5. Первое гонение иудеев на Церковь. Святой первомученик Стефан. Рассеяние христиан

As soon as the Church began to spread, its enemies appeared in the person of unbelieving Jews. The Jewish leaders took the apostles Peter and John from the church (after a sermon on the occasion of the healing of a lame man) and even planned to kill them, but the respected teacher of the law Gamaliel stopped his brothers. “If this enterprise is from men,” he said, “then it will collapse; if it is from God, then you cannot destroy it; Beware lest you also turn out to be enemies of God.” This time the Jewish leaders limited themselves to beating the apostles and strictly forbidding them to preach about Jesus Christ. The apostles endured this suffering with joy and continued to preach in church and from house to house. Soon, however, the anger of the Jews flared up again. Its victim was the holy Archdeacon Stephen. Stephen preached in one of the Jerusalem synagogues. Here some of the Hellenistic Jews entered into a dispute with him, but could not resist his wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit acting through his word. Then they began to accuse Stephen of uttering blasphemous words against Moses and even God Himself, they found false witnesses and brought him to trial. When Saint Stephen was brought into the judgment seat, everyone looked at his face in surprise: it shone like the face of an angel. In a long speech, Saint Stephen explained how he revered the sacred persons and institutions of the Old Testament, but by the words of the prophets themselves he proved that this Testament must cease and give way to a New, most perfect Testament. At the conclusion of his speech, he denounced the Jews that just as their fathers killed the prophets, so they killed the Lord Jesus Christ, foretold by the prophets. The members of the court tore their hearts and gnashed their teeth. In these difficult moments, the Lord strengthened His confessor with a joyful vision. “Behold, I see,” exclaimed Saint Stephen, “the heavens are open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” The Jews shouted loudly and, covering their ears so as not to hear the righteous man, rushed at Stephen, took him outside the city gates and here they stoned him, as if he were a blasphemer. False witnesses, as required by the law, were the first to throw stones, and for convenience they took off their clothes and folded them at the feet of a certain young man - Saul. This young man approved of the murderers. The holy first martyr prayed in the midst of his suffering and said: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Finally he loudly exclaimed: “Lord, do not impute this sin to them!” - and then he rested. Reverent men took his body and buried him with great weeping. By killing Stephen and many other believers, the Jews did not weaken the success of their faith; on the contrary, they further contributed to its spread. The Christians, who had until now been in Jerusalem, scattered throughout Judea, Samaria and other countries, and wherever they came they preached about the Lord the Savior. You might be interested in: