The Seven Deacons
The seven men of good repute chosen by the apostles to serve the early Church (Acts 6), headed by the Protomartyr Stephen and including Philip the Evangelist.
The Seven Deacons are the seven men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom the apostles appointed to serve the tables of the early Church at Jerusalem, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles (6:1–6). When the Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution, the Twelve called the faithful together and set apart seven — Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch — laying hands on them so that the apostles might give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.
In them the Church honors the origin of the diaconate — the ordering of ministry to the poor as a sacred office of the Church, not a merely practical arrangement. Chosen to serve, the Seven quickly became preachers and evangelists in their own right — Stephen the archdeacon disputed with the synagogue and, filled with the Spirit, became the first martyr of the Church; Philip carried the Gospel to Samaria and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch on the desert road.
Tradition numbers several of the Seven among the Seventy Apostles and follows them into mission and martyrdom across the apostolic world. Their commemoration keeps before the Church the truth that care for the hungry and the overlooked stands at the very heart of the Gospel, and that the table of service and the pulpit of preaching are not far apart.
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- c. AD 34The Seven are chosenThe Greek-speaking widows being overlooked, the apostles call the faithful to set apart seven men "full of the Spirit and of wisdom" to serve the tables (Acts 6:1–3).
- c. AD 34Ordained by the apostlesThe Twelve pray and lay their hands upon the Seven — the first deacons of the Church.
- c. AD 34The martyrdom of StephenStephen the archdeacon, full of grace and power, is stoned outside Jerusalem and becomes the first martyr of the Church (Acts 7).
- Apostolic agePreaching and missionPhilip evangelizes Samaria and the Ethiopian eunuch, and several of the Seven, numbered among the Seventy, carry the Gospel abroad.