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.


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]

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]

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References

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  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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