The Courage of Stephen

Then we cry out with the army of Israel and sing victory songs as if seeing them present, marveling as if they were standing.

For every one who fights for piety is good, even if he becomes second or third to those who competed before; yet he is not worthy of such a marvel as the first. The second, being stirred by zeal for the one who preceded, was thus drawn toward diligence; but he who uses no one as a guide, yet having become a discoverer of the good, appropriately receives the vote of the first.

Great indeed is the man's readiness, therefore great is the honor; and immortal is the memory, which neither oblivion covered nor time dimmed, but generation after generation, inheriting the stories, we priests, people, children, men, and women, celebrate this feast without fail. But the history itself should also be observed, so that, having become acquainted with the facts of the matters, we might more marvel at the man.

First among those who serve according to Christ was Stephen, esteemed by grace, a vessel filled with the Spirit, confirming daily those in the household and those wandering toward the straight path. And because he had a more intense teaching, he more than the other apostles loosed the enemies and, before them, first made the devil hostile. For he sets his eyes like fire and looks fiercely at those who are more steadfast in piety. Thus the race of Alexandrians raised up a sharp-edged system against him for a stand. In any case, you have heard of the men of the city, how they are both fervent and boiling upon everything they might readily rush toward. And when the crowd saw those rushing toward him, it had almost been possible to set the present situation aside; however, he found a resourceful, well-composed, and gentle word. For there is no medicine of such a kind for the healing of temper and agitation, such as a pleasant and well-fitted exhortation.

And 'tell me,' he says, 'the cause of the hatred, instead of why you stretch out your hands and are manifest as if about to strike.' When it was said that 'Since you destroy the ancestral laws and are an introducer of foreign dogmas,' the blessed one stood in the midst; for as an unskilled and impromptu orator, he was saying what he had learned from art, but what was breathed into him by the Spirit: 'Men,' he says, 'brothers and fathers.'

Listen. The introduction is wise, an excellent thing for the people being warmed by it, the beginning of the oration. For the sweetness and the appropriateness of the words, as if participating in some honey or soft oil, diminished the heat of the beasts. Then he rises in memory toward Abraham, so that having begun from ancient times and stretching out a long discourse in much of the middle, he might not be found to have spent his spirit being exhausted. And having worked out that much speech, he shows that even Moses prophesied Christ, so that through the reliability of the lawgiver, skillfully, like a thief, he might introduce the word of faith. And he has said all things knowing, all that was useful for the benefit of those listening.

But when he saw the evil to be unprovable and the opinion unyielding, then he was filled with boldness and, forbidding all the flattering art toward the life here, he unhesitatingly reproved them: stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart, fighting against the law, warring against the Spirit. And what things from here? Many dogs and fattened bulls stood around him as a Master, as the psalmody says, surrounding the righteous man (Psalm 22:2). But he stood alone, surrounded on every side by the people of the murderers. And no one was near at that hour, no friend, no householder, no relative. For it is as if one offers a consolation to those in danger by seeing someone known nearby.

But the high champion of the great struggle, having seen the need for a man to stand by, for he was very brave, shows that he suffered all human things unceasingly; as it seems to him, gazing intently toward heaven (Acts 7:55), he shows also the Son standing at the right hand in the form of humanity (Acts 7:56). O, the philanthropy! O, the goodness! To the athlete, those for which he struggled appeared, and the God of all things did not leave such a voice to him alone. Do not suffer anything ungentle, O Stephen; you have no human ally, no friend stood by you in the time of terrors, but I, with the Beloved, watch over the things being done. Rest is ready, the gates of paradise having been opened. Having endured a little, leave behind a brief life and hasten toward the life which is eternal and perfect. Still finding yourself in the flesh, you see God, a thing of all the world.