Atkinson, The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac (1887) — translated from the Irish. (The manuscript’s “Sepain/Zepanus” is the scribe’s spelling of Stephen.)

¹ The Passion of Stephen begins.*

² “‘In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.’” With this brief word He foretold the persecution and the tribulation which His apostles and disciples, and all the faithful besides, would suffer for the name of God; and He was strengthening them so that the world and the devil should be overcome, as He had overcome them — saying, “In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

³ John, son of Zebedee, the bosom-disciple of Jesus, heir of virginity, the fourth man who wrote the Lord’s gospel, the twelfth apostle in the order of apostles — it is he who wrote this saying in the body of the gospel, and left it as a memorial with the Church, declaring on the track of his master Jesus: “In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

⁴ The master took care to foretell to his disciples the wars to come, that those things might the less disturb them when they came; for adversities that are foreseen are accustomed to be more lightly borne than those which come suddenly and unlooked for. For it is a great consolation to the disciples to remember that the things they were to suffer had been foretold by the master, and to know that they had the same one as helper and rewarder, for whose name they were to suffer such things. We also, who wish to follow Christ, must consider that Christ did not promise His companions worldly prosperity, honour or secular glory, but affliction and persecution and tribulation — saying, “In the world you shall have tribulation.” Of which tribulation He says elsewhere to His disciples: “Then shall they deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you.” But having shown the greatness of the tribulations, lest we should fall into despair, He added consolation also, saying: “but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world” — as though He had said, “Since I have overcome, you too shall be able to be victors”; for Christ overcame the world not in Himself only, but also in His members.

⁵ Many then of the saints and righteous fulfilled that teaching — they overcame the world and the devil after the likeness of Christ; they endured persecution and martyrdom for the Lord, as that noble and honoured martyr endured, whose feast and commemoration falls in the course of this season — St Stephen, the protomartyr of the New Testament. It is then that Christians honour the feast and commemoration of this martyr, on the seventh of the Kalends of January, that is, a day of the month of the sun [December 26], and so on. Then Luke the evangelist relates somewhat of the passion and the martyrdom of this noble martyr, how he suffered at the hands of the unbelieving Jews for the faith of Christ, saying: — [here follow Acts vi. 8–viii. 2, in Latin — see the Appendix].

⁶ That is the Passion of Stephen [above]; below is the revelation of his body. As the Lord revealed to a certain holy man, who said: “I am Lucian, the servant of Christ, a priest of the church of God.” In that church stands Caphargamala, twenty stades [from Jerusalem], near to Jerusalem. “I desire,” said Lucian, “to relate to you the thing God revealed to me concerning the body of Stephen the faithful, the first martyr in your presence.

⁷ “It befell me on a certain night in the church, as I was resting on my bed; a trance of mind fell upon me, and I saw at the third hour of the night a great, comely, grey-haired elder with a thick beard upon him, a shining garment about him, a golden cross on the clasp of his cloak, a rod with gold in his hand, and golden sandal-straps about him. He kept moving in my presence, and I was doubtful whether it was from God or from the devil that he came. Then I reflected in my mind: ‘If this man is of God, let him call me thrice by my own name; if he calls me but once, I shall not answer him.’ Then he came and stood upon my right hand, and gave me a stroke of the golden rod that was in his hand, and called my name thrice, saying ‘Lucian’ three times. I answered him, and this is what I said to him: ‘What is your pleasure, my lord?’ And he said to me: ‘Arise, go into the city, and say to the bishop of Jerusalem — to John — “How long shall we lie in this tomb? For it is in John’s days that our revelation is fitting. Loose our company, and the Lord will have mercy on the race of men for our sakes. Nor is it only for myself that I speak, but I speak for the sake of the company of saints who are with me; for great honour and reverence are due to them — though humble indeed is the place and the spot wherein we are.”’ This is what I myself said: ‘Who are you, my lord, and how many are the people who are with you?’ He said to me: ‘I am Gamaliel, the teacher of Paul the apostle; and I taught the Law in Jerusalem. Now in the eastern part of the tomb, along with me, is my lord Stephen the martyr — it is he whom the Jews stoned in Jerusalem for the faith and belief of Christ; and his body lay at the gate of the city without burial a day and a night, so that beasts and birds ate it — yet none of his bones did they break, through God’s grace upon him. I, Gamaliel — a place was granted me along with him, for I wished that I should be rewarded together with Stephen the martyr. I gathered in the night all the holy men and all the faithful who were in Jerusalem, and I urged them in secret, and said to them: “Carry the body of the faithful Stephen into my land; and the name of that land is Villa Gamalielis, twenty stades from Jerusalem. Let it be lamented for forty days in that place, and let it be laid in my tomb; and whatever be needful for it, I will give you for the lamentation of Stephen.” They did as I told them. There too is Nicodemus in that tomb beside Stephen the martyr — he it is who came by night to Jesus, so that Jesus taught him, saying, “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Peter and John baptised him at once. Then the Jews resolved to slay Nicodemus, but they knew of his friendship with me; they did not kill him at all, but removed him from his office and expelled him from the city after scourging him, and took his goods from him. I, Gamaliel, tended and nursed Nicodemus until the day of his death, and buried him beside holy Stephen the martyr; and he is the third saint who is with me in the tomb. Abibas, my beloved son — it is he who believed in Christ along with me; he died afterwards, and I buried him in the upper part of my own tomb. It is there that I myself was buried afterwards. Now my wife — Ethna was her name — and my first-born, Sedina was her name, were buried in another place, for they had not believed in Christ.”

⁸ “I asked,” said Lucian, “‘where shall we find your bones?’ Gamaliel said: ‘Seek them in the land nearest to my town, and the name of that land is the Land of the Men of God, or the land of the fighting men.’ After Gamaliel had said these words, I saw him no more.

⁹ “Then I arose after that vision,” said Lucian, “and prayed to the Lord; this is what I said: ‘O my Lord, O Jesus Christ, if this vision is from God and is no deception of the devil, I beseech the Lord to reveal it to me thrice.’ Then I fasted, and withdrew from men, and ate nothing for a space but bread and water and salt, as is the custom during Lent. Then Gamaliel came again after seven days in the same form as he came at first, and at the same hour of the night, and this is what he said to me: ‘Why did you not go to John as I bade you?’ I answered him and said to him: ‘I was afraid, my lord, of being deceived by the devil in the first vision — and it is no doubtful matter to relate; therefore I prayed the Lord thrice, if it was from God that it had been sent.’ Gamaliel said: ‘Listen to me, O bishop! You were doubtful in your mind, saying, “When the bodies of the saints are found in one place, how shall we distinguish them?”’ I said to him: “It is true, my lord, what you say — that was my doubt.” He said to me: “It is not in one place of the tomb that we lie: for Stephen is in the eastern part of the tomb, Nicodemus in its middle, and I and my son Abibas are in the upper part of the tomb.” After Gamaliel had said these words, he departed from me at once. Then I gave thanks to God, and fasted in the same manner again for the seven days of the week.

¹⁰ “At the end of the seven days Gamaliel came, and grew very angry with me, saying: ‘Why did you not go to John the bishop, to tell him the thing that was revealed to you? Believe this thing I tell you — unless you go and tell holy John, you shall suffer what you do not expect.’ I said: ‘I will go, my lord.’ The next day I went and told John all this. John rejoiced greatly, and said: ‘Blessed is the Lord Jesus Christ who revealed this wonder to you.’ John said to me: ‘Arise, and seek the place where the bodies of the saints are; and when you find it, send someone to me that I may come to meet you.’ Then I went and searched the land, and found a mound of earth where I thought the bodies of the saints were; [and the next day the inhabitants of the land came and dug that mound together with me]. Gamaliel came that night afterwards to a certain monk, Nicetius by name, and said to him: ‘Arise and tell Lucian the bishop not to seek in that place, for we are not there — but that mound was set up by way of concealment, against the talk of men; let him seek us rather in the Land of the Strong Men.’ Then the monk Nicetius came to us the next morning and told us the thing he had seen. When I heard that, I gave thanks to God for revealing the holy bodies to us by another hidden way. Then we went into the land and dug the earth, and found a stone there with these names written on it: ‘Stephen the servant of God, Nicodemus, Gamaliel and Abibas’; and we found then three places in the tomb, as we had been told — Stephen in the first place, Nicodemus in the second, and Gamaliel and his son in the third place. I sent messengers to John the bishop of Jerusalem, and he came to meet me with bishops and many brethren.

¹¹ “When we took the body of Stephen out of the place where it was, a great earthquake happened there; and a wondrous fragrance came from the tomb, so that it filled the whole place where we were. So delightful was that fragrance, so great was it, that we deemed ourselves to be in the bliss of Paradise. Then we kissed the bodies of the saints with great honour and reverence.

¹² “Numberless crowds came from every quarter, and people with every sickness among them, and all were healed at that same hour — seventy-three of them; for John the bishop of Jerusalem, with his people, took up the body of holy Stephen, and they brought it into Jerusalem with psalms and hymns and many praises to God and to the Lord of the elements. At that time there had been a drought-plague in Jerusalem, and then rain came there, and all blessed Stephen; for it was for his sake alone that that rain came. Then the body of Stephen was buried with honour and reverence; and though great is his honour now, his honour shall be greater at the Judgement, when he shall shine like the sun in heaven, in the union of the nine orders of heaven who have not transgressed — in the union which is nobler than every union, the union of the noble, reverend Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Let us beseech the mercy of almighty God, through the intercession of holy Stephen the martyr, that we may all attain to that union — may we merit it, may we dwell in it, for ever and ever. Amen.”

¹³ Here follows the Passion of Peter and Paul.*