Saint Stephen

Samarian theologian

• Born: c. 5 c.e.
• Birthplace: Samaria (now in Palestine)
• Died: c. 36 c.e.
• Place of death: Jerusalem (now in Israel)

By means of his innovative theology, his courage, and his martyrdom, Stephen helped to universalize the early Christian Church by encouraging its expansion beyond the doctrinal confines of Judaism and the political confines of Jerusalem.

Early Life

All that is known of the life and thought of Saint Stephen (STEE-vehn) is derived from chapters 6 and 7 of Saint Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. The former chapter tells of Stephen’s rise to prominence in the early Christian Church, his election to the protodiaconate (the earliest board of deacons), his theological disputations with the Jews, and his arrest on trumped-up charges of heresy. The latter chapter relates his impassioned and provocative defense before the Sanhedrin, a group of Jewish leaders who became so enraged at his ideas that they stopped his defense short and dragged him away for execution. His death at their hands made Stephen the first in a long line of Christian martyrs.

From his Greek name and the ecclesiastical task to which he was elected, on one hand, and from his idiosyncratic theological beliefs, on the other, scholars believe that Stephen was both a Hellenist and a Samaritan prior to his conversion to Christianity. A Hellenist was not only a Greek-speaking Jew but also one who was influenced by Greek (Hellenic) culture and open to Greek ideas. That is, Hellenists had a broader outlook and a more liberal education than did those Jews whose persuasion and practice were more separatistic. That Stephen was a Hellenist is deduced from the fact that his parents gave him a Greek name (Stephanos—the other deacons also had Greek names) and that the segment of Christian people he was elected to serve were Hellenists themselves.

The Samaritans, those who came from Samaria (in central Palestine, between Judaea and Galilee), were known for their unorthodox religious beliefs: Though they were Jews, they deplored the temple worship conducted at Jerusalem. They opted instead for worshiping at Mount Gerizim in Samaria. Besides an intense messianism, they also had their own version of the five books of Moses, a version known as the Samaritan Pentateuch, which, though it is largely the same as the standard Pentateuch, differs in a few significant ways. Stephen’s recorded defense not only contains a Samaritan-like attack on the Temple and a presentation of Jesus as Messiah; it also contains allusions to numbers and events found only in the Samaritan Pentateuch. This remarkable fact underscores not only his Samaritanism but also the historical reliability of Saint Luke’s account, which in all other places employs a different version of the Old Testament Scriptures. Thus, Stephen appears to have been a Hellenist and a Samaritan.

Because no record of Stephen’s conversion to Christianity has been preserved, scholars are unable to date it precisely or to identify its causes. A late and unreliable ecclesiastical tradition, however, numbers Stephen among the seventy evangelists sent out by Jesus.

Life’s Work

According to the second chapter of Acts, the early Church experienced periods of remarkable growth. On the day of Pentecost alone, for example, approximately three thousand people were converted to the faith. As time passed, the Church’s numbers continued to swell. While desirable, this growth brought with it some knotty organizational problems, among them the problem of how the small band of twelve Apostles could oversee the distribution of the Church’s extensive program of charitable outreach while still devoting sufficient time and energy to teaching and preaching the Christian message, a task they considered their supreme assignment.

Especially needy among the early converts were the Hellenistic widows. Financially, they were in a precarious position. With no husbands as breadwinners and faced with a language barrier that seems to have prevented them from making their needs known to the Church, they faced severe difficulties. In an effort, therefore, to free the Apostles for teaching and preaching, and in order to relieve the Hellenistic widows’ distress, the Church appointed “seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom,” among whom Stephen, as the subsequent biblical narrative shows, was most prominent.

From Luke’s account, it is clear that Stephen did not restrict himself to the duties attached to the care of the poor. Stephen was an impressive theological debater, one who carried his Christian message into the Hellenistic synagogues in and around Jerusalem, one whom his opponents found difficult to gainsay.

Added to his Hellenism and his Samaritanism, his Christianity aroused the ire of the established Jewish leaders. His theological adversaries, bested in argument and distressed at what they deemed his unconscionable heresies, resorted to arousing opposition to him by distorting his teachings. They raised charges against him that they not only exaggerated but also corroborated with what Luke calls “false witnesses.” By prearrangement, these false witnesses testified before the Sanhedrin to Stephen’s “heresies.” He was accused (like Jesus before him) of advocating the destruction of the Temple and of the overthrow of the Jewish law. The former idea they extrapolated from his Samaritanism and the latter from his Christianity. That is, like the Samaritans, he opposed worship in the Jerusalem Temple, and like Saint Paul after him (who now, as Saul, was in charge of the proceedings against Stephen), he was opposed to trying to achieve salvation through observance of the Jewish ceremonial laws.

Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin was not so much a defense of himself as a defense of the early Christian message and a counterattack against his accusers and judges. He spoke against the Temple and the system of sacrifices followed there by maintaining that, because God was not confined to buildings made by human hands, the true worship of God was not a temple-based function. Furthermore, by condemning Jesus to death, Stephen asserted, the Jews of his day had merely acted in accord with the spiritual failures of their ancestors, who had also resisted the revelation of God. In his view, the will of God had been made known by means of the prophets, and the prophets had been killed by their own people. The fate of the Messiah, whose coming the prophets had predicted, was no different: He, too, suffered at the hands of his own people. Thus, Stephen’s defense chastised the Jews for what he believed to be their spiritual intransigence and wickedness. They did not grow closer to God or obey him, even though they had the spiritual light to do so.

Quite predictably, such a speech served only to enrage his judges. In the midst of the ensuing turmoil, the council bypassed the normal procedures for passing a sentence. As they began to converge on him, Stephen offended his opponents even more by declaring that he saw, at that very moment, the heavens opened up and Christ, as if to welcome Stephen or to assist him, standing at the right of his Father. To Stephen’s accusers, this was rank blasphemy. He was dragged unceremoniously out of the chambers to a place now known as Stephen’s Gate, where he was stoned to death. Remarkably, in the midst of this torture, he knelt to pray aloud for his executioners. This startling sight, many believe, was the catalyst behind the conversion of Saul, soon to be the Apostle Paul, perhaps the greatest theologian and missionary of the apostolic era. As Saint Augustine later wrote, “If Stephen had not prayed, the Church would not have had Paul.”

As is the case with many other notable ancient Christians, pious but unhistorical legends grew up around Saint Stephen’s memory. The apocryphal apocalypse known as “The Revelation of St. Stephen” is unquestionably false and bears no genuine connection to the first Christian martyr, either by its content or by its authorship. This book purports to be a narrative of Saint Stephen’s reappearance after his death; it was popular among Manichaean heretics and survives only in garbled segments. The discovery of Stephen’s alleged relics occurred early in the fifth century.

Significance

Saint Stephen’s not inconsiderable influence can be summarized under four important headings. First, he was the Paul before Paul. His personal conviction and courage in the face of death and his unique combination of Samaritanism and Hellenism in a dynamic system of Christian belief undoubtedly influenced the zealous Pharisee Saul of Tarsus in his pilgrimage toward a new identity as Saint Paul the Apostle. Second, Stephen’s death was the immediate impetus behind the Church’s leaving its nest in Jerusalem and spreading itself and its message, as Luke writes, from Jerusalem, to Judaea, to Samaria, and to “the uttermost parts of the earth.” Third, Stephen’s defense was the basis of an effective strategy of theological defense, one that seems to have been employed in various segments of the early Church. Fourth, Saint Stephen has served as a stimulus to piety. Christians in all ages have been strengthened by his courage and spirituality. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Saint Stephen on December 26.

Bibliography

Barnard, L. W. Studies in the Apostolic Fathers and Their Background. New York: Schocken Books, 1966. Chapter 6, “St. Stephen and Early Alexandrian Christianity,” is a technical examination of Stephen’s theology and his influence on one segment of the early Church. The extensive bibliography is of use primarily for biblical and theological specialists.

Bruce, F. F. Peter, Stephen, James, and John: Studies in Non-Pauline Christianity. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1980. Chapter 2, “Stephen and the Other Hellenists,” is a well-balanced and well-documented account of the theology of Saint Stephen, especially as it is seen in the context of Jewish Hellenism. Apart from the biblical account itself, this chapter is perhaps the best and most easily accessible introduction to the man, his life, his beliefs, and his theological tradition.

Bunson, Matthew, Margaret Bunson, Stephen Bunson, and Timothy M. Dolan. Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints. Rev. ed. Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor, 2003. Encyclopedia is arranged alphabetically by saint’s name. Most entries contain biographical information and feast day. Includes twelve appendices, glossary, calendar of feast days, and index. Illustrated.

Kilgallen, John. The Stephen Speech: A Literary and Redactional Study of Acts 7, 2-53. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1976. An extensive treatment of Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin, this book is both thorough and demanding. Though specialists will benefit from its detailed analysis (and will be able to detect its weaknesses), the beginning student will quickly be overwhelmed. Includes unannotated bibliography.

Munck, Johannes. The Acts of the Apostles. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., 1967. Appendix 5, “Stephen’s Samaritan Background,” notes thirteen reasons scholars identify him as a Samaritan. It also explains how the presence of these Samaritanisms in the Stephen account underscores Luke’s historical reliability and clarifies Luke’s use of sources.

Rufus, Anneli. Magnificent Corpses: Searching Through Europe for St. Peter’s Heart, St. Stephen’s Hand, and Other Saints’ Relics. New York: Marlowe, 1999. A charmingly grotesque guide to the saintly relics of Europe. Saint Stephen’s alleged hand was discovered in the fifth century.

Schmithals, Walter. Paul and James. Translated by Dorothea M. Barton. Naperville, Ill.: Alec R. Allenson, 1965. Chapter 1, “Stephen,” is an idiosyncratic examination, from a theologically radical point of view, of the beliefs and practices of the Jewish Hellenists. Schmithals’s bibliographical citations are quite numerous and technical, and almost all reflect a theologically liberal stance.

Watson, Alan. The Trial of Stephen: The First Christian Martyr. Macon: University of Georgia Press, 1996. This volume discusses both Jewish law and Roman law. Includes bibliography and index.