Acts 2 · The Lantern

In the course of the Festival at the close of the Harvest the disciples had all met together,

The first infusion of the Holy Spirit into the congregated disciples took place at "the third hour." Peter, on the day on which he experienced the vision of Universal Community, (exhibited) in that small vessel, had ascended into the more lofty parts of the house, for prayer's sake "at the sixth hour.

"when the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled." That is, at Pentecost, about that feast itself, when the season of spiritual ripeness brings the sickle, when because of the feast many of those who had crucified him were present, and in order that they might receive the reproach for their own murder.

Why did this happen "when the day of Pentecost had come"? Because when the sickle was to come down upon the harvest, when it was time to gather the fruits, then the sickle of the word also had to come down; and as if in place of a sickle, the sharpened Holy Spirit descended. And Christ says: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Matt.

when suddenly there came from the heavens a noise like a strong wind rushing by; it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.

That the Holy Spirit has frequently appeared in fire. In Exodus: "And the whole of Mount Sinai smoked, because God had come down upon it in fire." Also in the Acts of the Apostles"And suddenly there was made a sound from heaven, as if a vehement blast were borne along, and it filled the whole of that place in which they were sitting.

Suddenly a sound and not invisibly the descent of the Spirit, and from heaven, so that it might strike the assembled with greater astonishment and raise them up, and make ready to gather all together. And with sensation, so that the wonder may be made undeniable.

At first He had given the Holy Spirit to the world in a secret way, but He did it manifestly after He had ascended on high, for this Holy Spirit was the cleansing, enlightening, and perfecting Hierarch, and the Holy Spirit came down into the heavenly and sub-heavenly hierarchies.

Then there appeared tongues of what seemed to be flame, separating, so that one settled on each of them;

and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with strange ‘tongues’ as the Spirit prompted their utterances.

The Galilean Peter or Andrew spoke Persian or Median. John and the other apostles spoke all the tongues of various nations, for the thronging of multitudes of strangers from all parts is not something new in Jerusalem, but this was true in apostolic times. What teacher can be found so proficient as to teach people in a moment what they have not learned?

"He heard a tongue which he knew not." We must interpret tongue here as the precepts of the New Testament, for if you understand it as "language," how did the Jewish people hear a tongue that they did not know, when we are sure that the Lord Christ spoke in Hebrew?

The grace of God was pleased to ordain from the beginning that the word of the apostles should be effective; for what use are preachers if there are no listeners?

Now there were then staying in Jerusalem religious Jews from every country in the world;

and, when this sound was heard, numbers of people collected, in the greatest excitement, because each of them heard the disciples speaking in his own language.

Since the event had taken place in a house, of course they came together from without. The multitude was confounded: was all in commotion. They marvelled; "Because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

Because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. It is asked in this place how each one heard them speaking the great things of God in his own language: whether those who were speaking in different languages were delivering what was being said in the language of each one, that is, whether each of them now spoke in this, now in another language, thus running through…

"When this sound occurred, the multitude gathered and was confounded," that is, was confused, was amazed. Since this happened in a house, it is evident that the people came running from outside.

They were utterly amazed, and kept asking in astonishment: “What! Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?

Then how is it that we each of us hear them in our own language?

Some of us are Parthians, some Medes, some Elamites; and some of us live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Roman Asia,

For upon whom else have the universal nations believed, but upon the Christ who is already come? For whom have the nations believed,-Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and they who inhabit Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and they who dwell in Pontus, and Asia, and Pamphylia, tarriers in Egypt, and inhabiters of the region of Africa which is beyond Cyrene, Romans and sojourn…

"Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene:" mark how they run from east to west: "and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God."

And those who inhabit Mesopotamia, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia. These provinces which are named after Judea, indeed all speak Greek, but if they sounded nothing different from the custom of their homeland, they would not by any means be mentioned with such a subtle distinction of languages.

in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the districts of Libya adjoining Cyrene; some of us are visitors from Rome,

either Jews by birth or converts, and some are Cretans and Arabians — yet we all alike hear them speaking in our own tongues of the great things that God has done.”

They were all utterly amazed and bewildered. “What does it mean?” they asked one another.

But there were some who said with a sneer: “They have had too much new wine.”

For in truth the wine was new, the grace of the New Testament. But this new wine was from a spiritual vine, which already had often borne fruit in the prophets and sprouted forth in the New Testament.

There were also some of those who understood, perhaps the baser sort, mocking the rites as if they were the products of drunkenness; for if they had not understood, they would not have attributed the matter to drunkenness. But if they understood what was being said, you will ask, how did they dare to mock?

But pay attention to the madness of the others: "they are full," they say, "of sweet wine," even though the time was not such as would allow one to suppose anything of the sort, because it was the feast of Pentecost and the third hour; but malice stops at nothing.

Then Peter, surrounded by the eleven other apostles, stood up, and, raising his voice, addressed the crowd. “People of Judea,” he began, “and all you who are staying in Jerusalem, let me tell you what this means. Mark well my words.

Well, let us look over again what has been said. It is well managed, that as against men laughing and mocking, he starts up and begins with, "Be this known unto you all and hearken unto my words." But he begins by saying, "Ye men of Judea." By the expression "Judea," I take him to mean those that lived in Judea.

"But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them," etc. But blessed Peter, standing up with the eleven apostles, spoke with a loud voice, saying that, seeing it was but the third hour of the day, they were not, as some thought, drunk with must, but rather filled with the honor of the Holy Ghost.

Above you saw providence; here observe courage, because if all the listeners were amazed, then was it not equally amazing that a simple and unlearned man raised his voice amid such a multitude, despite the fact that there were both slanderers and those capable of killing? Is this not beyond human strength?

These people are not drunk, as you suppose; for it is only now nine in the morning! No!

For he who, according to Mark, was crucified at the third hour, has now at the third hour sent his grace. For his grace is not one and the Spirit's another, but he who was then crucified and had promised, fulfilled what he had promised.

The third hour became celebrated by the heavenly sayings: the one God has this number, a single Substance distinguished by three Persons; [a Substance] that many proofs demonstrate to us is also at the same time demonstrated by the hour.

He did not say: "they are not drunk, as you" slander, but: "as you suppose," because he already speaks more gently and does not wish to insistently prove that they said this out of malice, but attributes ignorance to them rather than exposing them for impiety, preparing for them a path to conversion.

This is what is spoken of in the prophet Joel —

Since, then, Christ was announced by the Creator, "who formeth the lightning, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man His Christ," as the prophet Joel says, since the entire hope of the Jews, not to say of the Gentiles too, was fixed on the manifestation of Christ,-it was demonstrated that they, by their being deprived of those powers of knowledge and understanding-wisdom…

Then he brought forward the prophecy of Joel, nowhere mentioning Christ here, and of the signs of which they were eyewitnesses, or that this had been his promise.

He refers not to the name of Christ, not to the promise of Christ, but to the promise of the Father. Note also the prudence of Peter. He did not pass over the prophecy in silence, but neither did he speak directly about what concerns Christ: that He, after being crucified and rising again, promised them, the apostles, this gift.

‘It will come about in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; Your sons and your daughters will become prophets, Your young men will see visions, And your old men dream dreams;

But yet Almighty God, in His most gracious providence, by "pouring out of His Spirit in these last days, upon all flesh, upon His servants and on His handmaidens," has checked these impostures of unbelief and perverseness, reanimated men's faltering faith in the resurrection of the flesh, and cleared from all obscurity and equivocation the ancient Scriptures (of both God's Test…

"And I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh." He offers even to them excellent hopes, if they would have them. And so far, he does not leave it to be regarded as the exclusive advantage of himself and his company; which would have made them be looked upon with an evil eye; thus cutting off all envious feeling.

It does not say: "I will pour out My Spirit," but: "of My Spirit." Not the Spirit, but the gift of the Spirit is poured out "upon all flesh," and specifically upon that which has believed, that is, upon the Gentiles.

Yes, even on the slaves — for they are mine — both men and women, I will in those days pour out my Spirit, And they will become prophets;

And I will show wonders in the heavens above, And signs on the earth below — Blood and fire and mist of smoke;

The worst to come first; namely, the inhabitants to be taken, and then the city to be razed and burnt. Then he dwelt upon the metaphor, bringing before the eyes of the hearers the overthrow and the taking. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood." What means, the moon turned into blood? It denotes the excess of the slaughter.

Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The blood of the Lord's side, the fire of the Holy Spirit, the vapor of compunction and weeping. For as from fire comes smoke, so from the ardor of the Holy Spirit proceeds compunction.

With these words the prophet clearly foretells in advance both the future judgment, and the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the Jews, and the events that were to take place at the cross of Christ, and finally, what happened to the Jews as a result of the Roman war, when much blood was shed by the Romans in Judea, when smoke billowed from the burning of cities and…

The sun will become darkness, And the moon blood-red, Before the day of the Lord comes — that great and awful day.

For at that time the trumpet shall sound, and awake those that sleep from the lowest parts of the earth, righteous and sinners alike. And every kindred, and tongue, and nation, and tribe shall be raised in the twinkling of an eye; and they shall stand upon the face of the earth, waiting for the coming of the righteous and terrible Judge, in fear and trembling unutterable.

"Before that great and notable day of the Lord come." For be not confident, he means to say, because at present you sin with impunity. For these things are the prelude of a certain great and dreadful day. Do you see how he made their souls to quake and melt within them, and turned their laughter into pleading for acquittal?

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. This is believed to have been partly fulfilled during the Lord's Passion, and partly to occur before the great day, that is, the Day of Judgment.

Then will everyone who invokes the name of the Lord be saved.’

What, I pray you, is this you say? Do you talk of salvation for them after the Cross? Bear with me a little. Great is the mercy of God. And this very fact does, no less than the resurrection, prove him to be God, yea, no less than His miracles-the fact that He calls these to Him. For surpassing goodness is, above all things, peculiarly God's own.

And it shall be: Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is what Peter says elsewhere: For God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation, whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him (Acts X).

But the Lord says: "I will pour out of My Spirit… before the great day of the Lord comes." Say to the Jew: "If the Godhead has one person and one name, and if God speaks of Himself, then why did He not say: 'before My day comes'?" If, says Peter, you sin now with impunity, do not place your hope in this, because this is only the beginning of that great and difficult day.

People of Israel, listen to what I am saying. Jesus of Nazareth, a man whose mission from God to you was proved by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God showed among you through him, as you know full well —

For Peter said, "Ye men of Israel, hear my words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God among you by powers, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, by the hands of wicked men ye have slain, affixing [to the cross]: whom God hath raised up, having lo…

Since Peter had urged them vehemently before, he now lets them go, not by flattering them, but by giving them rest and regarding them worthy of relief. Therefore he also makes a preface and recalls the forefather David, so that he might not alarm them, since he had introduced Jesus with his speech. For when they heard the prophet at his feet, they held back.

This word is not flattery; but since Peter had strongly rebuked them, he now condescends to them and reminds them of the forefathers, persuading them to recall their faith, and begins again from the beginning so as not to upset them, since he intended to remind them about Jesus. Previously, listening to the prophet, they could not be upset.

He, I say, in accordance with God’s definite plan and with his previous knowledge, was betrayed, and you, by the hands of lawless men, nailed him to a cross and put him to death.

Thereupon in saying, "By the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God," he shows that it was not because they had the power to do it, and that there was a wisdom and a Divine arrangement in the event, seeing it was from God. He rapidly passes over the unpleasant part.

Since they advanced in their daring by means of the cross, he also attempts to free them by saying, "and foreknowledge of God," at once showing that his suffering was voluntary and that he ministered to the predestined, but even while clearing them he does not entirely abandon the charge against them.

Then, having attacked their lawlessness, he tries to relieve them of responsibility for it and says: "by the determined counsel," showing by this that they did not do what they dared by their own power, but because He Himself consented to it and because it was determined from above.

But God released him from the pangs of death and raised him to life, it being impossible for death to retain its hold on him.

Sheol saw me and was shattered, and Death ejected me and many with me. I have been vinegar and bitterness to it, and I went down with it as far as its depth. Then the feet and the head it released, because it was not able to endure my face. And I made a congregation of living among his dead; and I spoke with them by living lips; in order that my word may not be unprofitable.

Light's glittering morn bedecks the sky, heaven thunders forth its victor cry, the glad earth shouts its triumph high, and groaning hell makes wild reply: While he, the King of glorious might, treads down death's strength in death's despite, and trampling hell by victor's right, brings forth his sleeping Saints to light.

Peter says (Acts 2:24): "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that He should be held by it." Therefore it seems that He remained in hell until the hour of the Resurrection.

Indeed he was the one David was referring to when he said — ‘I have had the Lord ever before my eyes, For he stands at my right hand, so that I should not be disquieted.

For the assertion, "Seeing that it was not possible that He should be holden of it," means this, that His rising was not common to the rest. Then, however, before their thoughts can enter at all into his meaning, he brings David upon them, an authority which sets aside all human reasoning.

For David says in reference to Him, that is, in His person: I foresaw the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand, that I may not be moved. By explaining what the Mediator of God and men did, He gives us who are pure men advice on how to avoid sins. For whoever continuously looks upon the presence of his Creator with the eye of his mind in no way turns to sins.

Next he brings forward David, who surpasses all human reason, because this kind of thing is prophecy, and says: "For David says concerning Him," and not concerning himself; and again he begins from the side of humility. Although this has been accomplished now, it was foreordained from of old: God consented to this from the beginning and foreordained it from the beginning.

Therefore my heart was cheered, and my tongue told its delight; Yes, even my body, too, will rest in hope;

Again, David expressly (or rather the Lord in the person of the saint, and the same from the foundation of the world is each one who at different periods is saved, and shall be saved by faith) says, "My heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced, and my flesh shall still rest in hope. For Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt Thou give Thine holy one to see corruption.

Moreover, even my flesh will rest in hope. Indeed, He was rejoicing that He could not be moved or overcome by enemies; but beyond this joy, He declares that His joy increased even more in that He was to provide an example of resurrection in His flesh, by which He saved us through His death.

"Even my flesh shall rest in hope." Since Jesus, having accepted death, put off that flesh which He had assumed according to the plan of the economy, in order to raise it again from death, it is fitting that His flesh nourished itself with hope in expectation of the resurrection.

For you will not abandon my soul to the place of death, Nor surrender me, your holy one, to undergo corruption.

Truly the prophet David also, according to the interpretation of the great Peter, said with foresight of him, "You will not leave my soul in hell, neither will you suffer your holy one to see corruption," while the apostle Peter thus expounds the saying, that "his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption." For his Godhead, which was the same before taking…

nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption: For it happened on the third day that His flesh was given fresh life, it was demonstrated that it could not have suffered corruption.

Although the words "You will not leave my soul in Hades" are accepted by some as words spoken in the person of David, without, however, having the ability to prove their thought, nevertheless they rightly and piously say that the body rose to be incorruptible and spiritual, since the risen flesh after the resurrection is a spiritual and incorruptible body.

You have shown me the path to life, You will fill me with gladness in your presence.’

He overcame the opposition of the world because he moved not an inch from contemplation of the Father. There He has laid aside the hardships of this world; and His humanity is filled with the glorification of His whole majesty and rules united to the Word with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever.

For You have made known to me the paths of life, by which we proceed to eternity. In these, after the sorrow of passion, You will fill me with joy with Your face (Psalm XV). And ascending to heaven, You will give the delights of Your right hand continually. Because He was neither left in Hell.

"The path of life," that is, that path which the souls of the righteous traversed together with the Redeemer, coming out from the nethermost places. In the words "You will fill me with joy before Your face," by "face" one should understand the manifestation of the Lord in the Divine image and His regard toward us, by which He more closely regarded us.

Friends, I can speak to you the more confidently about the patriarch David, because he is dead and buried, and his tomb is here among us to this very day.

David, then, prophet as he was, knowing that God ‘had solemnly sworn to him to set one of his descendants on his throne,’ looked into the future,

Then he proceeds to speak confidently to them concerning the patriarch David, that he was dead and buried, and that his sepulchre is with them to this day.

And even so it did not apply to Christ; rather David is praised again by the phrase "Being therefore a prophet," so that through the honor paid to him and his offspring the one from him, they may accept the account concerning the resurrection of the Christ. And he did not say that God had promised him, but it was greater and sacred, the, He sworn.

"God promised with an oath." He did not say "promised," but "promised with an oath," indicating by this the immutability of the promise. "To set on the throne." Throne is used in place of Kingdom in many places of Divine Scripture; for example: "Thy throne, O God, is forever" (Ps. 44:7). But in what way does He sit on the throne of David?

and referred to the resurrection of the Christ when he said that ‘he had not been abandoned to the place of death, nor had his body undergone corruption.’

It was this Jesus, whom God raised to life; and of that we are ourselves all witnesses.

And now that he has been exalted to the right hand of God, and has received from the Father the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, he has begun to pour out that gift, as you yourselves now see and hear.

"And He had in His right hand seven stars." He said that in His right hand He had seven stars, because the Holy Spirit of sevenfold agency was given into His power by the Father.

And again Peter ascribes the event to the Father. For he knows that this will draw on the listeners. Having spoken, "Having been exalted," and having approached the matter of the ascension, and that he is in the heavens. Therefore he did not speak plainly, saying that he is in the heavens.

By the expression "having been exalted," David indicated the ascension and that He (Jesus) is in the heavens, but even this was not clear at first. Look: at the beginning of his speech, when he also brought the prophet Joel as a witness, he did not say that Christ sent the Holy Spirit, but said that the Father sent Him.

It was not David who went up into heaven; for he himself says — ‘The Lord said to my master: “Sit on my right hand,

And that God the Father of all would bring Christ to heaven after He had raised Him from the dead, and would keep Him there until He has subdued His enemies the devils, and until the number of those who are foreknown by Him as good and virtuous is complete, on whose account He has still delayed the consummation-hear what was said by the prophet David.

We know that Christ took his seat at the right hand of the Father after his resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven. It is already accomplished. We do not see it, yet we believe it. We have read it in the sacred Books, we have heard it preached, we hold it by faith. And by the very fact that he was the son of David, he has become David's Lord.

"He himself says: 'The Lord said to my Lord…'" Here Peter speaks already without fear, since what was said above emboldened him. But what is the meaning of the words "The Lord said to my Lord!"? If David himself calls Him (Jesus) Lord, then all the more the Jews should not deny this.

Until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.”’

And he sets before them a fear by the phrase, "until I make your enemies." And so that they may not disbelieve, he assigns the submission to the Father.

"Until I make your enemies your footstool." This is what Peter elsewhere said about the Lord: "Whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things" (Acts III). For then, when all times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord, He will send Jesus Christ, who was preached to us from royal thrones, to judge the living and the dead (Wisdom XVIII).

By David's words "until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet," Peter instilled fear in them as a means of conquering them. And so as not to undermine their faith in him, he ascribes everything to the Father. After having spoken of great matters, he brings his discourse back again to the deeds of Jesus' humility.

So let the whole nation of Israel know beyond all doubt, that God has made him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.”

When the people heard this, they were conscience-smitten, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Friends, what can we do?”

And when the multitudes exclaimed, "What shall we do then? "Peter says to them, "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Thus the apostles did not preach another God, or another Fulness; nor, that the Christ who suffered and rose again was one, while he who flew off on high was ano…

Peter's speech, moderated with gentleness, led them to regret. The phrase "they were pierced" (κατενύγησαν), instead of "they were struck" (ἐπλήγησαν), indicates that they suffered inwardly and judged themselves. Therefore they seek a remedy for the evil, and affectionately call them brothers, those whom they formerly mocked.

You see how much condescension there is and how it is more capable than severity of penetrating the hearts of people and softening them. Although the blessed Peter does remind them in this passage of their audacities, he reminds them gently, adding nothing offensive to them.

“Repent,” answered Peter, “and be baptized every one of you in the faith of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For whereas in the Gospels, and in the epistles of the apostles, the name of Christ is alleged for the remission of sins; it is not in such a way as that the Son alone, without the Father, or against the Father, can be of advantage to anybody; but that it might be shown to the Jews, who boasted as to their having the Father, that the Father would profit them nothing, unless the…

Hence Peter, when he saw some affrighted by consideration of their evil deeds, admonished them, saying, Repent, and be baptized every one of you. For, being about to speak of baptism, he spoke first of the lamentations of penitence; that they should first bathe themselves in the water of their own affliction, and afterwards wash themselves in the sacrament of baptism.

Since the power that restores us is the power of the whole Trinity, which holy mother Church believes in the mind, confesses in word, and professes in sign, under the distinction and property, order and natural origin of the three persons: hence it is that for the expression of these things in the Sacrament which is the first of all Sacraments, and in which this power operates…

For the promise is for you and for your children, and also for all those now far away, who may be called by the Lord our God.”

"The promise," i.e. the gift of the Holy Ghost. So far, he speaks of the easy part, and that which has with it a great gift; and then he leads them to practice: for it will be to them a ground of earnestness, to have tasted already of those so great blessings.

And by saying, "For to you is the promise and to your children and to all who are far off, and to those who are near," he indicates the greatness of the gift, that it is sufficient not only for them but also for their children. And it is bestowed upon the Gentiles as well.

"And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Note: Peter showed that the gift of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit are one and the same gift, since their dignity is also one and the same.

Peter spoke to them for a long time using many other arguments and pleaded with them — “Save yourselves from the perverse spirit of this age.”

So those who accepted his teaching were baptized, and about three thousand people joined the disciples on that day alone.

For this reason, too, did the apostles, collecting the sheep which had perished of the house of Israel, and discoursing to them from the Scriptures, prove that this crucified Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God; and they persuaded a great multitude, who, however, [already] possessed the fear of God.

Those, therefore, who received his word were baptized. Another translation, according to the accuracy of the Greek truth, has it thus: Those indeed willingly accepting his word were baptized. By this interpretation it seems more clearly expressed that not some of those who had heard Peter's word, but all who had assembled to hear, willingly hearing this, were baptized.

Here is the fulfillment of the prophecy which says: "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she brought forth her sons" (Is. 66:8).

They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the Common life of the church, to the breaking of the bread and to the Prayers.

But every Lord's day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned.

"And they continued" it is written, "steadfastly in the doctrine" (or, "teaching") "of the Apostles": for it was not for one day, no nor for two or three days that they were under teaching as being persons who had gone over to a different course of life. "And they continued with one accord in the Apostles' doctrine," etc.

"And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles," etc. As those who had converted continued devoutly in the doctrine that they had embraced, and as the apostles frequently performed great miracles, the fear of the Lord and the number of the faithful people increased daily.

A deep impression was made on everyone, and many wonders and signs were done at the hands of the apostles.

"And fear came upon every soul": clearly, of those, as well, who did not believe; namely, upon seeing so great a change all at once effected, and besides in consequence of the miracles.

For they did not despise those who happened to be there, but because Peter was a great figure, flowing from above, and showing the things to come by his promises, they were rightly afraid. For the works bore witness to the word. Just as before with Christ there were first signs, then teaching, then miracles, so now also.

"There was... fear on every soul," because they did not disregard what was happening as something accidental. Since Peter was filled with abundant grace and was revealing the promises and the future, it was very natural that they were seized with fear, especially since he confirmed his words with the miracles and signs he performed.

All who became believers in Christ held everything for the common use;

they sold their property and their goods, and shared the proceeds among them all, according to their individual needs.

For indeed, because when people make doles of money, there are apt to be insults, pride, grudging; therefore says the Apostle, "Not grudgingly, or of necessity."

They first dwelt together in unity; who sold all they had, and laid the price of their goods at the Apostles' feet, as is read in the Acts of the Apostles. And distribution was made to each one as he had need, and none called anything his own, but they had all things common. And what is "together in unity"? They had, he says, one mind and one heart God-wards.

And the words "according to each one's need" he uses not simply, but in the sense of "stewardship," because this expression shows that the apostles did not act as the philosophers among the Greeks, of whom some abandoned their fields, and others threw much gold into the sea.

Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the Temple Courts, and to the breaking of bread at their homes, while they partook of their food in simple-hearted gladness, praising God, and winning the goodwill of all the people.

Hearken too again to what Luke saith, "They did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people." Why, do we not see even now that the simple and guileless enjoy the common esteem of all?

Concerning those early disciples who became apostles after the Ascension of our Lord into heaven it is thus written, "They all dwelt together, and they were of one mind and of one soul, and they were breaking bread in one house, and were receiving food in rejoicing, and they were praising God in the innocency of their heart, and no man said of the possessions which he had, They…

"Every day they continued with one accord in the temple." Not one day or two or three, but daily and with one accord, as if in one soul. Notice: the Jews who believed did nothing else but constantly remained in the temple, since, having become more attentive to the true faith, they were also filled with great reverence for this sacred place.

And the Lord daily added to their company those who were in the path of salvation.

A man of this last description may be safely made a friend, and when at variance easily reconciled. No need of guards and outposts, no need of chains and fetters with such an one; but great is his own freedom, and that of those who associate with him. But what, you will say, will such a man do if he fall among wicked people?

But the Lord added daily those who were being saved. In Greek it is read thus: But the Lord added to the Church those who were being saved, and then another narration begins.

And in what way did they have favor with all people? Luke says: "being in favor with all the people." How so? By their actions — almsgiving and purity of conduct. The priests, out of hatred and envy, turned away from them and attacked them, but among the people they had love.

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