And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch:
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Clement Of Alexandria
AD 215
Such also are those (who say that they follow Nicolaus, quoting an adage of the man, which they pervert,
By the names of these seven, it would appear, that they were all Greeks. The reason of this, most probably, is to silence more effectually all future murmurs, by giving to the aggrieved party protectors of their own nation. (Tirinus)
The history of Stephen occurs hereafter. Philip, in the 8th chapter, is called an evangelist, that is, a preacher of the gospel. By Eusebius, Tertullian, and others, he is called an apostle, that is, an apostolic man. See Lives of the Saints, and Roman Martyr ology, June 6.
St. Jerome says, his tomb, and that of his four daughters, the prophetesses, were to be seen at Cæsarea, in Palestine. (Ep. ad Eustoch.)
Of the rest, except Nicolas, nothing certain is known: their acts have perished. Nicolas, as appears from the text, was a proselyte, first to Judaism, then to Christianity. St. Epiphanius, and many others, accuse him of being, by his incontinency, the author, or at least the occasion of the impure sects of Nicoalites and Gnostics. Clement of Alexand...
And in this regard Philip also was admirable: for it is of him that the writer says: And we entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.— Acts 21:8 Do you mark how matters are ordered quite otherwise than after the matter of men? And the number of disciples was multiplied in Jerusalem.
so were the others also full of faith; not to have the same things happening as in the case of Judas, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira— and Philip, and Prochoras, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: whom they set before the Apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
