02 — The Seven Deacons
The appointment of the Seven over the daily distribution of the Hellenist widows (Acts 6:1–6) is the scene in which Stephen first appears by name, “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” It is also the scene the later Church reads as the institution of the diaconate — though Acts itself never calls the Seven “deacons,” and the inference is contested. These files set the appointment in its text and weigh the disputed claim that here the diaconate begins.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Protomartyr)
The Seven are chosen by the whole community and ordained by the apostles with prayer and the laying on of hands (Acts 6:6) — the first such ordination in Acts and a scene of enduring liturgical and theological weight. Stephen heads the list, named first and described most fully (Acts 6:5, 8), and is at once shown to be far more than a table-server: he works signs and disputes in the synagogues. This section examines the appointment itself — its occasion, its procedure, and the names of the Seven — and the much-debated question of whether the Seven are the origin of the diaconate, a question the text leaves open and the tradition has answered with both confidence and caution.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Appointment of the Seven | The occasion (the neglect of the Hellenist widows, Acts 6:1); the apostles’ decision to delegate “the service of tables” and keep to “prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2–4); the choosing by the community and the laying on of hands (Acts 6:5–6); the Seven and their names, with Stephen at their head. |
| The Origin of the Diaconate | The traditional reading of the Seven as the first deacons (Irenaeus; the liturgical tradition; “archdeacon Stephen”); the scholarly caution that Acts never calls them diakonoi and uses only the verb/noun of service; the relation to the developed threefold order and to the diaconate’s later history. |
See Also
- The Early Church in Acts — the growth and common life that produce the need
- Signs and Disputation — Stephen at once shown to be more than a server of tables
- Holy Orders — the diaconate within the threefold ministry
- Deaconess History — the wider history of the diaconal office
References
- The Holy Bible — Acts 6:1–8. Cited by chapter and verse.
- Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies 1.26.3; 3.12.10; 4.15.1. Trans. in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. (Stephen and Nicolaus among the Seven.)
- Barrett, C. K. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. Vol. 1. ICC. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994.
- Collins, John N. Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.