Commontide
Liturgical Color: Red
The 4th Sunday in Advent
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and as we are sorely hindered by our sins from running the race that is set before us, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Advent
Because you sent your beloved Son to redeem us from sin and death, and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life; that when he shall come again in power and great glory to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
Deacon and First Martyr
Red Letter Day
The first Christian to be killed for the name of Christ, and the first to be asked to forgive it. Acts makes him one of seven men set over a quarrel about food, and never once calls him a deacon; the Church gave him that title later, and has kept his day since at least 411, the morning after Christmas. He died praying for the men throwing the stones, and one of the coats at that execution belonged to Saul of Tarsus.
Stephen appears exclusively in Acts 6–7. He was among the seven men 'full of the Spirit and of wisdom' chosen to manage the daily distribution of food to Hellenist widows, resolving a complaint of neglect (Acts 6:1–6). The apostles laid hands on him. Stephen is described as 'full of grace and power' who 'did great wonders and signs among the people' (6:8).
Stephen's preaching attracted opposition from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen. Unable to withstand his wisdom, they suborned false witnesses who accused him of blasphemy against Moses and the Temple (6:9–14). Brought before the Sanhedrin, Stephen delivered a speech retracing Israel's history from Abraham through Solomon, arguing that God's presence was never confined to any building and that Israel had repeatedly rejected its prophets — as now it had rejected 'the Righteous One' (7:2–53).
The assembly 'ground their teeth at him,' but Stephen, 'full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God' (7:54–56). He was dragged out of the city and stoned. His final words — 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit' and 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them' — explicitly parallel Jesus's words from the cross. The witnesses laid their garments at the feet of 'a young man named Saul' (7:58–8:1).
Traditionally, Stephen's relics were discovered in 415 near Jerusalem by a priest named Lucian, who reported receiving their location in a dream. The discovery (inventio) was widely publicized and relics were distributed throughout the Mediterranean world, generating extensive miracle reports documented by Augustine among others.