Nicanor the Deacon

About Nicanor the Deacon

Acts names Nicanor among seven men chosen by the Jerusalem community after a dispute arose over the daily distribution to widows. The community selected men described as reputable and filled with the Spirit and wisdom; the apostles prayed and laid hands on them. The passage does not call the seven “deacons” in this scene, though later Christian tradition gives them that title. The USCCB notes that Acts subsequently narrates Stephen and Philip, but not Nicanor, in further detail.The Orthodox Church in America calls him an apostle of the Seventy and one of the first deacons. It commemorates him individually on December 28 and celebrates the four deacons Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, and Parmenas together on July 28. These are liturgical observances, not dates established for events in his life.The same OCA account says Nicanor suffered on the day Stephen was stoned. Acts recounts Stephen's death but does not connect Nicanor to it. This later report is retained as church tradition; Nicanor's death date and place remain unknown in the sources used here.