Saint Stephen’s Martyrdom in an Ancient Manuscript | የቅዱስ እስጢፋኖስ ሰማዕትነት በጥንታዊ ጽሑፍ

😇 Archdeacon and First Martyr Saint Stephen

In the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Saint Stephen is commemorated monthly on the 17th day of every month, and the annual feast of Saint Stephen the Archdeacon is celebrated on Teqemet 17 (which is October 27th in the Gregorian calendar). He is honored as the first martyr (Protomartyr) and as the first of the seven deacons chosen after Pentecost

Dedication to the ordination of the First Martyr and Archdeacon Stephen, who was stoned to death about three years after the Ascension of the Lord.

Saint Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew and belonged to the group of the seven deacons selected by the Apostles to carry out the charity work of the first Christian community of Jerusalem.

According to the Acts of the Apostles, he was a man filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. He preached with boldness and performed many great wonders. His action caused the animosity of the Judean priesthood, for they failed to understand and accept the ecumenical dimension and the liberating content of Christ’s preaching to every human being, and especially to those who had been wronged.

The First Martyr Stephen was considered a blasphemer and a denier of Judaism, for he declared, even before the Sanhedrin (great assembly), that Moses and the Mosaic Law, as well as all the Prophets and the Righteous of the Old Testament, were not carriers of salvation, but prepared the way for the coming of the true Savior, who is Christ.

Imitating His love, and dedicating himself to Him, he forgave his murderers, begging the Triune God not to impute to them the sin they had committed.

🙏 May his intercession be with all of us, Amen!

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