ordained a deacon he began to preach to the Hellenist converts because the apostles did not know much about these people. It is said by the church appointing Stephen a deacon they thought of him as a man of a great reputation and full of the Holy Spirit. St. Stephen began preaching and became one of the best. He was said to speak with such grace and wisdom that the people who listened to Stephen preach immediately became followers if they were not already. However his influential preaching was soon to make him enemies. When a certain group of peoples challenged Stephen to a dispute he agreed. The group of people could not put up an argument against Stephen. These people immediately began to hate Stephen and hired false witnesses to testify that Stephen spoke blasphemies of God and Moses. Stephen was soon arrested and taken before the Sanhedrin where they accused him of saying that Jesus will destroy this place and challenge all of what Moses has taught you. His answer to the accusations was a long speech of God’s mercies on Israel. During all of these accusations it is said that Stephen sat before the Sanhedrin with the look on his face as if he were an angel. The Jewish people in the audience did not take what Stephen had said lightly. The audience was not made of judges but of other people. Stephen then began to say that the sky’s are opening and he can see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Lord. After these statements the people ran at Stephen and drug him out to the city to stone him until he died. When he dropped to his knees he was to have said “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”. The witnesses there are believed to have laid down the garments at the feet of Saul so they would be ready if the task had come to them. As Stephen was being stoned it is believed he had yelled the words “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Little did these murderers know that Stephen just started a great leap of faith that many Saints would soon follow. The bodies of all people stoned to death Christian or Jewish were taken and buried at the Sanhedrin. Throughout the past 14 years of going to catholic school I have read about many saints. However the saint that always came to mind as being a role model for all saints was always Saint Stephen. He is not just my favorite saint or martyr because I share the same name has him but for what he did for the catholic church. The definition of a martyr is dying for a certain belief however being the first person to die for a certain belief I feel is a lot more meaningful then anything else. Before St. Stephen no one had died for their beliefs in Jesus Christ. Stephen did not have a role model of any sort to look up to besides Jesus Christ himself who died for their beliefs. Being the first to step up and forgive his murderers for what they do and asking God not to charge them with their wrong doings. In today’s world it is more often then not that people always wait for a certain purpose to step up and take the leadership role over a certain thing. However Stephen paid the ultimate sacrifice which was his life for preaching to people about Jesus Christ. He was believed to have spoken with great wisdom and grace and that is one reason why he is my favorite martyr. He had a great influence on many people’s lives by help make their decision to convert to Christianity. It is said that God had worked many miracles through Stephen. The more I think of St. Stephens’s life I do not see how he is not everyone’s favorite martyr, he was first. I feel he should be honored greater for his sacrifice and spoke of more often. The day we honor is St. Stephen is day after the birth of Jesus Christ, December 26th.