Stephen is traditionally designated the first martyr, πρωτομáρτυρες. But in the earliest centuries of the Church this was by no means the case. In the account of the martyrs of Lyon in AD 177, as preserved by Eusebius in what is arguably an authentic document (see Appendix iv below), the first to advance to their deaths in the persecution are simply and plausibly called πρωτομáρτυρες (HE 5.1.11). There is no suggestion that the singular of the noun might describe the first of all martyrs in the history of Christianity.

The word does not appear in the New Testament. In the detailed narrative of Acts 7 on the stoning of Stephen those who witness the event are called οἱ (μάρτυρες (7.58).