Prochorus (deacon)

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.

Saint Prochorus
Prochorus and St John depicted in a 1609 Armenian gospel manuscript
Bishop of Nicomedia
Died	1st century Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey)
Venerated in	Oriental Orthodox Churches Eastern Orthodox Church Catholic Church
Feast	20 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 him to have 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]