Stephen
Unerstand the scene
WHAT YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PICTURE
A man prays on his knees while other men throw stones at him. Stephen is lapidated by the opponents of the first Christians.
The picture is composed of two parts; on the left, Stephen appears before a judge; on the right Stephen is stoned.
Stephen is a young man; he wears a clerical dress and he has a tonsure.
He is surrounded by men who are few here; they cast stones at him; it is a mode of punishment provided for blasphemies and Stephen has just been condemned to death by the Jewish tribunal of the Sanhedrin.
The character on the left who watches without casting stones is Saul, the future apostle Paul.
... AND IN OTHER PICTURES
Stephen is a deacon; that is to say he is in charge of the management of the goods of the budding Christian community and, in particular, the care of the poor.
But as deaconate, centuries later, became a degree in the clergy, just before priesthood, the deacon wears a specific liturgical garment called a dalmatic; that is why Stephen is often portrayed in this costume with his head tonsured. But he may also have been stripped of his clothes that have been put in a corner or shared like those of Christ on Calvary.
Stephen looks at the heaven where one can often see the Trinity, Jesus Christ, God the Father and the dove of the Holy Ghost, ready to welcome him.
Those who stone him are often clad as soldiers. In a corner, a man watches the scene; he is young or bald with a beard, Saul’s characteristic feature, the future Paul of Tarsus. He is then quite opposed to Christians and takes part to this first persecution of 34 AD.
