Acts 6:15

Acts 6:15. Saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. And the whole of that great council turned their earnest and excited gaze from the accusers to the accused, to see how the follower of the Crucified would look, charged with so grave a charge, now brought face to face with the rulers of his people; and to their surprise and awe, no troubled anxious gaze met theirs; for over the features of the servant of Jesus had passed a radiance not belonging to this world, a light at once beautiful and terrible, which these men could only compare to the light which their Divine story told them used to play round the forehead of Moses when he came from the presence of the Eternal. Many have attempted to show that nothing more is intended by the words ‘his face as it had been the face of an angel,' than a description of the calm and holy aspect of the first martyr as he stood before his judges. But the expression in the ‘Acts' points to something more than this, for, as Hackett observes, ‘the comparison is an unusual one, and the Jews supposed the visible appearance of angels to correspond with their superhuman rank (see Acts 1:10; Matthew 28:3; Luke 24:4; Revelation 18:1). The countenance of Stephen, like that of Moses on his descent from the Mount, shone probably with a preternatural lustre proclaiming him a true witness, a servant of Him whose glory was so fitly symbolized by such a token. The occasion was worthy of the miracle.'

St. Augustine beautifully writes of the martyr's transfigured face: ‘O lamb, foremost (of the flock of Christ), fighting in the midst of wolves, following after the Lord, but still at a distance from Him, and already the angel's friend. Yes, how clearly was he the angel's friend who, while in the very midst of the wolves, still seemed like an angel; for so transfigured was he by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, that even to his enemies he seemed a being not of this world.'