Difference between revisions of "Category:Relics of Stephen (subject)"

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According to Christian traditions, Relics of Stephen are (or were) preserved in several locations, notably, the Church of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls in Rome [Italy], the Church of Saint Stephen in Venice [Italy] and the Church of the Holy Trinity of St. Sergius Lavra at Sergiyev Posad [Russia].

Overview

According to the Acts of Apostles, Stephen was the first Christian martyr, being stoned in Jerusalem around 36 CE; see Martyrdom of Stephen. The Acts also claim that his body was buried by some (unnamed) "devout men"; see Burial of Stephen.

In 415 CE a certain priest named Lucian claimed to have learned by revelation that the remains of Stephen were in Caphar Gamala, some distance to Jerusalem, together with those of Nicodemus, Rabbi Gamaliel, and of one of his two sons, Abibos. The relics were then exhumed and carried first to the church of Mount Sion, then, in 460, to the basilica erected by Eudocia outside the Damascus Gate, on the spot where, according to tradition, the stoning had taken place.

During the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450), the relics of Stephen were translated to Constantinople.

According to a tradition, (some) relics of Stephen reached Rome at the end of the 6th century where they have been venerated until today in the Church of St Lawrence outside the Walls, along with those of St Lawrence.

After the sack of Constantinople in 1204, relics of Stephen resurfaced and were venerated in many churches and sanctuaries across Europe.

A tradition locates the tomb of Stephen in the Church of St Stephen in Venice [Italy]. The whole right arm of Stephen is said to be preserved at the Holy Trinity of St. Sergius Lavra, established by St. Sergius of Radonezh in 1345, at Sergiyev Posad, Russia.

The Stoning Place of Stephen at Jerusalem

The tradition that the scene of St. Stephen's martyrdom was east of Jerusalem, near the Lions' Gate (called since St. Stephen's Gate), developed only after the twelfth century. The site of the Eudocian basilica, built in the 5th century on the location where Stephen died according to an earlier tradition of the Martyrdom, was identified in the eighteenth century outside the Damascus Gate, and a new edifice has been erected on the old foundations by the Dominican Fathers and consecrated in 1900.

The Burial place of Stephen at Bet Gamal

In 1916, the Salesians of Don Bosco at Beit Jimal Monastery discovered a mosaic floor during excavations for a small construction. Maurizio Gisler was convinced of having found the ruins of a Byzantine church at the burial site of Stephen, Nicodemus, Gamaliel and Abibos. The Salesians built a church over the mosaics in 1930, and called it the "Church of St Stephen. In 1999 Andrzej Strus found nearby the remains of a circular structure he identified as a Byzantine funeral monument. In 2006 Emile Puech claimed that he had found evidence that the structure carried an inscription to Stephen.

External links

• [ Wikipedia]