CHAPTER 7
Acts 6:15-7:1-2a And all who were sitting in the council gazed at him, and they saw his face as the face of an angel. Then the high priest said, "Is it so?" And he said.
“ they saw his face .” It even happens that someone who is in a lower rank appears graceful and splendid. Therefore, so that those to whom he was about to speak might be struck dumb by his words, he begins with a facial display, by which his words are more easily received.
Acts 7:2b Men, brothers and fathers, listen.
See that Stephen does not teach willingly, but is compelled by those who ask. And since he prevailed by his discourse and his signs, he became unbearable to them. The false testimony of the hired men was instigated so that the matter might not appear to be an sham. For they did not fear God, but aimed at the praise of men. The preface, indeed, is truly wise and full of benevolence. For he wishes to present a familiarity with names, as one who is barefaced and harmful toward brothers and fathers is not sane. But he also sees and secures honor and profit, this being the nature of a man who proves himself, and beneficially for those concerning whom the speech is uttered. Yet as to you, he says, there is no perception of such a thing. For the calling which to me is imposed by the brothers and fathers , on the contrary, I view you as if you had forgotten our common nature, showing yourselves to be moved by indiscriminate hatred toward us, making even those things that incline toward the divine to appear favorably to you. Leaving other matters aside, I will lift up for you the remembrance of these things, which are not without the divine end of inclination, signs and wonders worked through us, of which you yourselves are witnesses, being accomplished in no other way. But having indicated these things through the calling hinted by the brothers and fathers and having apprehended Stephen, let us now consider also those things connected with these, not by chance, but set forth with much of inspired wisdom.
Acts 7:2c-5 The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was living in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him: “Depart from your land and from your kindred, and come into a land that I will show you.” Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God moved him into this land in which you now live. And he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a footstep.
See here again how from the preface Stephen strips off the glory of those very ones, not assigning the glory to the temple, not to the nation, but to God alone. For “ the God of glory ,” instead of “the glorified one,” is said, God. This glorified one, working resourcefully out of the helpless, and making the dishonored honorable, will also make us so. For he who arranged wisdom for the helpless people from of old, that same one now has resolved to advance the formerly helpless glorious things toward the resourceful. And to make this credible, Abraham is presented according to the narrative, he who did not deserve the display of God in Mesopotamia by a temple or by sacrifices. And this accounts, as has already been said, for showing that the glorified God is able to do for those things and for us what he did for them, and to bring from obscurity into appearance. And although many hostile nations and kings were brought against Abraham and his seed, some were destroyed, yet what was humbler advanced to greater status. If then the God of glory so inclined concerning those matters, he says, one ought also to consider concerning us that things may not turn out otherwise.
In another way . See how he leads them away from bodily things, and meanwhile from place, attributing glory to God, not to place. For he himself is the source of glory, not in need of the glory which is by us through the temple. But when Scripture says that Terah was the father of Abraham and had gone out from Ur to set out from the land of the Chaldeans, how now does Stephen attribute this oracle to Abraham himself? (see Gen 11:26-32) To which it can be said that indeed the divine response was given to Abraham, but Scripture attributes it to the father, because the sons did not contradict the counsel which was from the divine oracle, although the father was the one who left, this example revealing the disobedience of those present. For, since they would not be convicted of being disobedient when Terah did not oppose the counsel of his son, yet after the experience of divine signs would they not, not only unbelieving, but even with envy and hostilely attacking them in slaughter, persecute those who deserved to be glorified because of divine signs?
Acts 7:5b-18 And he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his seed after him, though he had no child. But God spoke therefore: that his seed shall be sojourners in a foreign land, and they shall enslave them, and afflict them four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall serve, I will judge, said God. And after that they shall come forth and serve me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Isaac was born, and he was circumcised on the eighth day, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs, envying Joseph, sent him into Egypt. And God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions. And he gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And he made him governor over Egypt and over his whole house. And there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great distress, and our fathers found no food. But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there first. And in the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And Joseph’s kindred was made visible to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and called his father Jacob, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls. And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he and our fathers died, and they were carried to Sychem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor of Sychem. And as the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until another king arose who did not know Joseph.
In many ways, through the present discourse the blessed Stephen refutes both his own gentleness toward the Jews and their ferocity toward him. For when he addresses them as brothers and fathers, what else is shown by these names than the proper relation of kinship? to behave toward them accordingly? And the Jews, enduring this little while, were somewhat disposed to regard with wicked suspicion the signs performed through him; therefore Stephen, encountering their wickedness arising from racial spite, speaks with greater boldness. And he shows the promise to the fathers, in which they placed great confidence, made before the land existed, before circumcision, before sacrifice, before the temple. And that these men did not receive circumcision nor the law according to merit, but that the reward of obedience alone was the land. And that the promise is not fulfilled by the giving of circumcision, and that these were types. Consider, however, that if Terah was not a companion of the pilgrimage with his son Abraham because he was unworthy, much more so his sons, even if they have performed a great part of the journey. Abraham therefore was so obedient that, moved only by the oracle, he abandoned both kinship and homeland. If he behaved so, how shall those who are found disobedient in all things be reckoned among the sons of Abraham? For it is not the nativity of life but the imitation of manners that confers ancestry: for therefore even to monsters born of ill fortune what is legitimate and natural could be attributed. In this way, although he does not proceed in the order of discourse, yet advancing by a great abbreviation of speech and by the progress of understanding, and reproving their boldness even unto the passion of Christ, he suffered what was plausible for him to endure, who had been accusing the wicked. And he promised that he would give to him. Hereafter the story of Abraham proceeds, which altogether recounts the patriarch’s patience up to the fulfillment of the promises. For he shows Abraham and his descendants, who were long-suffering concerning the divine promises, to be exceedingly famous, while resembling in negligence the present hearers then, who themselves will immediately share in their calamities together with them, their goods which they hoped for having been taken away from their hands.
All these things, however, are small, if measured to the ultimate heroism directed toward Christ. Therefore they are hard-hearted and uncircumcised in heart, and their ears are clogged. For which reason they were murderers of the prophets, bringing destruction upon themselves, and even of Christ, who will repay to them both destruction and their final scattering. So great, then, are the things that it is possible to see in this brief sermon of the most wise preacher Stephen, endowed with divine wisdom, of which, according to our limitation, we have yet settled the understood meaning, taken according to the quality of the discourse given to us, contracting the end together with the beginning: in that very sermon, from which this divine outflow, flowing forth here, issued, delighting us. Now it will be useful to interpret in parts also those things which require a longer delay, according to our ability. For the history assumed of Abraham and thereafter of his descendants is not taken up to strengthen the preacher for no reason: but that it may be shown both the ready obedience of the ancestors concerning what is divine, and the disobedience of the descendants on account of wicked manners.
The first example is taken from Abraham, showing that one ought not to hasten what is delayed by divine promises, for Abraham indeed sought to hasten the departure of his descendants from Egypt: although it was revealed to him that their imprisonment was to be prolonged for four hundred years, and that with much affliction and subjection into slavery, and not merely some subjection, but intolerable, since they were treated not as servants but as enemies. And certainly, Abraham offers no petition for shortening the time, but only a little encouragement by way of comfort, namely by promising vengeance against those who afflicted them, from him who had promised to judge those who had viciously killed them, who had themselves brought no injury. Moreover, he is encouraged to await the promises to be fulfilled from Persia into Palestine, and not to pervert the promise into impossibility on account of the long delay and the greatness of the matters, since everything rests in the power of the one who promises, how great then is the confidence of him who desires God about it? Furthermore, the envy of the brothers against Joseph is placed before us, and the forgetting of injuries, in that, when he could have done so, he did not take vengeance on those who had wronged him, but rather returned benefits. After these things is added their rebuke, who were openly and furiously moved against Christ and his disciples.
Acts 7:19 Having shrewdly corrupted our race, he ruined our fathers by causing their infants to be exposed so that they would not be brought to life.
Having become crafty, that is resolved to outwit them by cunning devices. For sophistry is a forced explanation. Wherefore the emphasis here says that it is plain they are violently imposed upon; therefore the charlatans are called sophists, as those who hide the truth by deceit and fallacies. Following what has been said concerning Abraham, the account of the trading shows the hardship of his descendants under the Egyptians. Whose counterstroke is the refreshing destruction of the Egyptians, which it was foretold would be wrought upon them by God himself at the Red Sea. In case under the burden of sufferings, despair of salvation should lead them to slide into unbelief. Consider also the pledge of the faith of those to whom promises are made. What is that? Circumcision of the genital parts, known to them alone and not to others who have not suffered. From these things indeed springs the compelling proof of those who conduct these affairs.
But even at the time when deliverance for the afflicted was drawing near, the arrogance of the oppressors, having increased, introduced destruction of the males by the midwives. Moreover, as to the other evils it chiefly led to an increase in the number of the afflicted, here, in order to condemn the crimes, it unexpectedly rescues even Moses, who was to destroy them, and esteems him worthy of royal nurture and care. Why was this also mentioned? To show that even now those who arm themselves against Christ and his disciples do not recognize that they will meet with like fates, being seized in the very works of their hands. The sign of circumcision is meant to indicate this on the generative members. The covering placed upon the ancestors in paradise, having sprung from the envy of the original evil serpent, from which it also seemed more credible than the act of God concerning the taste of the tree. Circumcision introduced the removal of this for one who turns to live toward God, commanding the cutting out according to the Mosaic legislation of customs from birth.
Moreover, this season of visitation according to Christ also appears. During which all shadowy and typical things are transferred to the truth according to the Gospel. Therefore those who do not endure being so transformed are represented as hard of neck and uncircumcised, hard-hearted with regard to subjection to the Divine Spirit, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, as not enduring to devote matters suitably to the times. But if it was remarkable in Joseph that although he was sold by his brothers, he nonetheless preserved those same men: this is more marvelous still, that the king nourished him who was about to depose him of his rule. But by showing that he had the infants exposed he indicated that he did not wish them to be killed openly. See how the Devil by those things advanced the promise of God, by which he strove to dissolve it. Moses is cast into exile, but in exile he attains that vision, and the leadership of the people is entrusted to him: therefore he even makes the sold servant reign where the servant was held. (Wis. 10:14) And Christ himself in death demonstrated power and strength; so wise is God, and his providence incomprehensible. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 7:20-24a At that time Moses was born. And he was pleasing to God, who was nursed three months in his father’s house. But when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in deeds and words. And when forty years of his life were fulfilled, he resolved in his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. And seeing one wronged, he was outraged, and he executed vengeance for the oppressed.
At that time, then, Moses was born , it says, and he was pleasing to God , that is, well-pleasing or beloved of God. The word "pleasing" primarily signifies one sinless in body in childhood. When he was exposed and Pharaoh's daughter took him up , she taught him all the wisdom of the Egyptians . From this it is clear that external instruction outside the Scriptures is not entirely rejectable. For in the manner of praise it is said that Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians . And concerning the three youths and Daniel, that they excelled all in Chaldean philosophy and in the other sciences. (Dan. 1:17) Yet one must attend to these things briefly, remaining faithful to the God-breathed Scripture.
For neither Moses nor those about Ananias and Daniel would have learned foreign education except under force and by power of masters. And indeed they made no use of it at all, unless one might say perhaps that it was good to learn it for the purpose of overthrowing their deceits. [AMMONIUS]
Acts 7:24b Having struck the Egyptian.
Moses killed the Egyptian, not moved by anger or wrath, but by zeal. For whatever is done for the sake of God's word is devoutness; and though it be murder when done for God, it is not murder. Now Phinehas, having slain two with one hand (Num. 15:7), was heard: "Phinehas has stood up and has made atonement, and the plague was stayed; and it was reckoned to him for righteousness." (Ps. 106:30) For the intention of a murderer and of a holy man is different, though the act be the same. Therefore the event through Moses was a sign that God was about to slay Egyptians through Moses and to save those called Israelites. Therefore much concerning Moses. This true discourse will again compose for us the supreme arrangement of contemplation that was in Christ.
For the Savior, seeing that those from Israel endured covetousness terribly (for Satan leapt upon them as though crushing them), had mercy and intended to free them. Having somehow killed the one destined to do wrong, he hid him in the earth, that is, he shut him up among the underworld into Hades. Therefore, having pre-locked Satan as it were into Hades, the Savior appeared as the champion of justice to those from Israel. But those on whom they were about to give thanks said, “This man does not cast out demons unless by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.” (Matt. 12:24) For this reason he also transferred from Judea into Galilee, just as Moses was transferred into the land of Midian, and he called together a contest from among the nations.
Acts 7:25-29 He supposed his brothers understood that God was giving them salvation through his hand. But they did not understand. On the next day he appeared to them as they were fighting, and reconciled them, saying, “Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?” But the one wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” Moses fled after that speech, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.
He declares, then, that this ingratitude arose from here, and against the benefactors [εὐεργέτας 1 ] it was treacherous among the Jews. For Moses, who in anger once struck down the wrongdoer, his fellow-countryman, is now treated with leniency toward the wrongdoer. But he who used his native customs to commit wicked acts against benefactors rejected him, by slandering him even more, and sought destruction, surrounding the deliverer with the murder of the Egyptian who had done Moses wrong. Therefore they plotted the ruin of their benefactor in manner and against Christ for his supports. Therefore they say: "What shall we do, for this man performs many signs?" (Jn. 11:47)
Acts 7:30-32a And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire out of a bush. But Moses, seeing it, wondered at the vision. And as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came to him: I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Now he calls the Son of God an angel, just as elsewhere he calls him a man. For he is the angel of great counsel. (Isa. 9:6 LXX) Therefore shortly afterwards he shows him speaking to the blessed Moses: “ I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob .” He is revealed in a flame of fire in a bush . For in the form of fire and on Mount Sinai God appears while giving the law. What then does the passage mean? The sacred text likens the divine nature to fire because it overpowers wood and grass, that is, man. For it says somewhere: “God is a consuming fire.” (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29) And again, “Man, his days are as grass.” (Ps. 103:15) But just as fire is not carried off by thorns, so deity is not borne away by humanity. Yet in Christ it happened and became as if subdued, a kind of surrounding of the unmingled assault of the fire of his own nature, so that it might be able to be held, just as fire is by thorns. That the fire upon the bush, having kept the wood entirely unconsumed, might mysteriously indicate that he made his own flesh stronger than corruption, for the deity had taken up residence in humanity. And this mystery occurred in Christ.
Acts 7:32b-36 Frightened, Moses did not dare to look closely. But the Lord said to him, "Take off the sandals from your feet; for the place where you are standing is holy ground." I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I have come down to deliver them. Now therefore, go, and I will send you to Egypt. This Moses, whom they refused, saying, "Who made you a ruler and a judge?"—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, performing signs and wonders in Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
Even if the voice as worded in Exodus does not appear to be exactly the same, nevertheless it is equivalent. For the one who trembles is not far from becoming fearful. These things are said about the vision of the bush, the same distinction between the fearful and the trembling remaining, and in the account concerning Mount Sinai. For Moses said there: “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling,” (Heb. 12:21) using parallel words. Therefore the blessed Moses, having set down the vision, then added perhaps saying to himself, “I will go over and see this great sight, why does the bush not burn up?” (Ex. 3:3) but the Lord immediately forbids him, “Do not come near here.” (Ex. 3:5) And he commands him to remove the shoe from his sandal. Behold, he whom the angel spoke of earlier now shows him to be Lord and God. For he is the angel of the great counsel (Isa. 9:6 LXX) and Son of God.
What then is the riddle signified by the sandal ? It is necessary to say that the sandal is a sign of death and corruption. For every sandal is a remnant of an animal already dead. Therefore the mind attempting to ascend to the divine contemplations must cast off every dead and fleshly imagination like some pair of sandals, and understand the mystery according to Christ. Christ is therefore inaccessible under the law and the instructional worship (for Moses is the face of the law), unless perhaps they had first cleansed the defilement from sin and repelled the worship that is still in types and shadows. But if they were willing to be freed from the sandal already indicated, they would then draw near to Christ, approaching the worship in Spirit and in truth. (Jn. 4:24)
Acts 7:37a This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel: A Prophet will the Lord your God raise up for you from among your brethren, like me.
This the blessed Stephen brought forward, hinting to them the mystery according to Christ, and showing that Moses also had spoken to you about him. For God and Father announces again the incarnation of His own offspring through the all-wise Moses, and that a second lawgiver will be raised up for us, having spoken the law formerly to the earlier ones himself through angels, and in the last times revealed as a worker for us, and having sent an angel as agent of the New Covenant, the angel of the great counsel of the Father. And this is what the phrase “ like me ” indicates, that is, as lawgiver. But he calls the Lord of the prophets a prophet because of his humanity. “ like me ,” treated with contempt by those from whom he ought to have received honor. Each gave a law, having previously done signs; yet even therefore neither of them were willing to obey.
Acts 7:37b-42 You shall hear him. This is the one who became in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received a living word to give to us. How unwilling were our fathers to be obedient, but they pushed away and turned their hearts to Egypt, saying to Aaron: Make for us gods who will go before us. For this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And they practiced idolatry in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idols, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “Did you offer me victims and sacrifice for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?”
Consider that at first they brought them offering sacrifices , and then that they offered them to idols . For previously the name “sacrifices” is nowhere found, but there were precepts concerning living and rational animals. The testimony, however, does not introduce this randomly, but so as to show that there is no necessity for sacrifices, in that he says: " Did you not offer me victims and sacrifices ," etc., as if he says: You cannot say that when you were sacrificing to God you also offered them to those idols, but that you first slaughtered them for those idols. And this indeed was in the desert where your delay was longest. See moreover the whole discourse, how boldly and without malice he perseveres throughout the accusation of them, almost saying: And if I were to say the temple ought to be dissolved, and the instituted sacrifices to be changed, I have said nothing new. For Moses , in whom you seem to boast most, for forty years neither offered sacrifices nor built a temple, nor did David, nor any one of the others placed in the midst of you, although the land was given to you. But the prophets also pronounce concerning these things as about unnecessary matters. In what way then do you now pretend to avenge Moses, whom both your fathers and you rejected? And to say it in one word, the whole discourse shows how wisely and at the same time modestly and keenly their accusation is unraveled.
Acts 7:43 And you shall take up the tabernacle of Molech, and the star of your god Rephan, the images which you made to worship them. And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Moloch , or Molchom. This is an idol of the Moabites, a stone having a transparent and extraordinary appearance in the form of the morning star [ἑωσφόρου 2 ] on the tip of the forehead. Rephan is a form of darkness.. For when Moses had ascended the mountain, they fashioned a calf and bowed down to the worship of the stars, and having made a shrine they set up the image which they called Moloch . Moloch, if one interprets it, is their king; Rephan , however, is darkness or blindness. “You have taken up the tabernacle of Moloch,” that is, of your king; but who is that? The star of your god, Rephan, which also was for you to your blindness. For your hearts have been darkened. [CYRIL: ON THE PROPHET AMOS]
And because you filled up the madness of the Moabites, which is the region near Damascus, therefore you depart beyond Damascus, that is, into Babylon . [CYRIL]
And although the prophet says “beyond Damascus” (for so the Septuagint translation has it), yet blessed Stephen says “ beyond Babylon ,” following the Hebrew edition, or because Damascus is the boundary of the Syrians’ region, namely Babylon. 3
Acts 7:44-46 The tent of testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, as he who spoke to Moses had ordered, to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. Our fathers also, who received it with Jesus, brought it in after they had captured the nations whose land God had stripped from before the faces of our fathers, until the days of David; who found favor before God. And he sought to find a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob.
The tent of testimony , that is, of the commands of God, which was the tent of Moses shown by God on Mount Sinai. It was said to have been established by God so that they would have God as witness, because its explanation was on the mountain, and he himself had described it to Moses.
Acts 7:47-50 But Solomon built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands, as the prophet says: "The heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?"
In the four hundred eightieth year after the exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt, Solomon began to build the temple in Jerusalem, as the third book of Kings relates. (1 Kings 6:1) Moreover the temple was built so long after the ascent of Israel from Egypt that, after they had toiled wandering in the mountains, they chose one place, which was in Jerusalem, which God had held in honor. These men, however, being slow of understanding and ignorant of the words of God, thinking that Jerusalem was the city of God, said that God dwelt only therein. God therefore refutes them because they excessively glorified him, and he says: What house will you build for me , who have heaven for a throne, and the earth for the footstool of my feet? For to those who supposed his nature to be confined and limited it was necessary to show openly that He is everywhere and that nothing is capable of containing him, but rather that he passes through all things, and the heaven is full of him, and the earth is full as well.
Acts 7:51a Stiff‑necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears.
For what reason, when he had yet been speaking gently, does he now use a harsh tone? Because he saw that they were not paying attention with their minds to the things that were being said.
Acts 7:51b You always resist the Holy Spirit.
“ You always resist the Holy Spirit .” He did not say, “you resist God,” but, “the Holy Spirit.” Therefore he recognizes no distinction, since the Spirit is also God, even if he does not appear so to the godless. Therefore you always , he says, resist God. For when he desires that sacrifices be made, you do not sacrifice to him; but when he does not desire it, you sacrifice. When the temple stood, you served idols. When he wishes to be served apart from a temple, you do the opposite, acting like your forefathers.
Acts 7:51c As your fathers, so you also.
It shows the evil descending from above into them. So did Christ. Since great things were always being prayed for on behalf of the fathers .
Acts 7:52a Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
Speaking these things we know that the blessed Stephen speaks the truth, being spoken through by the Holy Spirit. But to prove this from the Old Testament how those who disbelieve in Jesus blame their fathers for persecuting and killing the prophets is not possible from the books presented as the New Testament. [ORIGEN]
If then, he says, you kill those who foretold his coming, it is nothing remarkable that I, proclaiming the foretold one, should be killed by you. Nor was he ignorant that he would die at their hands, being full of the Holy Spirit. Therefore he also used boldness without restraint.
Acts 7:52b-53 And they killed those who had foretold the coming of the righteous one, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. You who received the law as commands delivered by angels and did not keep it.
He calls him righteous , showing that if he is righteous, those who killed him are exceedingly unjust. And he calls him righteous, which even they could not deny. For nowhere, even being very stubborn, did they accuse him of any injustice. For how could they, who had not even a roof? But he called Jesus righteous, wishing to draw them.
And he calls these his betrayers and murderers , as being partners with those who crucified him, and indeed, he says, having received the law , they hold commands , some of them making the bringing of an offering equivalent to the conduct of those who pay the tax. [AMMONIUS]
For this is, “certain of you have received the law as commands of angels .” And some also say this, that the one who was ordered by angels and entrusted through an angel to Moses, the one who appeared to him in the bush. “As regulations,” instead of “according to the commands,” just as those gave orders to Moses, having appeared in the bush and on the mountain. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 7:54-55 Hearing these things, their hearts were torn, and they gnashed their teeth at him. Being full of the Holy Spirit, having looked up to heaven, he saw the glory of God.
If they had wished to kill him, why did they not immediately kill him then? For they wished to put a credible cause upon the boldness. For to them the outrage was not a reasonable cause for execution, but perhaps for driving him away or chastising him, not for killing him. Otherwise the outrage would not have been his, but the prophet’s accusation against them. And they did not wish to seem to be killing him because of the outrages against them, just as they did not wish to kill Christ. For they did not intend murder, but were eager to harm his honor. For they feared that if he were not put to death for insulting them, he might become the more revered.
Acts 7:56 And Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said: Behold I see the heavens lifted up, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Standing and not sitting, the blessed Stephen sees Jesus , in order to show the attention directed toward him, and to provide the contestant with great eagerness; the posture of the one assisting is shown: Moreover, since sitting was burdensome for them, he said first that he stood, hinting at his resurrection; but because he does not stand, but sits, Paul indicated by saying that he raised and sat down together, at his right hand in the heavenly places. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 7:56b–57a Shouting with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and all together rushed upon him. And having dragged him out of the city, they began to stone him.
They continued, who had falsely testified against the saint.
Acts 7:57b–58 And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen, who called upon the Lord and kept saying.
A witness says, whom they induced to bear false witness against him. And he points out the men who seemed to be witnesses , that they were more prepared for murder, for even their garments they laid aside to be nimble and light for casting stones. And he says that the one who would later be a messenger of the inhabited world also then took part in the murder, showing that some divine and wondrous and not merely human was the later change in him. And this, "O Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," was being shown and taught, that he is not destroyed.
Acts 7:59a O Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Therefore it is shown that the souls of the righteous no longer depart into Hades, as formerly, but are rather sent into the hands of the living God through our Savior Christ. [ SAINT CYRIL ON "FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT." ]
Acts 7:59b Kneeling down, he cried out in a loud voice, "O Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And having said this he fell asleep. But Saul was approving of his execution.
That his own death, when he prayed, would not place them into sin if their sin was forgiven, this is what he sought to be fitting. And we say, if they repented, it was forgiven. For even he who struck him with countless hands, and Paul who persecuted the Church, became protector of the Church. [ SAINT CYRIL ON "FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT." ]
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Translator notes for Acts chapter 7.
1. εὐεργέτας is the accusative plural form of the Ancient Greek noun εὐεργέτης (euergetēs), which means "benefactor" or "doer of good"
2. “the morning star [ἑωσφόρου] The Greek word ἑωσφόρου is the genitive form of Ἑωσφόρος. In ancient Greece, it referred to the Morning Star—specifically the planet Venus when it appears in the eastern sky just before sunrise. In mythology it personified as a minor deity, often depicted as a winged youth carrying a torch, heralding the arrival of the goddess Eos (Dawn). In the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament): In Isaiah 14:12, the Hebrew word helel (shining one) was translated as Ἑωσφόρος. In the Latin Vulgate, this became Lucifer, which eventually became a name associated with Satan in Christian tradition.
3. The explanation given concerning the reading from the Septuagint vs Stephen about “beyond Babylon” is also found in Cramer’s Catena, and the source given is attributed to Nicholas the Presbyter.