Augustine, Sermones 316-321 (Classis III, de Sanctis)

Sermon 316. On the feast of Stephen the martyr, 3.

Chapter One. — 1. Stephen first among the deacons. Wonders done by Stephen, but through the name of Christ. The most blessed and in Christ most glorious martyr Stephen has already fed us full with his own discourse: but after that feast I set before you from the discourse of my ministry a kind of second course. And what sweeter thing do I find to place on it than Christ and the Martyr himself? For He is the Lord, this one the servant: but Stephen from servant became friend. We, however, are without doubt servants:

May He grant that we be friends as well. Yet servants of what kind? Such as can sing with the brow of a sound conscience: But to me Thy friends, O God, have been greatly honoured (Ps. 138:17). Before holy Stephen was killed in the open and crowned in secret, you heard what sort of man was chosen by the Apostles. Among those deacons he is named first, as Peter among the Apostles. So, when he had been ordained by the Apostles, in a short time he went ahead of his ordainers to the passion: by them he was ordained, but he was crowned first. What then did you hear when his passion was read? But Stephen, full of grace and the Holy Spirit, was working wonders and great signs among the people, through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 6:8). Understand who [it is], through whose name. You who know how to love Stephen, love [him] in Christ. For this is what he wills, this is pleasing to him: in this he rejoices, this he holds acceptable. For he did not wish to boast of his own name before those who stoned him. Consider Whom he was confessing when he was being stoned; Whom he was confessing on earth, Whom he was seeing in heaven; for Whom he was handing over his flesh, to Whom he was commending his soul. For do we read, or can we read anywhere in sound doctrine, that Jesus did or does signs through the name of Stephen? Stephen did [them], but through the name of Christ. He does this now too: whatever you see being done through the memorial of Stephen is done in the name of Christ; so that Christ may be commended, Christ adored, Christ awaited as judge of the living and the dead, and that those who love Him may stand at the right hand. For when He comes, they will stand on the right, they will stand on the left: blessed those who are on the right; wretched those who are on the left.

Chapter II. — 2. The Jews hard against Stephen. Yet let the most blessed Stephen imitate his Lord. In a wondrous manner he was suffering, amid stones, hard men, who threw what but what they were? That you may know that he was suffering hard men: this is what he said to them: Stiff of neck, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you have always resisted the Holy Spirit. You wish to die, you hasten to be stoned, you burn to be crowned. You have always resisted the Holy Spirit. When he said such things, they raged and gnashed their teeth. Add, Stephen, add what they cannot bear, add what they cannot endure: add that for which they may stone you, so that we may find something to celebrate. The heavens were opened: the Martyr saw the head of martyrs; he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father: he saw, so as not to keep silent. They did not see, but envied; and therefore they did not see, because they envied. He did not keep silent about what he saw, that he might come to Him Whom he saw. Behold, he says, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of the majesty. They held their ears, as if against blasphemy. You recognize them in the Psalm: Like that of an asp, it says, deaf and stopping its ears, that it may not hear the voice of the charmer, and the medicine compounded by the wise man (Ps. 57:5–6). For just as asps are said, when they are being charmed, to press one ear to the ground and stop up the other with their tail, so as not to burst forth and come out of their holes, and yet the charmer brings them out: so these too were still gnashing in their holes, when in their hearts

they were seething. Not yet were they breaking out: they stopped their ears. Now let them break out, let it appear who they are: let them run to the stones. They ran, they stoned.

Chapter III. — 3. Stephen in dying imitates the Lord, by commending his spirit and by praying for his killers. What of Stephen? What? First attend to Him whom the good friend was imitating. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He was hanging on the cross, said: Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit. This [He said] as man, as crucified, as born of a woman, as clothed in flesh; as about to die for us, as about to be in the tomb, as about to rise again on the third day, as about to ascend into the heavens. For all these things belong to the man. The man, therefore: Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit. He said, Father; Stephen, Lord Jesus. What does he too say? Receive my spirit. Thou didst say it to the Father, I to Thee. I acknowledge the Mediator. Thou camest to raise up one lying fallen: Thou didst not fall with me. Receive, he says, my spirit. This he was praying for himself: something else came into his mind, whereby he might imitate his Lord. Recall the words of Him who hung on the wood, and attend to the words of him who, while he was being stoned, confessed. What did He say? Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:46, 34). Perhaps Stephen was at that time among those very ones who did not know what they were doing. For many believed afterwards. And it is uncertain to us whence the most blessed Stephen came, whether from those who had believed in Christ earlier, like Nicodemus, who came to Him by night (John 3:2), who merited to be buried where this man also was, since through him this man too was found: whether, then, he was among these, or perhaps among those who, after the Lord's ascension, when the Holy Spirit came, when the disciples were filled and spoke in the tongues of all nations, were pierced to the heart and said to the Apostles, Men, brothers, what shall we do? tell us. For they were despairing of salvation, because they had killed the Saviour. And Peter said to them: Do penance, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and you will receive the Holy Spirit, and your sins will be forgiven you (Acts 2:37–38). Do you suppose everything [was forgiven]? What of their sins remained, when even that sin was forgiven by which the Forgiver of sins was killed? What is worse than to kill Christ? This was blotted out. What then? Perhaps Stephen was among them. If he was among them, then that prayer availed for him too, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Yet Saul too was among them. When Stephen the lamb was being stoned, that man was still a wolf, still thirsted for blood; still thinking his own hands, with which to stone, too few, he kept the garments of those who were stoning. So, recalling what had been said on his own behalf, if he too was among those of whom the Lord spoke when He said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing; imitating his Lord, therefore, even in this very thing, so as to be His friend, he too said, Lord, do not lay this sin against them (Acts 7:59). But how did he say it? Kneeling down on the ground. He commended himself standing: when he prayed

for his enemies, he bent the knee. Why did he commend himself standing? Because he was commending a just man. Why did he bend the knees for them? Because he was praying for wicked men. Lord, do not lay this sin against them.

Chapter IV. — 4. Saul the wolf, changed into a sheep on account of Stephen's prayer. Do you think Saul heard those words? He heard, but he mocked: and yet he belonged to Stephen's prayer. He was still raging, and already Stephen was being heard on his behalf. For you know already, to say something about Saul, and afterwards Paul; you certainly know: in the same book it is written how Paul came to believe. When Stephen had been killed, the Church at Jerusalem suffered a most grievous persecution. The brethren who were there were put to flight: only the Apostles remained; the rest were being put to flight. But like burning torches, wherever they came, they set things alight. Foolish Jews, when they were driving them out of Jerusalem, they were casting coals of fire into a forest. Still Saul, for whom the killing of Stephen was not enough (which we gladly recall, because we now honour him), what did he do? He received letters from the priests and Scribes, that wherever he found men of this way, that is, Christians, he should bring them bound to undergo punishments such as Stephen had undergone. And Saul went in anger, the wolf went to the sheepfolds, to the flocks of the Lord: like a rabid wolf he thirsted for blood, panted for slaughter, went along the road. And He from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Wolf, wolf, why do you persecute the Lamb? I, when I was slain, slew the lion. Why do you persecute Me? Strip yourself of the wolf: from a wolf be a sheep, from a sheep a shepherd (Acts 8 and 9).

Chapter V. — 5. A picture showing the stoning of Stephen and the conversion of Saul. Most sweet is this picture, where you see Saint Stephen being stoned, you see Saul guarding the garments of those who were stoning. This is Paul the Apostle of Christ Jesus, this is Paul the servant of Christ Jesus. You heard the voice well, Why do you persecute Me? You were struck down, you were raised up: struck down a persecutor, raised up a preacher. Speak, let us hear: Paul, servant of Christ Jesus, by the will of God (Rom. 1:1, and 1 Cor. 1:1). Was it by your own will, O Saul? By your own will, we know, we have seen your fruits: Stephen was killed by your will. By the will of God, we see your fruits: everywhere you are read, everywhere you are recited, everywhere you turn hearts hostile to Christ, everywhere as a good shepherd you gather great flocks. With him whom you stoned, you reign with Christ. You both see each other there, you both now hear our sermon; both of you, pray for us. He will hear you both Who crowned you both, the one first, the other afterwards: the one who suffered persecution, the other who persecuted. The one then was a lamb, the other was a wolf: but now both are lambs. Let the lambs recognize us, and see us in the flock of Christ: let them commend us by their prayers, that they may obtain a quiet and tranquil life for the Church of their Lord.