The Appointment of the Seven

When the Greek-speaking widows are neglected in the daily distribution, the Twelve summon the community and propose that seven men “of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” be chosen to take charge of the tables, so that the apostles may devote themselves to prayer and the word (Acts 6:1–4). Seven are chosen — Stephen first — set before the apostles, and ordained by prayer and the laying on of hands (Acts 6:5–6). This file follows the appointment in its text: its occasion, its procedure, and the men chosen.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Protomartyr)

The Occasion

The appointment answers a concrete crisis. As the community grew, “a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution” (Acts 6:1). The “daily distribution” (diakonia) is the charitable economy of the common life described in Acts 2 and 4 — the goods laid at the apostles’ feet and given out “to each as any had need” (Acts 4:35). Widows, women without the protection of a household, were the community’s special charge (as they would remain throughout the New Testament, cf. 1 Tim 5:3–16; James 1:27), and the Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked — whether through the practical difficulty of administering a two-language community or through the natural inward turn of the Aramaic-speaking majority. The complaint is the first internal friction recorded in the Church, and Luke neither hides it nor dramatizes it: he reports a problem and its resolution (Acts 6:1–6; Barrett, Acts, ICC, 1994, 1:305–315).

The Apostles’ Decision

The Twelve do not undertake the administration themselves. “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables” (Acts 6:2), they say — not in disdain of the work but in recognition that the apostolic office is bound to “prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4), which the press of administration would crowd out. They therefore propose that the community “pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty” (Acts 6:3). Two ministries are here distinguished: the apostolic ministry of word and prayer, retained by the Twelve, and the ministry of “tables” (trapezai), delegated to the Seven. Patristic and later readers have seen in this distinction the seed of the differentiation of orders within the one ministry of the Church — the bishops and presbyters bound to word and sacrament, the deacons to the service of the community’s practical and charitable life (John Chrysostom, Homilies on Acts 14; NPNF I/11; and see The Origin of the Diaconate). The “tables” themselves have been read both as the tables of the charitable distribution and, by some, as including the table of the eucharistic meal — a reading that would tie the Seven from the first to the liturgical service later proper to deacons (Chrysostom; cf. Barrett, Acts, ICC, 1:311–312).

The Procedure: Election and Ordination

The manner of the appointment is as significant as the office. “What they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen… and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them” (Acts 6:5–6). The candidates are chosen by the whole community — “the full number of the disciples” (Acts 6:2) — but they are ordained by the apostles, who pray and lay hands on them. This is the first ordination narrated in Acts, and it establishes the enduring pattern of the Orthodox tradition: the people testify to and elect, the apostolic ministry consecrates by prayer and the imposition of hands (Acts 6:6; cf. 13:3; 14:23; and Holy Orders). The laying on of hands here is the act that the later Church reads as the conferral of a charism and an office, not merely a commissioning to a task — though, as the companion file shows, whether the office conferred is precisely the diaconate is debated.

The Seven and Their Names

All seven names are Greek, confirming that the Seven are drawn from the Hellenist community whose widows had been neglected (see The Hellenists of Jerusalem). Stephen stands first and is described most fully — “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5) — and the narrative immediately follows him alone. Philip is the only other whose later ministry Acts records: he preaches in Samaria, baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch, and is later called “Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven” (Acts 8:5–40; 21:8). Of Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, and Parmenas the New Testament says nothing further; later tradition assigned them missions and martyrdoms, but these are post-biblical and of uncertain attestation. Nicolaus, “a proselyte of Antioch” (Acts 6:5) — a Gentile convert to Judaism before becoming a Christian — is the only one whose origin is specified, and his name drew an early and disputed association: Irenaeus and others connected him to the “Nicolaitans” condemned in Revelation 2:6, 15, while other fathers defended him and judged the sect’s claim on his name a slander ([Disputed: the link of Nicolaus the deacon to the Nicolaitans. Irenaeus, *Against Heresies* 1.26.3 and 3.11.1, treats the Nicolaitans as followers of "Nicolaus, one of the seven"; Clement of Alexandria, *Stromateis* 3.4, defends Nicolaus and holds his words were misused by the sect; Eusebius, *HE* 3.29, reports both views. The historical connection is unestablished and the fathers themselves divide]).

Stephen at the Head

The appointment-scene closes by binding the success of the arrangement to the growth of the Church — “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7) — and then turns at once to Stephen, who is named again and described in still higher terms: “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). The man appointed to serve tables is immediately shown to be a wonder-worker and a preacher whose ministry breaks far beyond the charitable task for which he was chosen. The appointment of the Seven is thus, in the narrative economy of Acts, less an end than a beginning: the door through which Stephen steps into the conflict that will make him the first martyr (Acts 6:8–15; and see Signs and Disputation).

See Also

References

  • The Holy Bible — Acts 2:44–45; 4:32–35; 6:1–8; 8:5–40; 21:8; Rev 2:6, 15; 1 Tim 5:3–16. Cited by book chapter:verse.
  • John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 14. Trans. in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 11. (The appointment of the Seven; the “tables.”)
  • Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies 1.26.3; 3.11.1. Trans. in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. (Nicolaus and the Nicolaitans.)
  • Clement of Alexandria. Stromateis 3.4. Trans. in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2. (Defense of Nicolaus.)
  • Barrett, C. K. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. Vol. 1. ICC. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994. (Acts 6:1–8.)