Acts 6

As the disciples multiply, a complaint arises: the Hellenists — Greek-speaking Jewish Christians — murmur against the Hebrews because their widows are being neglected in the daily distribution. The Twelve call the community together and propose a division of labour: it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Let the community choose seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. The community agrees. They choose seven, all with Greek names: Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus. The apostles pray and lay their hands on them. The word of God continues to increase, and the number of disciples multiplies greatly in Jerusalem, including a large number of priests who come to believe.

Stephen, full of grace and power, performs great wonders and signs among the people. Members of several diaspora synagogues in Jerusalem — the Freedmen, the Cyrenians, the Alexandrians, and others from Cilicia and Asia — dispute with him but cannot withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he speaks. They secretly persuade men to say: we heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. They stir up the people, the elders, and the scribes, seize Stephen, and bring him before the Sanhedrin. False witnesses testify that he never stops speaking against the holy place and the law, claiming that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses delivered to them. All who sit in the Sanhedrin look at Stephen and see his face like the face of an angel — Luke's signal that the Spirit is present in him and that what follows is to be read as a divine testimony, not merely a human defense.