Post-feast of the Nativity of Christ; the Holy Apostle, First Martyr and Archdeacon Stephen; Our Venerable Father and Confessor Theodore the Branded One (844)
No fasting or abstention from foods
Read
Acts 6:8-7:5,47-60; Matthew 21:33-42
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
Stephen was given the grace to be the first martyr. This is unique. One would think his intimate friends would be the first to go. This shows how quickly the passion for the Good news about Jesus spread amongst its early followers. The newly converted were ready to die.
Stephen’s story strikes at the heart of the difference of Christian martyrdom. It is not a death for the sake of a cause, but for the sake of Christ. Christian martyrs get this unique opportunity to mimic the sacrificial death of Christ, precisely because their persecutors see Christ in them, just like the Gospel story.
The only way to reflect the son is knowledge of him. Stephen shows an exquisite example of this in his interpretation of the scriptures. He is someone who has learned the way of seeing Jesus in the scriptures as Christ himself explained to the followers of Emmaus: “all the scriptures referred to him.”
In Stephen’s case, reading everything in the scriptures in the light of Christ convicts him to live his life in the light of Christ. Notice in his martyrdom: as his flesh was being ripped open by stoning, he saw something more beautiful: the sky ripped open and seeing the heavenly vision of Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father.