Spiritus, A to the combat the heavenly umpire trains him: he was not fighting with his body, nor joining his hands for the contest, but sharpening his tongue against those who were fighting with their hands. Let us see, therefore, how the athlete was in all things an imitator of the Master. For he had the same adversaries who had audaciously risen against Him; yet the Saviour’s passion was not enough for their cruelty, but they still thirsted for blood—they who had lately shed the Master’s blood, and who having perpetrated the slaying of the Lord, were with the same affection toward His servants. Let us produce, therefore, that proven athlete. For in outer contests, too, when there is judgment of those who have won the crown, they are accustomed to lead forward the chosen and chief combatants into the lists, so that, according to his strength and prowess, the one who deserves it may be proclaimed crowned. But say here: The first champion, the tower of piety that cannot be conquered (for if anyone shall have said these things of him, he would not be in error), was he who, through his own labors, instructed those who contended after him, and he it was who first seized the crowns, showing those who followed that it is easy to capture enemies who only attack the body, but leave the soul without a wound. For He says: "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul" (Matt. 10:26). Mindful, therefore, of this divine voice, which spurred him on to the struggles, the athlete thus stripped himself for the agones; and striking with his tongue those who were attacking his body with stones, he was shown to be stronger in his words than their missiles. With his body indeed he received the wounds of the stones, but with his words he more sharply attacked those who were throwing, and incited them to wage war against him, so that they might the more quickly prepare his journey to the heavens. And I would have you observe the difference of the stones: for they had buried his body with stones; he, with the words ministered to him by the Spirit, attacked their hearts. For "none," it says, "could resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke" (Acts 6:10). O tongue sounding more than a trumpet! O unconquered soul, firmer than adamant! He saw the Jewish people B compelled against the athlete; and as if he were seeing a mere shadow, thus he despised those who were present, and receiving the hail of stones upon his body, he exulted as if by those stones a tower were being built for him by which he might reach heaven. What could have been firmer than that rational rock? What could be seen as stronger than that pillar of the Church? Faith kept him unmoved; as if sustained by the firmest of fulcra, thus he remained unwounded, while his body was afflicted with various wounds, and he, by his patience, adorned his soul, and with its beauty vied with heaven. For as the heaven, adorned as with doors by the choir of stars, appears beautiful, so also this wonderful athlete, having the tunic of the Lord, covered with wounds as with multicolored garments, was comely, and rejoiced that he bore the stigmata of the Lord in his body, as though they were characters of the Lord. The stones did not encompass the athlete; but like a certain tree reaching to heaven, rooted in the earth, thus he remained unbent, receiving the volleys of stones, and not falling. With justice that prophetic oracle might fit him: "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree" (Ps. 91:13). His body was tinged with a purple color, and irrigated by the flowing blood, receiving frequent waves of stones, and much more was he confirmed like a rock by faith. For he looked to the heavenly umpire, who extends His hand to His athletes, and draws them to heaven, where the rewards of the contests are stored, where the crowns are C proclaimed; and perhaps as Paul cried: "I so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air" (1 Cor. 9:26). "Ye," he says, "are of your fathers who stoned the prophets." For whom, he says, have your fathers not persecuted? (Acts 7:52). You are heirs of an evil succession, imitating their fury: as your fathers, so are you; you have received a paternal murderous spirit. These are the words of Stephen, the crown of the Churches; such are the weapons of the crowned against those who oppose. And as if one should excite a flame in a grove, so did the first martyr provoke their fury against himself more and more. For he saw the Desired One, and he desired Him whom he saw, and perhaps he addressed them with such things: "You seek the outer garment, and cast stones against the body; but you do not know, as it seems, that you are fulfilling my desire. For even I, before Paul, hasten to strip off the outer man, that I may fly naked in soul to heaven, and having traversed the etherial sea, may reign with the Lord. This navigation alone has no shipwreck; this sea-voyage keeps those who sail it without storms. My bark sails without danger; for I have a heavenly pilot, who directs the course with His spiritual rudders. Make my body purple with wounds; for your fathers also made the tunic of Joseph purple with blood, as you also do." It is fitting that the martyr's saying be repeated to them often. You have imitated those who left you an evil heritage; but those too, who sold Joseph, fell from their hope; and you, who stone the corporeal temple, are building a firm temple more beautiful: I behold its facade, which is lifted from the earth to heaven. These words befit Stephen, who, before any of the chosen of the apostles, leaped out to the struggles, and hastened to the end of martyrdom with a faster course; who fought on earth, and was proclaimed in the heavens; who conquered the speaking enemies, and prayed for his stoners; and in this matter, having imitated the Lord, he says to the umpire: "Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). "My contest is finished," he says, "receive me to be crowned in the heavens, receive the athlete, O granter of prizes: for I run to the crowns, and I strive to report the prizes of my contests." With these things that first martyr received us, conspicuous by his words and his struggles, the head of the martyrs, the crown of the Churches, who hastens to come to the Lord as he runs, and answers Him who calls him in the heavens through that divine voice: "Where I am, there also shall my minister be" (John 12:26). "Set your mind on the things that are above," he says, "where Christ sitteth on the right hand of the Father" (Col. 3:2). He desired that royal throne, toward those prizes of the upward calling he was running; he desired those royal gifts, distributed by the heavenly King to His own combatants. Who then could suffice in speech to celebrate such and so great an athlete according to his merit, who is proclaimed by his works, and like a pillar has left an indelible memory of his own noble deeds? Let us emulate the desire for this one, and imitate his virtue, that we too may enjoy the stored-up crowns, by the grace of the only-begotten Son of God, to whom with the Father be glory, with the holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages. Amen.