Prochorus

Holy Apostle Prochorus was one of the seven deacons chosen at Jerusalem to care for the poor of the first Christian community, and according to tradition also one of the seventy apostles sent out by Christ. His name appears in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6. Tradition counts him a nephew of Saint Stephen, the first martyr, and bishop of Nicomedia. According to tradition he suffered in Antioch in the first century. He is commemorated on 28 July, together with other deacons among the seventy.

In the days when the disciples were multiplying, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews that their widows were overlooked in the daily distribution. The twelve apostles called together the multitude of disciples and told them to choose from among themselves seven men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Chosen were Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas of Antioch, a convert from paganism.

According to tradition, Prochorus accompanied the holy Apostle Peter, who made him bishop of the city of Nicomedia. Another tradition makes him a companion of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John, who is said to have consecrated him bishop of Nicomedia in Bithynia. The service of the apostle calls him an excellent teacher and a divine first hierarch of Nicomedia. According to the same traditions he was also bishop in Antioch, where he suffered for Christ.

Orthodox iconography paints him as the scribe of Saint John the Theologian, to whom he is said to have written down the text of the Apocalypse. The narrative of the life and miracles of Saint John, from the Dormition of the Mother of God to his own end, is attributed to him. Modern scholars, however, hold that the apocryphal Acts of John date from the end of the second century and cannot be his. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 28 July, the day of the other deacons among the seventy, Parmenas, Nicanor and Timon, and at the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles, on 4 January.