Lives of Scripture

Nicanor appears once in Scripture, named among the seven men chosen in Acts 6 to resolve a dispute in the rapidly growing Jerusalem church. Greek-speaking (Hellenistic) Jewish believers complained that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food, compared to Hebrew-speaking widows (Acts 6:1). Rather than neglect either prayer and preaching or practical care for the vulnerable, the apostles asked the congregation to select "seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" to administer the distribution (6:3). The church chose Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, and presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid hands on them, commissioning them for this service (6:5-6). Nicanor's Greek name suggests he, like several of the seven, came from the Hellenistic Jewish community whose concern had prompted the whole episode. Scripture records nothing further about him individually -- unlike Stephen and Philip, whose subsequent ministries Acts narrates at length, Nicanor's name appears only in this list. His inclusion still matters: the early church's willingness to organize practical, Spirit-filled service to meet a real need, entrusted to capable named men rather than left unaddressed, became a foundation for what later tradition associated with the office of deacon.