ON THE FEAST OF STEPHEN…
We all know the Christmas carol about good King Wenceslaus, but we know little about St. Stephen, whose feast day is observed on December 26. Some with a modicum of religious instruction may know that he was the first “Christian martyr.” But it turns out that he was a pivotal figure in the evolution of the early Christian Church.
There were a number of sects of Jews existing around the time of Christ. The most mainstream and officially recognized by Rome was centered on the Temple in Jerusalem. But there were several groups opposed to the dominance of the Temple and the High Priest. One example was the Essenes, who withdrew to a bastion near the Dead Sea and were the source of the Dead Sea Scrolls. There were major theological and liturgical differences between the Essenes and the Temple, extending even to the determination of Jewish holidays based on different calendars.
Initially, the Jesus Movement was a reform movement within Judaism, much like the Essenes and others. They were a small group, but they grew rapidly, mainly by incorporating Jewish synagogues comprised of Jews who had not been born in Judea and were not brought up in the cult of the Temple, as the initial Apostles were. These were Hellenic Jews, speaking Greek rather than Aramaic or Hebrew, and there were a lot of them within a few years of Jesus’ death. There were so many that the initial group of Jesus’ followers could not undertake adequately the functions of the Sabbath meals (“Do this in memory of Me.”) and the distribution of alms.
It became necessary to get help, and so seven deacons were appointed to minister to the Hellenic synagogues, and one of these was Stephen. It appears that he was quite outspoken and critical of the Temple because of its obvious corruption and linkages to the Romans, and he preached openly against it, predicting its destruction. He also took issue with the Temple’s interpretations of the Law of Moses. The High Priest naturally objected to this and sent out his bounty hunter to arrest Stephen and bring him before the Sanhedrin for trial. There is every indication that this bounty hunter was Saul of Tarsus, a Hellenic Jew, later known as Saint Paul. Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin for trial. Apparently he used his trial as a pulpit to vigorously argue his case, and so infuriated the crowd that they rushed him and stoned him to death. (Note that the death sentence could not be imposed by the High Priest, only by Rome, so this was a case of murder.) Anyway, this is how Stephen became the first Christian martyr.
His real importance though is beginning the separation of Christianity from Judaism.