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For just as that one is shown to be most beautiful, adorned with the chorus of the stars, so indeed this wonderful athlete, having the Master's tunic, was made beautiful by his wounds, as if clothed in embroidered garments, and he rejoiced, bearing the marks of the Lord in his body as if they were the Master's own insignia. The stones did not bring the athlete down, but just as some plant of heavenly height is rooted in the earth, so he was kept unbending, receiving the casts of the stones, and not falling. For to him that prophetic saying would fittingly apply, that The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. His body, therefore, was made crimson, and was bathed in streams of blood, receiving successive waves of stones, but being made much more like a rock by his 63.932 faith. For he saw the heavenly judge of the contest, extending his hand to his own athletes, and drawing them to heaven, where the prizes of the contests are laid up, where the proclamation of the crowns takes place, and perhaps he cries out according to Paul: So I run, not as uncertainly, so I box, not as one who beats the air; I am struck, and I wound with my words.

Remember, he says, your fathers who stoned the prophets to death; For whom, he says, of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? You have become heirs of an evil succession, having emulated their madness; as your fathers, so you; you have inherited the murderous spirit of your fathers. These are the words of the crown of the Churches, such are the arrows of the crowned one against his adversaries; and just as one who stirs up a flame in a grove, so indeed the protomartyr provoked their madness even more against himself. For he saw the desired one, and he desired the one he saw, and perhaps he uttered some such things as these to them: You take aim at my outer garment, and you send the stones against my body; but it has escaped you, it seems, that you are indeed fulfilling my desire.

For I myself, even before Paul, hasten to put off the outward man, that with naked soul I may fly up to heaven, and having crossed the ethereal sea, I may reign with the Master. This voyage alone has no shipwreck, this sea-journey keeps those who sail safe from storms; my vessel sails without danger; for I have a heavenly pilot, who directs it with his spiritual rudders. Make my body crimson with wounds; for your fathers made Joseph's tunic crimson with blood, just as you also. For it is fitting for them to be told continuously what was said by the martyr. You have imitated those who left you the evil inheritance; but they too, having sold Joseph, missed their hope, and you who are stoning the bodily temple, you are building a firm, more beautiful temple; it comes upon me to see its portals; for it is fixed from earth to heaven. For these words are fitting for Stephen, who leapt forth from the chosen apostles to the contests, and with a swifter course reached the end of martyrdom, who contended on earth, and was proclaimed in heaven; who conquered his enemies while they were speaking, and prayed over them as they were stoning him, in this also imitating the Master, and he says to the judge of the contest: Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit. My contest, he says, is finished; receive, therefore, the crowned one in heaven, receive, O prize-giver, the athlete; for I am running for the crowns, and I hasten to carry off the prizes of the contests here.

So much has the protomartyr feasted us, having appeared renowned both in his words and in his struggles, the chief of the martyrs, the crown of the Churches, he who hastened to reach the Master in his course, and obeyed the one calling in heaven through that divine voice, Where I am, he says, there shall my servant be also. For, Set your minds on things that are above, he says, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father. He longed for him

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Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος περικαλλὴς δείκνυται τῇ τῶν ἄστρων χορείᾳ διηνθισμένος, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ θαυμάσιος οὗτος ἀθλητὴς τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν ∆εσποτικὸν ἔχων, τοῖς τραύμασιν, ὡς ποικίλοις ἠμφιεσμένος ἐνδύμασιν, ὡραΐζετο, καὶ ἐγεγήθει τὰ στίγματα τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν τῷ σώματι βαστάζων ὥσπερ χαρακτῆρας ∆εσποτικούς. Οὐ περιήγαγον οἱ λίθοι τὸν ἀθλητὴν, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τι φυτὸν οὐρανομῆκες ἐπὶ γῆς ἐῤῥιζωμένον, οὕτω καὶ ἀκαμπὴς ἐφυλάττετο, δεχόμενος τὰς τῶν λίθων βολὰς, καὶ μὴ καταπίπτων. Τούτῳ γὰρ ἂν εἰκότως ἁρμόσειε τὸ προφητικὸν ἐκεῖνο λόγιον, ὅτι ∆ίκαιος ὡς φοῖνιξ ἀνθήσει. Ἐφοινίσσετο μὲν οὖν τὸ σῶμα, καὶ περιεῤῥεῖτο τοῖς τῶν αἱμάτων ῥεύμασιν, ἐπάλληλα δεχόμενος τῶν λίθων τὰ κύματα, πολλῷ δὲ πλέον τῇ 63.932 πίστει πετρούμενος. Ἑώρα γὰρ πρὸς τὸν οὐράνιον ἀγωνοθέτην, τὸν τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀθληταῖς τὴν χεῖρα προτείνοντα, καὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν αὐτοὺς ἕλκοντα, ὅπου τῶν ἀγώνων ἀπόκειται τὰ ἔπαθλα, ὅπου τῶν στεφάνων ἀνάῤῥησις γίνεται, καὶ κατὰ τὸν Παῦλον ἴσως βοᾷ· Οὕτω τρέχω, ὡς οὐκ ἀδήλως, οὕτω πυκτεύω, ὡς οὐκ ἀέρα δέρων· βάλλομαι, καὶ τιτρώσκω τοῖς ῥήμασι.

Μνημονεύσατε, φησὶ, τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν τῶν τοὺς προφήτας καταλευσάντων· Τίνα γὰρ, φησὶν, οὐκ ἐδίωξαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν; Κακῆς διαδοχῆς γεγόνατε κληρονόμοι, τὴν ἐκείνων μανίαν ζηλώσαντες· ὡς οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ ὑμεῖς· τὴν πατρικὴν διεδέξασθε μιαιφονίαν. Ταῦτα τοῦ στεφάνου τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τὰ ῥήματα, τοιαῦτα τοῦ στεφανίτου κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων τὰ τοξεύματα· καὶ καθάπερ ἄλσους τις ἀνεγείρων φλόγα, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ πρωτομάρτυς πλέον καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἐκείνων μανίαν ἐρέθιζεν. Ἑώρα γὰρ τὸν ποθούμενον, καὶ ἐπόθει τὸν θεωρούμενον, καί τινα πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἴσως ἀπεφθέγγετο τοιαῦτα· Τοῦ ἔξωθεν ἐνδύματος καταστοχάζεσθε, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ σώματος πέμπετε τοὺς λίθους· ἀλλὰ λέληθεν ὑμᾶς, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὅτι δή μοι πληροῦτε τὸν πόθον.

Καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ πρὸ τοῦ Παύλου σπεύδω τὸν ἔξωθεν ἄνθρωπον ἀπεκδύσασθαι, ἵνα γυμνῇ τῇ ψυχῇ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀναπτῶ, καὶ τὸ αἰθέριον πέλαγος περαιωσάμενος, συμβασιλεύσω τῷ ∆εσπότῃ. Οὗτος μόνος ὁ πλοῦς οὐκ ἔχει ναυάγιον, αὕτη ἡ θαλαττοπορία ἀχειμάστους διασώζει τοὺς πλέοντας· ἀκινδύνως μου πλεῖ τὸ σκάφος· οὐράνιον γὰρ ἔχω τὸν κυβερνήτην, τὸν τοῖς νοητοῖς αὑτοῦ πηδαλίοις κατευθύνοντα. Φοινίξατέ μοι τὸ σῶμα τοῖς τραύμασι· καὶ γὰρ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ χιτῶνα ἐφοίνιξαν τῷ αἵματι οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, ὡς καὶ ὑμεῖς. Πρέπον γὰρ αὐτοῖς συνεχῶς λέγεσθαι τὸ παρὰ τοῦ μάρτυρος εἰρημένον. Ἐκείνους ἐμιμήσασθε τοὺς τὴν κακὴν κληρονομίαν ὑμῖν καταλελοιπότας· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνοι τὸν Ἰωσὴφ ἀποδόμενοι, διήμαρτον τῆς ἐλπίδος, καὶ οἱ τὸν σωματικὸν ναὸν λιθάζοντες, στεῤῥὸν ναὸν οἰκοδομεῖτε περικαλλέστερον· ὁρᾷν αὐτοῦ μοι τὰ προπύλαια ἔπεισιν· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐστήρικται. Ταῦτα γὰρ πρέποντα τῷ Στεφάνῳ τὰ ῥήματα, τῷ προπηδήσαντι τῶν ἀποστολικῶν λογάδων ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας, καὶ ὀξυτέρῳ τῷ δρόμῳ φθάσαντι πρὸς τὸ τοῦ μαρτυρίου τέλος, τῷ ἐπὶ γῆς ἀγωνισαμένῳ, καὶ ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἀναῤῥηθέντι· ὃς φθεγγομένους μὲν τοὺς πολεμίους ἐνίκα, λιθοβολούντων δὲ ὑπερηύχετο, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τὸν ∆εσπότην μιμούμενος, καί φησι πρὸς τὸν ἀγωνοθέτην· Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ, δέξαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου. ∆ιήνυσταί μου, φησὶν, ὁ ἀγών· δέχου τοίνυν τὸν στεφανίτην ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὑπόδεξαι ὁ ἀθλοθέτης τὸν ἀθλητήν· ἐπὶ τοὺς στεφάνους γὰρ τρέχω, καὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἀγώνων σπεύδω κομίσασθαι τὰ ἔπαθλα.

Τοσαῦτα ἡμᾶς ὁ πρωτομάρτυς εἱστίασε καὶ τοῖς ῥήμασιν εὐδόκιμος πεφηνὼς καὶ τοῖς παλαίσμασιν, ἡ κορυφὴ τῶν μαρτύρων, ὁ στέφανος τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, ὁ τὸν ∆εσπότην ἐπειγόμενος φθάσαι τῷ δρόμῳ, καὶ τῷ ἐν οὐρανοῖς καλοῦντι ὑπακούσας δι' ἐκείνης τῆς θείας φωνῆς, Ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ, φησὶν, ἐκεῖ καὶ ὁ διάκονος ὁ ἐμός. Τὰ ἄνω γὰρ, φησὶ, φρονεῖτε, οὗ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρὸς κάθηται. Ἐκεῖνον ἐπόθει