Prochorus (deacon)

Saint

Prochorus
Prochorus and St John depicted in a 1609 Armenian gospel manuscript
Bishop of Nicomedia
Died1st century
Antioch, Province of Syria, Roman Empire
Venerated inOriental Orthodox Churches
Eastern Orthodox Church
Catholic Church
Feast20 Tobi (Coptic Christianity)[1]

Prochorus (Greek: Πρόχορος, Prochoros) was one of the Seven Deacons chosen to care for the poor of the Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5). According to later tradition, he was also one of the Seventy Disciples sent out by Jesus in Luke 10.

Tradition calls Prochorus the nephew of Stephen the Protomartyr. St Prochorus accompanied the holy Apostle Peter, who ordained him to be the bishop in the city of Nicomedia.[2] He is also thought to have been a companion of John the Apostle, who consecrated him bishop of Nicomedia in Bithynia. Some modern scholars dispute his having been the author of the apocryphal Acts of John,[3] which is dated by them to the end of the 2nd century.[4] According to the late tradition, he was the bishop of Antioch and ended his life as a martyr in Antioch in the 1st century.[5][6]

In Orthodox iconography, he is depicted as a scribe of St John the Evangelist. He is one of 4 out of the 7 deacons of the 70 Apostles to be jointly celebrated on July 28.[7]

  • John the Evangelist with Prochorus
    John the Evangelist with Prochorus
  • Prochorus and St John depicted in Xoranasat's gospel manuscript in 1224.
    Prochorus and St John depicted in Xoranasat's gospel manuscript in 1224.

References

  1. ^ "Toba 20 : Lives of Saints : Synaxarium - CopticChurch.net".
  2. ^ Feasts and Saints – OCA
  3. ^ Seven Deacons – Catholic Encyclopedia
  4. ^ Ehrman, Bart D. (2003). Lost scriptures : books that did not make it into the New Testament (Pbk. ed.). New York: Oxford Univ. Press. pp. 94. ISBN 978-0-19-514182-5.
  5. ^ "The Ecole Glossary". Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  6. ^ Martyrologium Romanum ad Novam Kalendarii
  7. ^ Ekkart Sauser. "Prochorus (deacon)". Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). cols. 0–-0.
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