Then
Stephen full of grace and power
was working wonders and great signs among the people.
There stood up certain men
– from the synagogue of the Freedmen, as it was called –
Cyrenians and Alexandrians,
and
men from Cilicia and Asia,
and argued with Stephen.
But they were not able to resist
the wisdom and the Spirit
with which he was speaking.
Then they secretly persuaded some men,
to say that
‘We have had heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God. ‘
So they stirred up the people,
and the elders,
and the scribes and
they came against him and took him
and brought him to the Sanhedrin.
They put forward the false witnesses,
who said
‘This man never stopped speaking words
against the Holy Place and the Law.
For we have heard him say that
Jesus the Nazorean
will destroy this place
and he will change the customs
which Moses has passed down to us. ‘
And having looked straight at him,
all those sitting in the Sanhedrin
saw his face to be like the face of an angel.
Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.
Alcuin