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Stephan Stephen THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 80 Geschichte and Systems der griechiachen Tachypraphie, Berlin, 1907.
STEPHAN; FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF GRAMMONT. See GRAMMONT, ORDER OF.
STEPHAN, stefr8n, MARTIN, STEPHANISTS: Lutheran, and originator of the congregation which became the nucleus of the Lutheran Missouri Synod; b. at Stramberg (130 m. n.e. of Vienna), Moravia, Aug. 13, 1777; d. in Randolph County, Illinois, F eb. 21, 1846. He was of humble parentage, and became an apprentice to a weaver. In 1798 he went to Breslau, where he soon became intimate with piet istic circles, and entered the gymnasium. From 1804 to 1809 he studied theology at Halle and Leip sic in a narrow way, but not without energy; and in 1810 was called to a church in Haber, Bohemia, then was appointed pastor of, the congregation of Bohemian exiles in Dresden. He was a Lutheran of the strictest type, and his suttees as a preacher and an organizer was extraordinary. Though he severed his connection with the Moravian Brethren, and though the revival movement he started bore a decidedly separatistic character, his con gregation grew rapidly, and gifted and serious men became devoted to him. He maintained stations all through the valley of the Mulde, sent out young missionaries whom he had educated, and found followers even in Wurttemberg and Baden. The aeparatistic tendency, however, of his work, and perhaps, also, the very success of his labor, brought him into conflict with the regular clergy of Dresden; and certain peculiarities in his personal habits and in his arrangements finally brought lam into collision with the police, and he was suspended from the ministry in 1837. In the spring of 1838 the congre gation for which he originally had been appointed pastor formally brought accusation against him, and in the fall he secretly left the city for Bremen, where he was joined by no less than seven hundred followers; and at the head of this congregation, " the Stephanists," he sailed for America on Nov. 18. Though his early ministerial life had been brilliant and remarkable, uncommendable qualities now became apparent that cast a blemish upon his early success and character. Before the vessel ar rived at New Orleans, he had himself elected bishop and made master of the emigration-fund; and at St. Louis, where the colony stopped for two months, he gave himself up to a life of pleasure. A tract of land was finally bought at Wittenberg, Perry County, Mo.; and in Apr., 1839, the larger portion of the con gregation, and the bishop, removed thither. Hardly one month elapsed, however, before new accusa tions came from Dresden, and, as the atatement§ made were found to be correct, he was deprived of his dignity and excommunicated. But the congre gation, after passing through various vicissitudes and troubles, prospered, and became the nucleus of the " Missouri " type of High-church Lutheranism, which adheres most closely to the symbolical books, and has its headquarters in the Concordia College at St. Louis (see LUTHERANS, IIL, 5, § 1). His writings embrace Der Christliche Glaube (a collection of sermons, Dresden, 1825); Herzlicher Zuruf do alle evanyelischen Christen (182x); and Gaben fur unsere Zeit (Nuremberg, 1834),BIBLIOGRAPHY: Von Polena, Die 0$entliche Meinung and der Pastor Stephen, Dresden, 1840; Vehse, Die Stephan'ache Ausmauderuug nach America, ib. 1840; C. Hochstetter, Geschichte der Missouri Synods, ib. 1885; H. E. Jacobs, in American Church History Series, iv. 396 sqq., 405, New York, 1893. Scattering references will be found in much of the literature under LUTHERANS.
STEPHEN: Christian protomartyr, and the first named of the seven who, according to Acts vi. 5, were appointed to take care of the poor and to "serve tables" (see DEACON, L, §§ 1-2). That Stephen was a Hellenist is not expressly declared but is probable, since the trouble described would best be relieved were Hellenists chosen to the office, and Acts vi. 9 is thus best explained. Although service of the tables was the especial function of the seven (verse 2), teaching was not excluded (verse 9). The testimonies of the apostolic and postapostolic age show that while in early times both bishops and deacons received and distributed gifts for charity, the later diaconate grew out of the office to which Stephen was elected.
But the significance of Stephen does not lie in his connection with the seven. He is the first disciple whose teaching led to a conflict with Judaism: he is the Christian protomartyr. His death was the occasion of an outbreak of persecution which led to the spread of Christianity. The report given in Acts vi. 1-viii. 3 is generally received as essentially historical, though it contains difficulties. It is not a unit, the stoning and the charges being repeated (vii. 58-59, vi. 11, 13-14); for Stephen's speech either two sources or a source edited must be supposed. Was Stephen the victim of mob law or of legal procedure? In the first case the Romans had a case against the people; in the second case the sanction of the Roman procurator was required, of which Acts knows nothing. It has been sought to parallel the death of Stephen with that of Jesus, but the parallel fails in many particulars. The charge against Stephen (Acts vi. 13-14) is that he assailed the temple service and the law, saying that Jesus would destroy the Temple and alter Mosaic customs (Acts vi. 13-14). His speech sets forth that God's activity wan not restricted to a definite place or time, that Israel had always striven against God's will, persecuted the prophets, disregarded God's law, and had done with Jesus as their forefathers had with Jesus's forerunners. Had Stephen really assailed Jewish institutions, he would not have been entrusted with his office as things then were. Stephen's proposition had as basis Isa. lxvi. 1; note also Jesus's declaration in John iv. 20-24, and with Acts vi. 14 cf. Mark xiv. 58; xiii. 2. The teaching of Stephen links itself with that of Jesus in its inner meaning, as when Jesus assailed the externalizing of service (Mark vii. 6 sqq.) or called the generation adulterous (Matt. xvi. 4) or demanded a higher righteousness than that of the Pharisees (Matt. v. 20), while the Jews regarded the ideas of their times as identically Mosaic. This latter was the view of the Hellenistic Jews (Acts vi. 9, ix. 29, xxi. 27-28), illustrated by Philo's declaration (Vita Mot;is, ii. 3). If Stephen took the view of Jesus, to the Hellenists the charge would seem correct, he would seem to be changing the customs left by Moses.
Since Schneckenburger the teaching of Stephen
