Lives of Scripture

Parmenas appears once, named among the seven men the Jerusalem church selected to resolve a dispute in Acts 6. Greek-speaking (Hellenistic) believers had 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 preaching or practical care, the apostles instructed the congregation to select seven men "of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" to oversee the distribution, freeing the apostles to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word (6:2-4). The church chose Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas -- all bearing Greek names, likely reflecting the very community whose needs had been overlooked. The apostles prayed and laid hands on them, formally commissioning them (6:6). Nothing further is recorded of Parmenas individually; unlike Stephen and Philip, whose subsequent ministries Acts narrates at length, Parmenas's name appears only in this list. His inclusion still matters: the early church entrusted a practical, servant-hearted task to men marked by spiritual character, not status, and the arrangement "pleased the whole congregation" (6:5).