ŚLĄSKIE STUDIA HISTORYCZNO-TEOLOGICZNE

The Cult of St. Stephen in the Ministry of Bishop Augustine of Hippo
Among many ancient Christian martyrs, deacon Stephen, the first martyr for the faith, was held in special reverence. His cult spread, in particular, due to the fact that his body was found. Some of his relics were also brought to Hippo in Africa, at the time when St. Augustine was a bishop there. The bishop was cautious about emerging news. Nevertheless, he ordered to build a chapel dedicated to the Martyr and allowed to venerate Stephen’s relics. In the same time, he was studying the emerging cases of miracles that were attributed to the Martyr. St. Augustine in his teaching, however, tried to emphasize the essence of worship and to direct the attention of the faithful to Christ, who was acting through the intercession of Stephen. The figure of the holy Deacon was featured as a follower of the Savior. The attitude of St. Stephen served as an example for the faithful. The cult of the relics and delight in miracles that were performed referred to the actions of God itself who manifests divine might towards the faithful.

The paper “Stephen and Saul of Tarsus in Acts 7:54–8:3” which points out on the one hand the importance of the encounter between Stephen and Saul in Acts 7:54–8:3 and on the other hand the role these two characters in the context of the Acts of the Apostles, is divided into four parts. The first part shortly discusses the delimitation of the textual unit Acts 7:54–8:3 and its position in the Acts of the Apostles. The second part examines the question of the tradition and redaction criticism of Acts 7:54–8:3. The third shows Stephen as an important model of discipleship whose correspondence with Jesus, his Master, is not so much in terms of imitation but in terms of continuation. The fourth demonstrates that Stephen might be seen as the precursor of Saul/Paul who can be regarded as his continuator and successor.

The Cult of the Relics of Saint Stephen and Conversion of the Jews on the basis of Epistula Severi
The article deals with the This document is a relation about events that took place on the Balearic Islands at the turn of the years 417 and 418 AD . Severus, the bishop of Menorca, described the conflict around the arrival of the relics of the St. Stephan into the town of Magonia (Mahon). The relics of the first martyr were found in a miraculous way in 415 AD , moved to the Church of the Holy Sion in Jerusalem, and then started their way through the churches of the North Africa and the whole Empire, with Magonia among others – where in the result of the riots, the Jewish synagogue was burnt down, and 540 Jews were converted. The report is replete with chronological and topographical details. The aim of the article is to analyse the principles of the theological mechanisms behind the relation between Judaism and Christianity at the beginning of the 5th century AD . In the argumentation of Severus, anti-Jewish rhetoric is predominant. The author is aware of the widespread hagiographic tradition of the Maccabean Martyrs, but his use of it is very limited. In the narration the influence of the sapiential books is evident. The rhetorical figures of polarisation and antagonistic parallelisms help to catch the audience and effectively influence its choices.