Replies

I'm wondering if you are aware of the three levels of Holy Orders:
Diaconate
Priesthood
Episcopacy

Yes I am.

Why are you so negative about them?

Because I assoicate their Vatican II restoration and rise (along w/their mentor Priests) with the cheery dilution of the Faith.

But here are some Deacons I'm not negative about at all:

St. Stephen
One of the first deacons and the first Christian martyr; feast on 26 December.

In the Acts of the Apostles the name of St. Stephen occurs for the first time on the occasion of the appointment of the first deacons (Acts, vi, 5). Dissatisfaction concerning the distribution of alms from the community's fund having arisen in the Church, seven men were selected and specially ordained by the Apostles to take care of the temporal relief of the poorer members. Of these seven, Stephen, is the first mentioned and the best known.

Stephen's life previous to this appointment remains for us almost entirely in the dark. His name is Greek and suggests he was a Hellenist, i.e., one of those Jews who had been born in some foreign land and whose native tongue was Greek; however, according to a fifth century tradition, the name Stephanos was only a Greek equivalent for the Aramaic Kelil (Syr. kelila, crown), which may be the martyr's original name and was inscribed on a slab found in his tomb.

It seems that Stephen was not a proselyte, for the fact that Nicolas is the only one of the seven designated as such makes it almost certain that the others were Jews by birth.

His ministry as deacon appears to have been mostly among the Hellenist converts with whom the Apostles were at first less familiar; and the fact that the opposition he met with sprang up in the synagogues of the "Libertines" (probably the children of Jews taken captive to Rome by Pompey in 63 B. C. and freed hence the name Libertini), and "of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia" shows that he usually preached among the Hellenist Jews.

Stephen's preaching so inflamed a crowd of devout Jews, they bore false witness against him claiming he had blasphemed against Moses and God. The angry mob brought him outside the city walls where he was stoned to death.

St. Lawrence
Martyr; died 10 August, 258.
St. Lawrence, one of the deacons of the Roman Church, was one of the victims of the persecution of Valerian in 258, like Pope Sixtus II and many other members of the Roman clergy.

At the beginning of the month of August, 258, the emperor issued an edict, commanding that all bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death.

This imperial command was immediately carried out in Rome. On 6 August Pope Sixtus II was apprehended in one of the catacombs. When Pope Sixtus II was led away to his death, he comforted Lawrence, who wished to share his martyrdom, by saying that he would follow him in three days.

The Emporer, knowing that Lawrence administered the treasure of the church, demanded that Lawrence produce the treasure. Lawrence told the Emporer it would take four days to collect the treasure. Four days later, When St. Lawrence was asked for the treasure, he brought forward the poor, among whom he had divided the treasure, in place of alms.

This so enraged the Emporer that he ordered Lawrence to be roasted slowly over a fire.

on the 10th of August of that same year, Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, suffered a martyr's death by being slowly roasted on a gridiron.

St. Ephrem
St. Ephrem was born agt Nisibis, Mesopotamia in 306 A.D. He was baptized at 18 and served under St. James of Nisibis, became head of his school, and probably accompanied him to the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. When Nisibis was ceded to the Persians by Emporer Jovian in 363, he took refuge in a cave near Edessa in Roman territory, and often preached to the Christian community there. He did most of his writing here. Tradition has it that he visited St. Basil in Caeserea in 370, and upon his return, helped to alleviate the rigors of the famine of 372-373, by distributing food and money to the stricken and poor. He died at Edessa on June 9, 373. Ephraem wrote volumously in Syriac on many themes drawing heavily on scriptural sources. He wrote against the heretics, especially the Gnostics. He was devoted to the Blessed Virgin (he is often invoked as a witness to the Immaculate Conception because of his absolute certainty of Mary's sinlessness). He was responsible in large measure for introducing hymns into public worship, and used them effectively in religious instruction. His works were translated into Greek, Armenian, and Latin. He is called the "Harp of the Holy Spirit", and in 1920 Pope Benedict XV declared him a Doctor of the Church. He is the only Syrian to be so honored.

St. Vincent of Saragossa
St. Vincent, the protmartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the 3rd century. Together with his bishop, Valerius of Saragossa, he was apprehended during a persecution of Dacian the governor of Spain. Valerius was banished but Vincent was subjected to fierce tortures because he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, and surrender the sacred books of the Church. According to the details of his death, his flesh was pierced with iron hooks, he was bound upon a red hot gridiron, and roasted, then was cast into prison and laid on a floor strewn with broken pottery. But through it all his constancy remained unmoved (leading to his jailor's conversion). He survived until his friends were allowed to see him, and prepare a bed for him, upon which he died. He died on January 22, 304 A.D.

St. Benjamin
St. Benjamin was imprisoned for preaching Christianity during the persecution of Yezdigerd of Persia and his son Varanes. Benjamin was released at the intercession of the Emporer of Constantinople, who promised he would stop preaching. As soon as he was released he again began preaching, was arrested and tortured, and then was impaled when he refused to agree to stop his preaching if released again. He died on March 31, 421 A.D.

St. Euplius
On August 12, 304 A.D., during the persecution of Diocletian at Catania, in Sicily, a deacon named Euplius was brought to the governor's hall and staunchly professed his faith. With the Book of Gospels in his hand, he was called before the governor Calvisian and commanded to read from it. The saint read the passage: "Blest are they who suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." Euplius then read the passage: "If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Questioned by the governor as to what this meant, the youth replied: "It is the law of my Lord, which has been delivered to me." Calvisian asked: "By whom?" Euplius replied: "By Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God." With that, the governor ordered that he be led away to be tortured. At the height of his torment Euplius was asked if he still persisted in Christianity. The saintly youth answered: "What I said before, I say again: I am a Christian and I read the Sacred Scriptures." The governor realized that he would never give up his faith, and ordered him to be beheaded. St. Euplius died April 29, 304 A.D., praising God all the while.