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.

The biblical narrative

The Act of the Apostles, chapter 7

The deacon Stephen is accused of planning to destroy the Temple and the Law of Moses. In front of the tribunal, he goes back over the history of the people of Israel since Abraham and concludes:

“Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? and they have slain those who shewed before the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers”

These words put them in a rage which grows when Stephen tells them he has seen “the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”…

Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,

And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit…

And Saul was consenting to his death. (The Acts of the Apostles 7:52-59 + 8:1)

Comment

Stephen is not killed for his act but for his faith in Jesus Christ; he a martyr or witness.

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