Hebrews 10:32

But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of suffering.

This verse refers to fidelity and endurance of the Hebrew Christians who passed through the tribulations that arose around the martyrdom of Stephen and the following persecutions. The uncertainty of scholars about the original addressees of this epistle makes the positive identification of the "conflict of sufferings" somewhat precarious; but, if it was not THAT persecution, it was another one of sufficient priority to the date of Hebrews to have allowed the development of a prevailing indifference that arose after it and which is so strongly treated by the author. Certainly, the words, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin" (Hebrews 12:4), as used by the author, do not rule out Stephen's martyrdom as being the time of the sufferings mentioned here; because "Ye" could have reference to the generation receiving Hebrews, rather than to a congregation that had no history of persecutions. Hebrews was addressed to the living and not to the dead; and whatever persecution was referred to, it was "a great conflict of suffering."