The disciples receive the Holy Ghost. Peter’s sermon to the people. The piety of the first converts.
The Holy Ghost comming to the Faithful vpon vvhitsunday. 5 Ievves in Hierusalem of al Nations do vvonder to heare them speaks al tongues. 14 And Peter to the deriders declareth, that it is not drunkennes, but the Holy Ghost vvhich Ioel did prophecie of, vvhich IESVS (whom they crucified) being now risen againe and ascended (as he sheweth also out of the Scriptures) hath powred ou• from heauen, cōcluding therfore that he is CHRIST, and they most horrible murderers. 17 Whereat they being compuncte, and submitting them selues, he telleth them that they must be baptized, and then they also shal receiue the same Holy Ghost, as being promised to al the baptized. 41 And so 3000 are baptized that very day. 42 Whose godly exercises are here reported, and also their liuing in state of perfection. The Apostles worke many miracles, and God daily increaseth the number of the Church.
1And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place:Sul finire de' giorni della Pentecoste stavano tutti insieme nel medesimo luogo:AND vvhen the daies of Pentecost vvere accomplished, they vvere al together in one place:Et cum complerentur dies Pentecostes, erant omnes pariter in eodem loco: 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming: and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.E venne di repente dal cielo un suono, come se levato si fosse un vento gagliardo, e riempie tutta la casa, dove abitavano.and sodenly there vvas made a sound from heauen, as of a vehemēt vvinde cōming, & it filled the whole house vvhere they vvere sitting.et factus est repente de cælo sonus, tamquam advenientis spiritus vehementis, et replevit totam domum ubi erant sedentes. 3And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire: and it sat upon every one of them.E apparvero ad essi delle lingue bipartite come di fuoco, e si posò sopra ciascheduno di loro.And there appeared to them parted tonges as it were of fire, and it sate vpon euery one of them:Et apparuerunt illis dispertitæ linguæ tamquam ignis, seditque supra singulos eorum: 4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost: and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.E furon tutti ripieni di Spirito santo, e principiarono a parlare varj linguaggi, secondo che lo Spirito santo dava ad essi di favellare.and they vvere al replenished vvith the HOLY GHOST, and they began to speake vvith diuerse tonges, according as the HOLY GHOST gaue them to speake.et repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto, et cœperunt loqui variis linguis, prout Spiritus Sanctus dabat eloqui illis. 5Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.Or abitavano in Gerusalemme degli Ebrei, uomini religiosi, di tutte le nazioni, che sono sotto del cielo.And there vvere dvvelling at Hierusalē Ievves, deuout men of euery nation that is vnder heauen.Erant autem in Jerusalem habitantes Judæi, viri religiosi ex omni natione quæ sub cælo est. 6And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue.E divolgatasi una tal voce, si raunò molta gente, e rimase attonita, perché ciascheduno gli udiva parlare nella sua propria lingua.And vvhen this voice vvas made, the multitude came together, and vvas astonied in minde, because euery man heard them speake in his ovvne tongue.Facta autem hac voce, convenit multitudo, et mente confusa est, quoniam audiebat unusquisque lingua sua illos loquentes.
7And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these that speak Galileans?E si stupivano tutti, e facevan le meraviglie, dicendo: Non son eglino costoro, che parlano, Galilei tutti quanti?And they vvere al amased, and marueled saying, Are not, lo, al these that speake, Galileans,Stupebant autem omnes, et mirabantur, dicentes: Nonne ecce omnes isti qui loquuntur, Galilæi sunt ? 8And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born?E come mai abbiamo udito ciascheduno di noi il nostro linguaggio, nel qual siamo nati?and hovv haue vve heard' eche man our ovvne tongue vvherein vve vvere borne?et quomodo nos audivimus unusquisque linguam nostram in qua nati sumus ? 9Parthians and Medes and Elamites and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,Parti, e Medi, ed Elamiti, e abitatori della Mesopotamia, della Giudea, e della Cappadocia, del Ponto, e dell'Asia,Parthians, and Medians, and Elamites, and that inhabite Meso potámia, Ievvrie, and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia,Parthi, et Medi, et Ælamitæ, et qui habitant Mespotamiam, Judæam, et Cappadociam, Pontum, et Asiam, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome,Della Frigia, e della Panfilia, dell'Egitto, e de' paesi della Libia, che è intorno a Cirene, e pellegrini Romani.Phrygia, and Pamphilia, Aegypt and the partes of Lybia that is about Cyrénee, and strangers of Rome,Phrygiam, et Pamphyliam, Ægyptum, et partes Libyæ quæ est circa Cyrenen: et advenæ Romani, 11Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.Tanto Giudei, come Proseliti, Cretensi ed Arabi abbiamo udito costoro discorrere nelle nostre lingue delle grandezze di Dio.Ievves also, and Proselytes, Cretensians, and Arabians: Vve haue heard' them speake in our ovvne tonges the great vvorkes of God.Judæi quoque, et Proselyti, Cretes, et Arabes: audivimus eos loquentes nostris linguis magnalia Dei. 12And they were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to another: What meaneth this?E tutti si stupivano, ed eran pieni di meraviglia dicendo l'uno all'altro: Che sarà mai questo?And they vvere al astonied, and marueled, saying one to an other, Vvhat meaneth this?Stupebant autem omnes, et mirabantur ad invicem, dicentes: Quidnam vult hoc esse ? 13But others mocking, said: These men are full of new wine.Altri poi facendosi beffe dicevano: Sono pieni di vino dolce.But others deriding said, That these are ful of nevv vvine.Alii autem irridentes dicebant: Quia musto pleni sunt isti. 14But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you and with your ears receive my words.Ma levatosi su Pietro con gli undici alzò la voce, e disse loro: Uomini Giudei, e voi tutti, che abitate Gerusalemme, sia noto a voi questo, e aprite le orecchie alle mie parole.But Peter standing vvith the Eleuen, lifted vp his voice, and spake to them, Ye men, Ievves, and al you that dvvel in Hierusalem, be this knovven to you, and vvith your eares receiue my vvordes.Stans autem Petrus cum undecim, levavit vocem suam, et locutus est eis: Viri Judæi, et qui habitatis Jerusalem universi, hoc vobis notum sit, et auribus percipite verba mea.
15For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day:Imperocché nun sono costoro, come voi vi pensate, ubbriachi, mentre è la terza ora del dì:For these are not drunke, as you suppose, vvhereas it is the third houre of the day:Non enim, sicut vos æstimatis, hi ebrii sunt, cum sit hora diei tertia: 16But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel:Ma questo è quello, che fu detto dal profeta Gioele:But this is it that vvas said by the Prophet Ioël,sed hoc est quod dictum est per prophetam Joël: 17And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith the Lord), I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.Avverrà negli ultimi giorni (dice il Signore) che io spanderò il mio spirito sopra tutti gli uomini: e profeteranno i vostri figliuoli, e le vostre figliuole: e la vostra gioventù vedrà delle visioni, e i vostri vecchi sogneranno de' sogni.And it shal be, in the last daies (saith our Lord) of my Spirit I vvil povvre out vpon al flesh: and your sonnes and your daughters shal prophecie, and your yong men shal see visions, and your auncients shal dreame dreames.Et erit in novissimis diebus, dicit Dominus, / effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem carnem: / et prophetabunt filii vestri et filiæ vestræ, / et juvenes vestri visiones videbunt, / et seniores vestri somnia somniabunt. 18And upon my servants indeed and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days of my spirit: and they shall prophesy.E sopra i miei servi, e sopra le mie serve spanderò in que' giorni il mio spirito, e profeteranno:And vpon my seruants truely, and vpon my handmaides vvil I povvre out in those daies, of my Spirit, and they shal prophecie:Et quidem super servos meos, et super ancillas meas, / in diebus illis effundam de Spiritu meo, / et prophetabunt: 19And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood and fire, and vapour of smoke.E farò de' prodigj su in cielo, e de' segni giù nella terra, sangue, e fuoco, e vapore di fumo.and I vvil giue vvonders in the heauen aboue, and signes in the earth beneath, bloud, and fire, and vapour of smoke.et dabo prodigia in cælo sursum, / et signa in terra deorsum, sanguinem, et ignem, et vaporem fumi: 20The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord shall come.Il sole si cangerà in tenebre, e la luna in sangue, prima che giunga il giorno grande, e illustre del Signore.The sunne shal be turned into darkenes, and the moone into bloud, before the great and manifest day of our Lord doth come.sol convertetur in tenebras, / et luna in sanguinem, / antequam veniat dies Domini magnus et manifestus.
21And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.E avverrà, che chiunque avrà invocato il nome del Signore, sarà salvo.And it shal be, euery one vvhosoeuer calleth vpon the name of our Lord, shal be saued.Et erit: omnis quicumque invocaverit nomen Domini, salvus erit. 22Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him, in the midst of you, as you also know:Uomini Israeliti, udite queste parole: Gesù Nazareno, uomo, cui Dio ha renduto irrefragabile testimonianza tra di voi per mezzo delle opere grandi, e de' prodigj, e de' miracoli, i quali per mezzo di lui fece Dio su gli occhi vostri, come voi stessi sapete:Ye men of Israël heare these vvordes, IESVS of Nazareth a man approued of God among you, by miracles and vvonders and signes vvhich God did by him in the middes of you, as you knovv:Viri Israëlitæ, audite verba hæc: Jesum Nazarenum, virum approbatum a Deo in vobis, virtutibus, et prodigiis, et signis, quæ fecit Deus per illum in medio vestri, sicut et vos scitis: 23This same being delivered up, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of wicked men have crucified and slain.Questi per determinato consiglio, e prescienza di Dio essendo stato tradito, voi trafiggendolo per le mani degli empj lo uccideste:this same, by the determinate counsel and prescience of God being deliuered, you by the handes of vvicked men haue crucified and slaine.hunc, definito consilio et præscientia Dei traditum, per manus iniquorum affligentes interemistis: 24Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that he should be holden by it.Cui Dio risuscitò, sciolto avendolo dai dolori dell'inferno, siccome era impossibile, che da questo fosse egli ritenuto.vvhom God hath raised vp loosing the sorovves of hel, according as it vvas impossible that he should be holden of it.quem Deus suscitavit, solutis doloribus inferni, juxta quod impossibile erat teneri illum ab eo. 25For David saith concerning him: I foresaw the Lord before my face: because he is at my right hand, that I may not be moved.Imperocché di lui dice Davidde: Io antivedeva sempre il Signore dinanzi a me: perché egli sta alla mia destra, affinchè io non sia commosso:For Dauid saith concerning him, I foresavv the Lord in my sight alvvaies: because he is at my right hand that I be not moued.David enim dicit in eum: Providebam Dominum in conspectu meo semper: / quoniam a dextris est mihi, ne commovear:
26For this my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced: moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope.Per questo rallegrossi il mio cuore, ed esultò la mia lingua, e di più la mia carne riposerà sulla speranza,For this, my hart hath been glad and my tongue hath reioyced: moreouer my flesh also shal rest in hope.propter hoc lætatum est cor meum, et exsultavit lingua mea, / insuper et caro mea requiescet in spe: 27Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell: nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.Che tu non abbandonerai l'anima mia nell'inferno, né permetterai, che il tuo Santo vegga la corruzione.Because thou vvilt not leaue my soul in hel, nor giue thy Holy one to see corruption.quoniam non derelinques animam meam in inferno, / nec dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem. 28Thou hast made known to me the ways of life: thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.Mi insegnanti le vie della via: e mi ricolmerai di allegrezza colla tua presenza.Thou hast made knovven to me the vvaies of life: thou shalt make me ful of ioyfulnes vvith thy face.Notas mihi fecisti vias vitæ: / et replebis me jucunditate cum facie tua. 29Ye men, brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David: that he died and was buried; and his sepulchre is with us to this present day.Fratelli, sia lecito di dire liberamente con voi del patriarca Davidde, che egli morì, e fu sepolto: e il suo sepolcro e presso di noi sino al dì d'oggi.Ye men, brethren, let me boldly speake to you of the Patriarch Dauid: that he died, and vvas buried: and his sepulchre is vvith vs vntil this present day.Viri fratres, liceat audenter dicere ad vos de patriarcha David, quoniam defunctus est, et sepultus: et sepulchrum ejus est apud nos usque in hodiernum diem. 30Whereas therefore he was a prophet and knew that God hath sworn to him with an oath, that of the fruit of his loins one should sit upon his throne.Essendo egli adunque profeta, e sapendo, che Dio promesso avevagli con giuramento, che uno della sua stirpe doveva sedere sopra il suo trono,Vvhereas therfore he vvas a Prophet, and knevv that by an othe God had svvorne to him that of the fruite of his loynes there should sit vpon his seate:Propheta igitur cum esset, et sciret quia jurejurando jurasset illi Deus de fructu lumbi ejus sedere super sedem ejus: 31Foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was he left in hell: neither did his flesh see corruption.Profeticamente disse della risurrezione del Cristo, che egli non fa abbandonato nell'inferno, né la carne di lui vide la corruzione.forseeing he spake of the resurrection of Christ, for neither vvas he left in hel, neither did his flesh see corruption.providens locutus est de resurrectione Christi, quia neque derelictus est in inferno, neque caro ejus vidit corruptionem.
32This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses.Questo Gesù lo risuscitò Iddio, della qual cosa siamo testimoni tutti noi.This IESVS hath God raised againe, vvhereof al vve are vvitnesses.Hunc Jesum resuscitavit Deus, cujus omnes nos testes sumus. 33Being exalted therefore by the right hand of God and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath poured forth this which you see and hear.Esaltato egli adunque alla destra di Dio, e ricevuta dal Padre la promessa dello Spirito santo, lo ha diffuso, quale voi lo vedete, e lo udite.Being exalted therfore by the right hand of God, and hauing receiued of his father the promisse of the holy Ghost, he hath povvred out this vvhom' you see and heare.Dextera igitur Dei exaltatus, et promissione Spiritus Sancti accepta a Patre, effudit hunc, quem vos videtis et auditis. 34For David ascended not into heaven; but he himself said: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou on my right hand,Imperocché non salì Davidde al cielo: eppure egli disse: Ha detto il Signore al mio Signore, siedi alla mia destra,For Dauid ascended not into heauen: but he saith, Our Lord hath said to my Lord, sit on my right hand,Non enim David ascendit in cælum: dixit autem ipse: Dixit Dominus Domino meo: / Sede a dextris meis, 35Until I make thy enemies thy footstool.Sino a tanto che io ponga i tuoi nemici sgabello a' tuoi piedi.vntil I make thine enemies the footestoole of thy feete.donec ponam inimicos tuos / scabellum pedum tuorum. 36Therefore let all the house of Israel know most certainly that God hath made both Lord and Christ, this same Jesus, whom you have crucified.Sappia adunque indubitamente tutta la casa d'Israele, che Dio ha constituito Signore, e Cristo questo Gesù, il quale voi avete crocifisso.Therfore let al the house of Israël know most certainly that God hath made him both Lord, and CHRIST, this IESVS, vvhom you haue crucified.Certissime sciat ergo omnis domus Israël, quia et Dominum eum et Christum fecit Deus hunc Jesum, quem vos crucifixistis. 37Now when they had heard these things, they had compunction in their heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles: What shall we do, men and brethren?Udite queste cose, si compunser di cuore e dissero a Pietro, e agli altri Apostoli: Fratelli, che dobbiam noi fare?And hearing these things, they were compuncte in hart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, Vvhat shal vve doe men, brethren?His autem auditis, compuncti sunt corde, et dixerunt ad Petrum et ad reliquos Apostolos: Quid faciemus, viri fratres ?
38But Peter said to them: Do penance: and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.E Pietro disse loro: Fate penitenza, e si battezzi ciascheduno di voi nel nome di Gesù Cristo per la remissione de' vostri peccati: e riceverete il dono dello Spirito santo.But Peter said to them, Doe penance, and be euery one of you baptized in the name of IESVS CHRIST for remission of your sinnes: and you shal receiue the gift of the holy Ghost.Petrus vero ad illos: Pœnitentiam, inquit, agite, et baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in nomine Jesu Christi in remissionem peccatorum vestrorum: et accipietis donum Spiritus Sancti. 39For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, whomsoever the Lord our God shall call.Imperocché per voi sta la promessa, e pe' vostri figliuoli, e per tutti i lontani, quantunque ne chiamerà il Signore Dio nostro.For to you is the promisse, and to your children, and to al that are farre of, vvhomsoeuer the Lord our God shal call.Vobis enim est repromissio, et filiis vestris, et omnibus qui longe sunt, quoscumque advocaverit Dominus Deus noster. 40And with very many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying: Save yourselves from this perverse generation.E con altre moltissime parole gli persuadeva, e gli ammoniva, dicendo: Salvatevi da questa perversa generazione.Vvith very many other vvordes also did he testifie, and exhorted them, saying, Saue your selues from this peruerse generation.Aliis etiam verbis plurimis testificatus est, et exhortabatur eos, dicens: Salvamini a generatione ista prava. 41They therefore that received his word were baptized: and there were added in that day about three thousand souls.Quegli adunque, che ricevettero la parola di lui, furon battezzati, e si aggiunsero in quel giorno circa tremila anime.They therfore that receiued his vvord, vvere baptized: and there vvere added in that day about three thousand soules.Qui ergo receperunt sermonem ejus, baptizati sunt: et appositæ sunt in die illa animæ circiter tria millia. 42And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles and in the communication of the breaking of bread and in prayers.Ed erano assidui alle istruzioni degli Apostoli, e alla comune frazione del pane, e nella orazione.And they vvere perseuéring in the doctrine of the Apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and praiers.Erant autem perseverantes in doctrina Apostolorum, et communicatione fractionis panis, et orationibus. 43And fear came upon every soul. Many wonders also and signs were done by the apostles in Jerusalem: and there was great fear in all.E tutta la gente era in apprensioni: e molti, segni, e miracoli si facevano dagli Apostoli in Gerusalemme, e tutti stavano in gran timore.And feare came vpon euery soul: many vvonders also and signes vvere done by the Apostles in Hierusalem, and there vvas great feare in al.Fiebat autem omni animæ timor: multa quoque prodigia et signa per Apostolos in Jerusalem fiebant, et metus erat magnus in universis.
44And all they that believed were together and had all things common.E tutti i credenti erano uniti, e avevan tutto comune.Al they also that beleeued, vvere together, and had al things cōmon.Omnes etiam qui credebant, erant pariter, et habebant omnia communia. 45Their possessions and goods they sold and divided them to all, according as every one had need.E vendevano le possessioni, e i beni, e distribuivan il prezzo a tutti secondo il bisogno di ciascheduno.Their possessions and substance they sold, and deuided them to al, according as euery one had neede.Possessiones et substantias vendebant, et dividebant illa omnibus, prout cuique opus erat. 46And continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they took their meat with gladness and simplicity of heart:E ogni giorno trattenendosi lungamente tutti d'accordo nel tempio, e spezzando il pane per le case prendevan cibo con gaudio, e semplicità di cuore,Daily also continuing vvith one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they tooke their meate vvith ioy and simplicitie of hart:Quotidie quoque perdurantes unanimiter in templo, et frangentes circa domos panem, sumebant cibum cum exsultatione et simplicitate cordis, 47Praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord increased daily together such as should be saved.Lodando Dio, ed essendo ben veduti da tutto il popolo. Il Signore poi aggiungeva alla stessa società ogni giorno gente, che si salvasse.praising God, and hauing grace vvith al the people. And our Lord increased them that should be saued, daily together.collaudantes Deum et habentes gratiam ad omnem plebem. Dominus autem augebat qui salvi fierent quotidie in idipsum.
2:1
Witham
Altogether in one[Ver. 1. Pariter in eodem loco. omothumadon epi to auto, concorditer.] place. The Greek signifies, were all of one mind. (Witham)
2:2
Calmet
A sound, etc. Perhaps this was a kind of thunder, accompanied with a great wind, which filled with terror and awe the whole company, and disposed them to receive the gift of heaven with humility and fervour. This noise appears to have been heard over a great part of the city, and to have gathered together a great crowd, who came to learn the cause. This noise and wind were symbols of the divinity. It was thus also that formerly on Mount Sinai, thunder and lightning, the dark cloud, the smoking mountain, etc. marked the majesty of God. (Calmet)
Jesus Christ, our Pasch, to answer perfectly the figure, was offered on the day of the great Jewish passover; so fifty days after, for accomplishing the like figure of the law given on Mount Sinai, He sent down the Holy Ghost on the day of their Pentecost, which meaneth fifty. But our feasts, as St. Augustine remarks, besides the remembrance of benefits past, contain great mysteries also of the life to come. (Ep. cxix. Acts 16.)
2:3
Tongues ... of fire. The Hebrews use the name tongue, for almost any thing pointed. Thus they say, a tongue of the earth, for a promontory. (Josue 15:5.[2.?]) A fiery tongue for a flame in shape of a tongue. (Isaias 5:24.) The expression, therefore, in this place, may mean noting more than sparks, or rather flames, which appeared above all who were in the house.
Pastorini
Sed et Latinis quod extremum et acutum est lingua dicitur, quare scopulos summos et invios linguas dixit Caesar. (Pastorini)
Menochius
By the fiery tongues is signified the efficacy of the apostles' preaching, and the gift of tongues bestowed upon them. (Menochius)
2:4
St. Gregory of Nazianzus
Began to speak divers tongues. Perhaps the apostles spoke only their own tongue, and the miracle consisted in each one's understanding it as if they spoke it in his language. (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, orat. xliv.)
But St. Augustine and most others, understand the text literally; though the apostles had not this gift on all occasions, nor on all subjects, and therefore sometimes stood in need of interpreters. See St. Augustine, in Psalm xvii.; Expos. 2.; and Serm. 188.
2:14
Witham
But Peter standing up, etc. A wonderful change which the Holy Ghost, at his coming, in a moment wrought in the apostles, as we see in the person of St. Peter, who before, when questioned by a silly girl, denied his master, now he values not all the Sanhedrim of the Scribes, Pharisees, and magistrates; he boldly and publicly charges them with the murder of Jesus, their Lord, and their Christ. (ver. 36) (Witham)
Menochius
As the prince of the apostolic college, and head of the Church, under Jesus Christ, hence Peter speaks in the name of the other apostles also, gives an account of the miracle, and promulgates the evangelical law. (Menochius)
Bristow
Newly replenished with all knowledge and fortitude, and full of the holy Spirit, he here maketh his first sermon. (Bristow)
2:15
2:17
2:19
Witham
I will shew wonders, etc. These prodigies are commonly expounded of those that shall forerun the last day; or of the prognostics of the destruction of Jerusalem, which was a figure of the destruction of the world. (Witham)
Calmet
Blood, fire, etc. These prodigies were accomplished at our Saviour's death, or before the destruction of Jerusalem. We must not expect in these prophecies, where the descriptions are so grand, pathetic, and hyperbolical, to find that the accomplishment of them is literal, and precisely according to terms. The sun shall suffer an eclipse, the moon turn red, like blood, etc. (Calmet)
2:22
Jesus, ... a man, who suffered as man, though he was both God and man.
Witham
Delivered by the determinate decree, or counsel; to wit, by that eternal decree, that the Son of God should become man. He mentions this decree, and foreknowledge of God, to signify that Christ suffered not by chance, nor unwillingly, but what God, and he as God, had decreed. (Witham)
Challoner
By the determinate, etc. God delivered up his Son; and his Son delivered up himself, for the love of us, and for the sake of our salvation: and so Christ's being delivered up was holy, and was God's own determination. But they who betrayed and crucified him, did wickedly, following therein their own malice, and the instigation of the devil; not the will and determination of God, who was by no means the author of their wickedness; though he permitted it; because he could, and did draw out of it so great a good, viz. the salvation of man. (Challoner)
2:24
Having loosed the sorrows[Ver. 24. Solutis doloribus Inferni. lusas tas odinas adou, though in the common Greek copies, thanatou. See St. Chrysostom, hom vi.] of hell, etc. In the ordinary Greek copies, of death. As to the sense of this place, 1. It is certain Christ suffered the pains and pangs of a violent death. 2. That his soul suffered no pains after death, nor in any place called hell. 3. We believe, as in the Apostles' Creed, that his blessed soul descended into hell, that is, to that place in the inferior parts of the earth, (Ephesians 4:9.) which we commonly call Limbus Patrum [Limbo of the Fathers], not to suffer, but to free the souls of the just from thence.
Witham
As it was impossible he should be held there, either by death, or hell, his soul being always united to the divine person: and his rising again being foretold in the Psalms, in the words here cited. (Witham)
Challoner
Having overcome the grievous pains of death, and all the power of hell. (Challoner)
St. Augustine
Not that Jesus suffered any thing after his death; that was impossible. But these pains were loosed in his regard, because he was preserved from them, as the bird is preserved from the nets of the fowlers, which are broken before it is taken in them. (St. Augustine, ep. ad. Olimp. xcv.)
St. Augustine
Moreover he loosed others of those pains. (St. Augustine, lib. xii, Acts 13. de Gen. ad lit.)
2:27
Witham
Thou wilt not leave[Ver. 27. My soul in hell. Animam meam in Inferno, ten psuchen mou eis adou.] my soul in hell. This is also the Protestant translation; and the manner in which Beza translates it, is both very false and ridiculous, thou shalt not leave my carcass in the grave. For allowing that the Latin and Greek word, which is here translated hell, may signify sometimes, the grave; yet no excuse can be made for putting carcass, where the Greek, as well as Latin, signifies the soul. And for the doctrine of Christ's descending into hell, even the learned Dr. Pearson on the Creed, observes with Catholics, that the article of the creed, wherein we say, he descended into hell, cannot be the same as to say, his body descended into the grave, because in the foregoing words we profess that he was dead and buried. (Witham)
Beza plainly confesseth that he translateth the text thus: Thou shalt not leave my carcass in the grave, against the doctrine of purgatory, and Christ's descending into hell, although he alloweth, that most of the ancient Fathers were in that error. Thus opposing himself to plain Scripture and to the ancient Fathers, perverting the former, and contemning the latter, to overthrow an article of the apostles' creed. (He descended into hell. New Test. in 1556.)
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Witham
Foreseeing he (David) spoke of the resurrection of Christ. St. Peter shews them that the prophetical words of the Psalm, agree not to David in person, he being dead, and his body having remained in the grave, without rising from the dead. (Witham)
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Witham
He hath poured forth this, which we see, and hear, by the effects, by the noise, as it were of thunder, by our speaking languages, etc. (Witham)
Haydock
It does not appear that the holy Spirit was visible to the multitude, whom St. Peter addressed. But they perceived sensible marks of his presence, in the great noise, which had called them together, and the divers tongues spoken by illiterate men, who had never studied. (Haydock)
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Witham
They had compunction in their heart, with sorrow for their sins, especially against their Messias. (Witham)
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Witham
Be baptized: believing and making profession to believe, and hope for salvation, by the merits of Jesus Christ. Thus you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, the grace of God, and perhaps those other gifts of speaking with tongues, working miracles, etc. (Witham)
Calmet
The gift of the Holy Ghost. That is, justifying grace, which is infused in our hearts by the laver of regeneration. The exterior gifts of the Holy Ghost, the gift of tongues, of miracles, prophecy, etc. were, in the beginning of the Church, more regularly the consequences of confirmation or imposition of hands. (Calmet)
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Calmet
The promise is to you. The good tidings of salvation were first announced to the Jew, then to the Gentile; first to the domestics, then to the strangers, who are far off. It is rather singular, that St. Peter, after here so clearly shewing that the Gentiles are called to the faith, should afterwards have made such objections to go to baptize Cornelius, because he was a Gentile. This can only be reconciled, by supposing, he did not know distinctly the time nor the manner of their vocation. (Calmet)
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Witham
And with a great many other words did he testify and exhort them. St. Luke only gives an abridgment of those exhortations, which St. Peter, and the apostles frequently gave to all the people. St. Peter, as St. Chrysostom observes, and as we see in these Acts, was the mouth of all the rest. And on this first day of Pentecost, about three thousand were converted. (Witham)
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Menochius
In the communication of the breaking of bread, by which some understand their ordinary meals, and eating together; others, of the celestial bread of the holy Sacrament, tou artou, panis illius, scilicet Eucharistiae. The Eucharist is called both by St. Luke and St. Paul, the breaking of bread. (Menochius, in ver. 42. and 46.)
In the Syriac, for artou, is a term that means Eucharist, both here and in Acts xx. as the learned Joannes Harlemius remarks in Indice Bibliorum.
Witham
St. Luke also gives here some account of the manner of living of these first Christians. 1. They were together, united in perfect charity. 2. They were frequently in the temple, and praying together. 3. They had all possessions in common. 4. They went from house to house to convert souls, taking the food they found with joy, and simplicity of heart, their number daily increasing. 5. St. Luke says they were in favour, and esteemed by all the people. 6. The apostles did many prodigies and miracles, to confirm their doctrine, which struck others with great terror and horror for their past lives. (Witham)
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This living in common is not a precept for all Christians, but a life of perfection and counsel, for such as are called to it by heaven. See St. Augustine in Psalm cxii. and ep. cix. the practice of which is a striking proof of the one true Church, which has come down from the apostles.
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St. Chrysostom
In the temple. Although by the death of our Saviour, the ceremonies and sacrifices were abrogated, and the new alliance had succeeded to the old, still it was not in the design of God, that the faithful should separated themselves from the rest of the Jews, or entirely give up the observances of the law. They continued to observe them, as long as the utility of the Church required it, but they observed them not as Jews. Thus they avoided giving scandal to the weak, and driving them from submitting to the doctrines of the Church. They disposed them insensibly to a more pure and spiritual worship. (St. Chrysostom, in Act. hom. vii.)
This was burying the synagogue with honour.
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More and more he added daily to the Church, as it is clearly expressed in the Greek, prosetithei te ekklesia, that we may see the visible propagation and increase of the same. We may here, and throughout the whole book, observe a visible society of men joined in Christ, which visible society may be traced through ecclesiastical history, down to our days, and which will continue, in virtue of Christ's promise, to the end of time, as the point of union, by which the true disciples of Jesus Christ are to be connected together in one body, and one spirit; "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Ephesians 4:5.) This book can shew the true Church ever visible, and ever speaking with authority to all that do not willingly shut their eyes, as plainly as the gospel doth shew the true Christ. "Every where the Church proclaims the truth; she is the candlestick, with the seven lamps (Exodus xxv.); bearing the light of Christ, eptamukos," says St. Irenaeus; which light nothing can obscure. Hence St. Chrysostom says, "sooner shall the sun be extinguished, than the Church be obscured;" eukolioteron ton elion sbesthenai, e ten ekklesian aphanisthenai.
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By the determinate, etc.... God delivered up his Son; and his Son delivered up himself, for the love of us, and for the sake of our salvation; and so Christ’s being delivered up was holy, and was God’s own determination. But they who betrayed and crucified him, did wickedly, following therein their own malice and the instigation of the devil; not the will and determination of God, who was by no means the author of their wickedness; though he permitted it; because he could, and did draw out of it so great a good, viz., the salvation of man.
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Having loosed the sorrow, etc.... Having overcome the grievous pains of death and all the power of hell.
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1. The daies of Pentecost.) As Christ our Pasche, for correspondence to the figure, was offered at the Iewes great feast of Pasche, The feastes of Pasche & Pentecost. so fifty daies after (in Greeke, Pentecost) for accomplishing the like. figure of the Law-giuing in Mount Sinal, he sent downe the Holy Ghost iust on the day of their Pentecost, which was alwaies on Sunday, as appeareth Leuit. 23, 15. Both which daies the Church keepeth yerely for memorie of Christs death and Resurrection, and the sending downe of the Holy Ghost: as they did the like for record of their deliuerie out of Aegypt, and their Law giuing aforesaid, the said Feastes with vs conteining, besides the remembrance of benefites past, great Sacraments also of the life to come. Aug. ep. 119, C. 16.
Concordance Act. 1, 4.
In the liturgy The Epistle vpō whitsunday.
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Concordance Mt. 3, 11.
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4. Al replenished.) Though the Apostles and the rest were baptized before, and had thereby receiued the grace of the Holy Ghost to sanctification and remission of sinnes, The sending of the Holy Ghost on whitsunday and the effectes thereof. as for diuers other purposes also: Lu. 24, 49. Yet as Christ promised them they should be further indued with strength and vertue from aboue, so here he fulfilleth his promes, visibly powring downe the Holy Ghost vpon al the companie and vpon euery one of them, thereby replenishing the Apostles specially with al truth, wisedom, and knowledge necessarie for the gouernement of the Church, and giuing both to them and to al other present, the grace and effect of the Sacrament of Confirmation, accomplishing, corroborating, and strengthening them in their saith and the confession of the same. And lastly for a visible token of Gods Spirit, he endued them al with the gift of diuers strange tonges: al (I say) there present, Our B. Ladie. as wel our Ladie, as other holy women and brethren, besides the Apostles. though • the Heretikes fondly argue, Beza Annot. in hoc 〈◊〉 v. 1. for the desire they haue to dishonour Christs mother, that neither she nor they were there present, nor had the gift of tongues, contrarie to the plaine text that saith, They vvere al together, to wit, al the 120 mentioned before c. 1. 15.
Concordance Io. 7, 39.
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do v•e heare.
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do heare.
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The lesson before the Epistle on Imber wenesday in whitsonweeke.
Peter the head of the rest and now newly replenished with al knowledge and fortitude, maketh the first Sermon.
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Concordance Ioël. 2. 28.
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23. By the determinate counsel of God deliuered.) Gods determination that Christ should die, excuseth not the Iewes. God deliuered him, and he deliuered him self, for loue and intention of our saluation, and so the acte was holy and Gods owne determination. But the Iewes and others which betraied and crucified him, did it of malice and wicked purpose, and their facte was damnable, and not of Gods counsel or causing: though he tolerated it, for that he could and did turne their abominable facte to the good of our saluatiō. Therfore abhorre those new Manichees of our time, both Lutherans and Caluinists, that make God the author and cause of Iudas betraying of Christ, B⸢e⸣za. no lesse then of Paules conuersion beside the false translation of Beza, saying for Gods prescience or foreknowledge (in the Greeke, 〈Greek〉) Gods prouidence.
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24. Loosing the sorovves.) Christ was not in paines him self, but loosed other men of those dolours of Hel, wherewith it was impossible him self should be touched. See Li. 12. c. 13. de Gen. 〈…〉. S. Augustine.
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Concordance Ps. 15, 8.
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27. My soul in Hel.) Corrupt translation against the Article of Christs descending into Hel. Where al the Faithful, according to the Creede, euer haue beleeued, that Christ according to his soul, went downe to Hel, to deliuer the Patriarches and al iust men there holden in bondage til his death, and the Apostle here citing the Prophets wordes, most euidently expresseth the same, distinguishing his soule in Hel, from his body in the graue: Yet the Caluinists to defend against Gods expresse wordes, the blasphemie of their Maister, that Christ suffered the paines of Hel, and that no where but vpon the Crosse, and that otherwise he descended not into Hel, 〈Greek〉 most falsely and flatly here corrupt the text, by turning and wresting both the Hebrew and Greeke wordes from their most proper and vsual significations of, Soule, and Hel, into body, and graue: saying for, my soule in Hel, thus, my body, Eng. Bible. 〈◊〉 life; person, yea (as Beza in his new Testament an. 1556) my carcas in the graue, and this later they corrupt almost through out the Bible for that purpose. But for refelling of both corruptions, it shal be sufficient in this place: first, that al Hebrues & Greekes, and al that vnderstand these tonges, know that the foresaid Hebrue & Greeke wordes are as proper, peculiar, and vsual to signifie, soul and Hel, as anima and infernus in Latin, yea as soul and Hel in English do properly signifie the soule of man, and Hel that is opposite to heauen: and that they are as vnproprely vsed to signifie body and graue, as to say in English, soul for body, or Hel for graue, Secondly, it doth so mislike the Heretikes them selues, that Castaleo one of their fine Translatours reselleth it, and to make it the more sure, he for, in inferno, translateth, in Orco. that is, in Hel. Thirdly, Beza him self partly recanteth in his later edition, and confesseth that, Carcas, was no fit word for the body of Christ, and therfore, I have (saith he) changed it, but I reteine and keepe the sa••e sense stil. meaning that he hath now translated it, soule, but that he meaneth thereby as before, Christs dead body, fourthly, No. Test. an. 1556. annot. in 2 Act. v. 27. & 24. & in 1 Pet. •, 19. he saith plainely, that translating thus, Thou shalt not leaue my carcas in the graue, he did it of purpose against Limbus Patrum, Purgatorie, and Christs descending into Hel, which he calleth soul errours, and marueleth, that most of the ancient fathers vvere in that errour: namely of Christs descending into Hel, and deliuering the old fathers. Vvhat neede we more. He opposeth himself both against plaine Scriptures and al auncient fathers, peruerting the one, and contemning the other, to ouerthrow that truth which is an Article of our Crede. whereby it is euidently false which some of them say for their defense, that none of them did euer of purpose translate falsely. See the Annotation vpon 1 Pet. 3. v. 19.
Who but an infidel (saith S. Augustine) wil deny Christ to haue descended to Hel? ep. 99.
As his soul suffered no paines in Hel, so neither did his body take any corruptiō in the graue.
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Concordance 3. Reg. 2, 10.
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Concordance Ps. 131, 11.
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this gift vvhich Ps. 109, 1.
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Contrition.
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Not onely amendment of life, but penāce also required be fore Baptisme, in such as be of age, though no• in that sort as aftervvard in the Sacramēt of penance. Aug. de fid. et oper. c. 11. 〈◊〉 ep. 108.
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Three thousand were conuerted at this first sermon, 〈◊〉 they were put to the other visible companio and Church.
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This was the B. Sacrament, which the Apostles daily ministred to the Christians at least in one kinde. See chap. 20, 7.
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44. Al things common.) Liuing in common. This liuing in common is not a rule or a precept to al Christian men, as the Anabaptistes falsely pretend: but a life of perfection and counsel, folowed of our Religious in the Catholike Church. See S. Aug. in Ps. 1•2. in principio. & ep. 109.
Concordance Act. 4, 32.
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47. Increased.) The increase & perpetuitie of the VISIBLE CHV⸢RC⸣H. Moe and moe were added to the Church (as the Greeke more plainely expresseth) that we may see the visible propagation & increase of the same. 〈Greek〉. from which time a diligent man may deduce the very same visible Societie of men ioyned in Christ, through the whole booke, and afterward by the Ecclesiastical storie, downe til our daies, against the pretensed inuisible Church of the Heretikes.
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Polycrates of Ephesus † AD 196 Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus 1
… So St. Paul argues from its Christian observance, in his rebuke of the Corinthians. They were keeping it “unleavened” ceremonially, and he urges a spiritual unleavening as more important. The Christian hallowing of Pentecost connects with the Paschal argument.
Tertullian † AD 220 On Prayer 25
… The first infusion of the Holy Spirit into the congregated disciples took place at “the third hour.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Fasting 10
… Further: since in the self-same commentary of Luke the third hour is demonstrated as an hour of prayer, about which hour it was that they who had received the initiatory gift of the Holy Spirit were held for drunkards;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 1
But why did the Holy Ghost come to them, not while Christ was present, nor even immediately after his departure, but, whereas Christ ascended on the fortieth day, the Spirit descended “when the day of Pentecost,” that is, the fiftieth, “was fully come?” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 9.4
… “How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing?” For I had loved vanity, and sought after leasing. And Thou, O Lord, hadst already magnified Thy Holy One, raising Him from the dead, and setting Him at Thy right hand, whence from on high He should send His promise, the Paraclete, “the Spirit of Truth.” And He had already sent Him,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 2.15
… just as after the passion of our Lord fifty days are numbered from His resurrection, and then came the Holy Spirit which the Son of God had promised. And in that very coming of His, which we read of in the Acts of the Apostles, there appeared cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 3.11
… It remains, therefore, now for us to consider,—since both in the Lord as born of a virgin, and in the Holy Spirit descending in a corporeal form like a dove, and in the tongues like as of fire, which appeared with a sound from heaven on the day of Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 4.20
… For the veriest of madmen would not say, that it was one Spirit which He gave when He breathed on them, and another which He sent after His ascension.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Against the Epistle of Manichæus, Called Fundamental 9
… And they were all amazed, and were in doubt on account of what had happened, saying, What meaneth this? But others, mocking, said, These men are full of new wine."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 29
… whereas in the other case the Holy Ghost came upon them who were gathered together in expectation of His promised gift. There it was on tables of stone that the finger of God operated; here it was on the hearts of men. There the law was given outwardly, so that the unrighteous might be terrified; here it was given inwardly, so that they might be justified.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 1.20
… perceiving that they did not in love desire correction, but in hated desired revenge. Accordingly, after He had taught them what it was to love one’s neighbour as oneself, and when the Holy Spirit had been poured out, whom, at the end of ten days after His ascension, He sent from above, as He had promised,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 6.3
… Accordingly the Spirit coming at that time filled the place, and there was first a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, and “there appeared unto them,” it says, “cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they began to speak with tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 44.5
… If we think so, then already, after the Lord’s ascension, did that fearful night begin, when no one can work. If that night began after the Lord’s ascension, how was it that the apostles wrought so much? Was that the night when the Holy Spirit came, and, filling all who were in one place, gave them the power of speaking in the tongues of every nation?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 34.6
6. “And let us exalt His Name together.” What is, “let us exalt His Name together”? That is, in one. For many copies so have it, “O magnify the Lord with me; and let us exalt His Name in one.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 46.7
… For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” Jesus being glorified after His Resurrection, glorified after His Ascension, on the day of Pentecost came the Holy Spirit, and filled the believers,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 67.9
9. The fruit of the earth was first in Jerusalem. For from thence began the Church: there came there the Holy Spirit, and filled full the holy men gathered together in one place; miracles were done, with the tongues of all men they spake.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 91.16
… of whom that lamb whom the Jews were slaying was the type. He arose from the dead: and from the day of our Lord’s Passover, as from that of the slaying of the Paschal lamb, fifty days are counted; and the Holy Ghost descended, now in the fulness of love, not in the punishment of fear.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 133.2
… Whence those hundred and twenty, who were together in one place after the resurrection of the Lord, and His ascension into heaven, on whom when gathered into one place the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost, sent down from heaven, sent, even as He was promised?
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 75
… And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 77
To-day’s festival, dearly-beloved, which is held in reverence by the whole world, has been hallowed by that advent of the Holy Ghost, which on the fiftieth day after the Lord’s Resurrection, descended on the Apostles and the multitude of believers
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.102
… “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. And there appeared to them cloven tongues as if of fire, which also settled upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 3.9
… The Saviour baptized the Apostles with the Holy Ghost and with fire, when suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire: and it sat upon each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 17.15
15. And lest men should be ignorant of the greatness of the mighty gift coming down to them, there sounded as it were a heavenly trumpet, For suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 1.14
166. In the Acts of the Apostles, also, when the Holy Spirit had descended upon the faithful, the appearance of fire was seen, for you read thus: “And suddenly there was a sound from heaven, as though the Spirit were borne with great vehemence, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 2.2
23. And the Evangelist so far shows that the Spirit is Power, that St. Luke relates that He came down with great power, when he says: “And suddenly there was a sound from heaven, as though the Spirit were borne with great power.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 12
For in the case of the apostles too, there was a “sound of a mighty wind,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 4
… “When,” it says, “the day of Pentecost was fully come” ( Luke viii. 5, 11 ): that is, when at the Pentecost, while about it, in short. For it was essential that the present events likewise should take place during the feast, that those who had witnessed the crucifixion of Christ, might also behold these. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 169.10
… In like manner, it is said that on the day of Pentecost, “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and there appeared to them cloven tongues like as of fire,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 1.4
… Nor, again, that this Trinity descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus when He was baptized; nor that, on the day of Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord, when “there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 2.5
… whether when He descended upon the Lord Himself in a bodily shape as a dove, or when, ten days having past since His ascension, on the day of Pentecost a sound came suddenly from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and cloven tongues like as of fire were seen upon them, and it sat upon each of them.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Profit of Believing 7
… For you know that, essaying to bring the person of their founder Manichæus into the number of the Apostles, they say that the Holy Spirit, Whom the Lord promised His disciples that He would send, hath come to us through him. Therefore, were they to receive those Acts of the Apostles, in which the coming of the Holy Spirit is plainly set forth,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.32
… And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.’
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 28
… to signify, indeed, the future death of the Lord) to the day when Moses received the law written on the tables of stone by the finger of God, so, in like manner, from the death and resurrection of Him who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, there were fifty complete days up to the time when the finger of God—that is, the Holy Spirit—gathered together in one
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin 1.18
… and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 92
… and so became aware of the beneficent character of that precious blood which had been so impiously and cruelly shed, because themselves redeemed by the very blood which they had shed.
Socrates Scholasticus † AD 440 The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus 2.21
… but the Spirit existed, and had being previously: but he was sent at what time the apostles were gathered together, when like thunder “There came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.”
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Discourse on the Holy Theophany 9
9. This is the Spirit that at the beginning “moved upon the face of the waters;” by whom the world moves; by whom creation consists, and all things have life; who also wrought mightily in the prophets, and descended in flight upon Christ. This is the Spirit that was given to the apostles in the form of fiery tongues.
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 10.4.66
66. And in this temple there are also thrones, and a great number of seats and benches, in all those souls in which sit the Holy Spirit’s gifts, such as were anciently seen by the sacred apostles, and those who were with them, when there ‘appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire, and sat upon each one of them.’
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 40
… speak, and that He may cause us to hear His lovingkindness in the morning, and that we may be made to hear of joy and gladness, spoken into godly ears, that we may not be a sharp sword, nor a whetted razor, nor turn under our tongue labour and toil, but that we may speak the Wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden Wisdom, reverencing the fiery tongues.
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.18
… “It became in my heart as a burning fire flaming in my bones, and I am vile and cannot bear it.” In the Acts of the Apostles, also, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and those others who were waiting for the Promise of the Father, we read that tongues as of fire were distributed among them.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 4
… “As of a rushing mighty wind:” this betokens the exceeding vehemence of the Spirit. “And it filled all the house:” insomuch that those present both believed, and (Edd. τούτους ) in this manner were shown to be worthy. Nor is this all; but what is more awful still, “And there appeared unto them,” it says, “cloven tongues like as of fire.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.19
… For behold God (as it were) saying, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven.” There came suddenly a sound from heaven, as it had been the rushing of a mighty wind, and there appeared cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 20.21
… It is possible, indeed, to understand fire, sword, and wound in a good sense. For the Lord said that He wished to send fire on the earth. And the cloven tongues appeared to them as fire when the Holy Spirit came.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 2.6
… Accordingly, although that dove is called the Spirit; and in speaking of that fire, “There appeared unto them,” he says, “cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 3.pref.3
… and the Holy Spirit also was therefore “sent,” because He too was seen as a dove in a corporeal form, and in cloven tongues, like as of fire;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 4.21
But with respect to the sensible showing of the Holy Spirit, whether by the shape of a dove, or by fiery tongues,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 21.19
… yet may we reasonably think that the same Holy Spirit is signified also under the name of “fire.” Wherefore when He came it is said, “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 21.27
… So also we say that neither the Father, nor the Son, but the Holy Spirit only appeared both in the “form of a dove,” and in “tongues as it were of fire;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 99.2
2. For the fact that the Holy Spirit appeared in bodily form, as a dove, was a sight begun and ended at the time: just as also, when He descended upon the disciples, there were seen upon them cloven tongues as of fire, which also sat upon every one of them.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 96.2
… It still increaseth, still all those nations which have not yet believed are destined to believe; that no man may say, will that tongue believe? will the barbarians believe? what is the meaning of the Holy Spirit having appeared in the fiery tongues,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 97.5
… but the sword which separateth, but slayeth not, hath cut between us. In the same way the fire also: “I am come to send fire upon the earth.” Believers in Him were set on fire, they received the flame of love: and for this reason when the Holy Spirit itself had been sent to the Apostles, It thus appeared: “cloven tongues, like as of fire.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 2.4
… Wherefore, if the priest knows not how to preach, what voice of a loud cry shall the mute herald utter? For hence it is that the Holy Spirit sat upon the first pastors under the appearance of tongues (
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.9
Further, the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove, indicating the firstfruits of our baptism and honouring the body: since even this, that is the body, was God by the deification; and besides the dove was wont formerly to announce the cessation of the flood. But to the holy Apostles He came down in the form of fire:
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 17.16
16. And they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 32
… Look at these facts:—Christ is born; the Spirit is His Forerunner. He is baptized; the Spirit bears witness. He is tempted; the Spirit leads Him up. He works miracles; the Spirit accompanies them. He ascends; the Spirit takes His place. What great things are there in the idea of God which are not in His power?
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.22
… or even be thought full of new wine as were in later days the disciples of Christ, because they spoke with tongues,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 4
… and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” ( Joel ii. 28 .) “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 15.26
46. But the reason why, after His resurrection, He both gave the Holy Spirit, first on earth, and afterwards sent Him from heaven,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Faith and the Creed 9
… And inasmuch as, being reconciled and called back into friendship through love, we shall be able to become acquainted with all the secret things of God, for this reason it is said of the Holy Spirit that “He shall lead you into all truth.” For the same reason also, that confidence in preaching the truth, with which the apostles were filled at His advent,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 37.9
… The Holy Ghost who was sent filled all who were in one room, one hundred and twenty men. They “were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with the tongues of all nations;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 39.1
… and these He did not make to wither, but cultivated them in His field, and watered them with His word. Of this number were those four thousand Jews who believed, after that the disciples and those who were with them, filled with the Holy Ghost, spake with the tongues of all nations,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 52.8
… and that Zacharias and Elisabeth uttered by the Holy Spirit so many predictions concerning Him, when He was not yet born, but only conceived. But “the Spirit was not yet given;” that is, with that abundance of spiritual grace which enabled those assembled together to speak in every language,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 74.2
… For close on the back of His resurrection from the dead He breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” And because He then gave [the Spirit], did He on that account fail in afterwards sending Him according to His promise? Or was it not the very same Spirit who was both then breathed upon them by Himself, and afterwards sent by Him from heaven?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 6.10
10. In the earliest times, “the Holy Ghost fell upon them that believed: and they spake with tongues,” which they had not learned, “as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 55.10
… even though He divided the tongues, lest by understanding one another they should make a destructive unity. Through proud men, divided were the tongues; through humble Apostles, united were the tongues. Spirit of pride dispersed tongues, Spirit Holy united tongues. For when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, with the tongues of all men they spake,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 95.5
… Were not all these of that people? Whence also those five hundred brethren to whom our Lord appeared after His resurrection? Whence were so many thousands at the words of Peter (when the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke with the tongues of all nations
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Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Life of Constantine 3.8
… But that assembly was less, in that not all who composed it were ministers of God; but in the present company, the number of bishops exceeded two hundred and fifty, while that of the presbyters and deacons in their train, and the crowd of acolytes and other attendants was altogether beyond computation.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 4
… It put them in mind also of another vision: for as fire did He appear also in the bush. “As the Spirit gave them utterance, ἀποφθέγγεσθαι ( Exod. iii. 2 .) For the things spoken by them were ἀποφθέγματα, profound utterances. “And,” it says, “there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 18
… 2 .) If they were “devout,” why did they “make great lamentation over him?” They were not yet perfect. The man was gracious and amiable: this also shows that they were men—not their fear alone, but their grief and lamentation. Who would not have wept to see that mild, that lamb-like person stoned, and lying dead?
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 17
… And Luke shows this when he says in the Acts: “There were dwelling” there “Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene.” (
Socrates Scholasticus † AD 440 The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus 1.8
… but some of his presbyters were present and filled his place. Such a crown, composed as a bond of peace, the emperor Constantine alone has ever dedicated to Christ his Saviour, as a thank-offering worthy of God for victory over his enemies, having appointed this convocation among us in imitation of the Apostolic Assembly.
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Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 36
… God forbid; but He divides to all, and knows all kinds of tongues, and has understanding of all things, and is made all things to all men, so that the very thoughts of the heart cannot escape His cognizance. For what says the Scripture? “That every man heard the apostles speak in his own language through the Spirit, the Paraclete.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 41
… But they heard. Here stop a little and raise a question, how you are to divide the words. For the expression has an ambiguity, which is to be determined by the punctuation. Did they each hear in their own dialect
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 4
… 5 .) The fact of their dwelling there was a sign of piety: that being of so many nations they should have left country, and home, and relations, and be abiding there. For, it says, “There were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded. (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 4
… ( v. 6 .) 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. And they were amazed,” it says, “and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?” (
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 17.17
… For in that confusion of tongues there was division of purpose, because their thought was at enmity with God; but here minds were restored and united, because the object of interest was godly. The means of falling were the means of recovery. Wherefore they marvelled, saying
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Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 7
… 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 sojourners, yes, and in Jerusalem Jews,
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 13.7
7. But the Jews contradict this , ever ready, as they are, to cavil, and backward to believe; so that for this cause the Prophet just now read says, Lord, who hath believed our report ? Persians believe
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St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 13.27
27. In the twenty-third year, let the ass praise Him, that gave its foal for Him to ride on, that loosed the bonds, that opened the mouth of the dumb, that opened also the mouth of the wild asses when the race of Hagar gave a shout of praise.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 4
… “And how” (it follows) “hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 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:
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 17.18
18. But others mocking said, They are full of new wine
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.18
… The soul of each one was so uplifted by His influence that they were supposed to be full of new wine,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 36
… since without this, it hath even the contrary effect among them that are without understanding. “For if,” saith he, “all speak with tongues, and there come in unbelievers or unlearned, they will say that ye are mad;” as indeed even the Apostles incurred the suspicion of being drunken: for “these men,” it saith, “are filled with new wine: (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 36.12
… I will take the cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord.” Therefore, Brethren of men, let us be children and let us trust under the shadow of His wings and be satiated with the fulness of His House. As I could, I have spoken; and as far as I can I see; and how far I see, I cannot speak.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… How had they “favor with all the people?” On account of their alms deeds. For do not look to the fact, that the chief priests for envy and spite rose up against them, but rather consider that “they had favor with the people.”—“And the Lord added to the Church daily ( ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό ) [together] such as should be saved.—And
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 9
There is greater freedom of speech in this harangue, than in the former. Not that he was afraid on the former occasion, but the persons whom he addressed there, being jesters and scoffers, would not have borne it. Hence in the beginning of that address he also bespeaks their attention by his preamble; “Be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 2
… So when Christ was seen on the beach, and the others were pushing the boat in, he was too impatient to wait for its coming to land. ( John xxi. 7 .) And after the Resurrection, when the Jews were murderous and maddened, and sought to tear the Apostles in pieces, he first dared to come forward, and to declare, that the Crucified was taken up into heaven. (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 41.1
… But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants, and on my handmaidens I will pour out…of my spirit.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 3.3
… and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And indeed upon my servants and my handmaids in those days I will pour out of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 17.19
19. But Peter who had the Holy Ghost, and who knew what he possessed, says, “ Men of Israel , ye who preach Joel, but know not the things which are written, these men are not drunken as ye suppose
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 9.2
… Inasmuch as they know not how to be spiritually wise, therefore they eat not to nourishment, but to bursting; and they drink often to excess. For this reason, as they render themselves unfit for the management of their affairs, they shut up the court-houses and council-chambers in the evening and at midday.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 5
… [“And all ye that dwell in Jerusalem.”] It seems they accounted it a high encomium to dwell in Jerusalem too. “Be this,” says he, “known unto you, and hearken unto my words.” In the first instance he made them more disposed to attend to him. “For not as ye suppose,” says he, “are these drunken.” Do you observe the mildness of his defence? (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 55.17
17. “In evening, in morning, at noon-day I will recount and will tell forth, and He shall hearken to my voice”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.6
… 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,
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 8.25
… The phrase ‘Spirit of God’ denotes also the Paraclete Spirit, and that not only on the testimony of prophets but also of apostles, when it is said:— This is that which was spoken through the Prophet, It shall come to pass on the last day, saith the Lord, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 5
… the others said it only in mockery. Hence we learn that on unessential points one must not spend many words. And besides, the sequel is enough to bear him out on this point: so now the discourse is for all in common. “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord God. (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 108.9
… There was shewn to her upholding the portico of a church the bloodstained column to which our Lord is said to have been bound when He suffered His scourging. There was shewn to her also the spot where the Holy Spirit came down upon the souls of the one hundred and twenty believers, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Joel.
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… who furthermore both predetermined and predicted that the revelation of His Son should be postponed to the end of the times. “It shall come to pass in the last days , that the mountain (of the house) of the Lord shall be manifested”; “and in the last days I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.8
… “In the last days will I pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy; and upon my servants and upon my handmaids will I pour out of my Spirit.”
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.10
… Now among the “all things,” glory surely is included. Yet Eunomius says that the glory of the Almighty is incommunicable. This view Joel does not attest, nor yet the mighty Peter, who adopted, in his speech to the Jews, the language of the prophet. For both the prophet and the apostle say, in the person of God,—“I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… Observe how he now makes it all His [“He hath poured forth this”], covertly making a great point. For if it was He that poured it forth, it is of Him that the Prophet has spoken above, “In the last days I will pour forth of My Spirit on My Servants, and on Mine handmaids, and I will do wonders in the heaven above. ( supra,
Anonymous A Treatise on Re-Baptism by an Anonymous Writer 15
… “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet; It shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, and their young men shall see visions, and their old men shall dream dreams: and upon my servants, and upon my handmaidens, will I pour out of my Spirit;”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 1.3
… Or, indeed, is there no need that Thou who containest all things shouldest be contained of any, since those things which Thou fillest Thou fillest by containing them? For the vessels which Thou fillest do not sustain Thee, since should they even be broken Thou wilt not be poured forth. And when Thou art poured forth on us,
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 5
Then he goes on with the prophecy, which has in it also something terrible. “And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs” [“in the earth beneath”]. (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.13
… this lower deep, saying, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” And, “Be not children in understanding, howbeit in malice be ye children,” that in “understanding ye may be perfect;” and “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?” But now not in his own voice, but in Thine who sentest Thy Spirit from above;
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 A discourse by the most blessed Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, on the end of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ 37
… For the river of fire shall come forth in fury like an angry sea, and shall burn up mountains and hills, and shall make the sea vanish, and shall dissolve the atmosphere with its heat like wax. The stars of heaven shall fall, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 5
… “And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs” [“in the earth beneath”]. ( v. 19 .) In these words he speaks both of the judgment to come, and of the taking of Jerusalem. “Blood and fire, and vapor of smoke.” Observe how he describes the capture. “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… “Even this Jesus, Whom ye crucified.” He does well to end with this, thereby agitating their minds. For when he has shown how great it is, he has then exposed their daring deed, so as to show it to be greater, and to possess them with terror. For men are not so much attracted by benefits as they are chastened by fear.
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.12.2
… For David speaketh concerning Him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for He is on my right hand, lest I should be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also, my flesh shall rest in hope: because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 13
… After a space of two days, on the third day” —which is His glorious resurrection—He received back into the heavens (whence withal the Spirit Himself had come to the Virgin ) Him whose nativity and passion alike the Jews have failed to acknowledge. Therefore, since the Jews still contend that the Christ is not yet come, whom we have in so many ways approved
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Flesh of Christ 15
… “He is a man, and who hath known Him?” and Daniel: “Upon the clouds (He came) as the Son of man.” The Apostle Paul likewise says: “The man Christ Jesus is the one Mediator between God and man.” Also Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, speaks of Him as verily human (when he says), “Jesus Christ was a man approved of God among you.”
Tertullian † AD 220 Against Praxeas 17
… is the Most High, in that He is “exalted at the right hand of God,” as Peter declares in the Acts;
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 21
… For so withal the result teaches. In (Peter) himself the Church was reared; that is, through (Peter) himself; (Peter) himself essayed the key; you see what (key): “Men of Israel, let what I say sink into your ears: Jesus the Nazarene, a man destined by God for you,” and so forth.
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Sententia Dionysii. (Defence of Dionysius.) 7
But if they accuse the blessed man (for the arguments of the Arians about him are in fact accusations against him) simply for writing thus, what will they do when they hear even the great and blessed Apostles in the Acts, firstly Peter saying (
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.15
… Jesus of Nazareth, a man manifested of God towards you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves know
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 16
… He was present when the Lord was being tempted by the devil; for, it is said, “Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.” He was inseparably with Him while working His wonderful works;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
“Jesus of Nazareth, a man proved (to be sent) from God unto you.” (Recapitulation of
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 9
… 12 .) If this troubles and confounds you, learn Who was the Doer, and be not amazed. And observe how on all occasions when he refers to God, and says that all things are from Him, then he fearlessly chides them: as above where he said, “A man approved of God among you.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 47
… It seems to me at least, that their not believing was providentially ordered, that they might be unexceptionable witnesses. “And he said unto me” it says, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, Whom thou persecutest.” (comp. ch. ix. 5 .) Well is the name of the city (Nazareth) also added, that they might recognize (the Person): moreover, the Apostles also spoke thus. (
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
And the meritorious Peter, in his sermon to the Jewish people, says,—“Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 152
… in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the dead.” And the blessed Peter preaching to the Jews says, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst of you,”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.34
… Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God , ye have by the hands of wicked men crucified and slain; whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of hell (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… “Him,” he says, “being by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God delivered up”: (
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St Polycarp † AD 155 Epistle to the Philippians 1
… and because the strong root of your faith, spoken of in days long gone by, endureth even until now, and bringeth forth fruit to our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sins suffered even unto death, [but] “whom God raised from the dead, having loosed the bands of the grave.”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 5.14
… This, he says, is the form of the servant, and this the necessity of the Word of God coming down into the womb of a virgin. But he says it is not sufficient that the Perfect Man, the Word, has entered into the womb of a virgin, and loosed the pangs
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Incarnation of the Word 26
… for all who believe in Christ tread him under as nought, and choose rather to die than to deny their faith in Christ. For they verily know that when they die they are not destroyed, but actually [begin to] live, and become incorruptible through the Resurrection. 3. And that devil that once maliciously exulted in death, now that its
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.11
… Accordingly what is here said, ‘Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him,’ answers to Peter’s words in the Acts, ‘Whom God raised up, having loosed the bonds of death, because it was not possible that He should be holden of it
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.8
… But since it was also meet that He should implant in our nature the power of rising again from the dead, He becomes the “first-fruits of them that slept ” and the “first-born from the dead ,” in that He first by His own act loosed the pains of death
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 4.3
… He is the first-born from the dead, Who first by Himself loosed the pains of death
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 8
… which Luke also signifies, by saying, “Because there was no room, she laid Him” there); but afterwards she took Him up, and held Him on her knees. For no sooner was she arrived at Bethlehem than she brought her pangs to an end,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… for he it was that delivered Him over to them by the kiss. Or, “By wicked hands,” refers to the soldiers: for neither is it simply, “Ye have slain,” but, By wicked men ye have done this. And observe how everywhere they make it of great importance that the Passion should first be confessed. Whom God Raised Up (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 9
Observe again how he speaks covertly concerning Christ’s power, showing that He raised Himself: just as in his first discourse he had said, “Because it was not possible that He should be holden of it” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 164
… either that utterance of prophecy, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,” —an utterance which Peter himself expounds in the Acts of the Apostles, lest any one should venture to put upon it another interpretation,—or the words of the same apostle, in which he affirms that the Lord “loosed the pains of hell, in which it was not possible for Him to be holden.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
“Was what rose from the dead, man or God? Peter, the Apostle, who knows better than we, interprets and say, ‘and when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulchre, but God raised Him from the dead.’
2:25
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 17.19
… They are drunken, for they have drunk the wine of the spiritual vine, which says, I am the vine and ye are the branches . But if ye are not persuaded by me, understand what I tell you from the very time of the day; for it is the third hour of the day
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… 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 saith (with reference) to Him.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 16.10
… Me with joy with Thy countenance.” Thou wilt fill them with joy, that they should seek nothing further, when they shall see Thee “face to face;” in whom because I am, “Thou wilt fill Me.” “Pleasure is at Thy right hand even to the end.” Pleasure is in Thy favour and mercy in this life’s journey, leading on even to the end of the glory of Thy countenance.
2:26
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… 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 saith (with reference) to Him.” ( v. 25 .) And observe how, once more, the testimony is lowly. For therefore he begins the citation further up, with the matters of lowlier import: therefore
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 9
… Whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.” ( v. 14, 15 .) Ye desired a robber instead of Him. He shows the great aggravation of the act. As he has them under his hand, he now strikes hard. “The Prince of Life,” he says. In these words he establishes the doctrine of the Resurrection. “Whom God hath raised from the dead.” (
2:27
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.13
… I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again .” Yea, the prophet David also, according to the interpretation of the great Peter, said with foresight of Him, “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 10.43
… that because the reward of righteousness is life and peace, He might, by righteousness conjoined with God, cancel the death of justified sinners, which He willed to have in common with them.
2:28
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 164
… remains a difficulty, namely, how in that case Peter could have spoken as he did, saying what was without doubt perfectly true, when he affirmed that in the prophecy quoted above the words, that “His flesh should not see corruption,” referred not to David but to Christ, and added concerning David, “He is buried, and his sepulchre is with us to this day,”
2:29
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 26
… And so great was the glory of the man, that Peter, so many years after, in exhorting the Jews, spake on this wise: “Let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 39
And observe His reproving manner: “Have ye not read what David did?” For great indeed was that prophet’s glory, so that Peter also afterwards pleading with the Jews, spake on this wise, “Let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 68
… Wherefore neither did He say, What think ye of me, but of Christ. For this reason the apostles also reasoned submissively, saying, “Let us speak freely of the Patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… therefore was death not in the number of grievous things [because], says he, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, that He is on my right hand that I should not be moved:” ( v. 25–27 ) and, “that Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.” Then, having finished the citation from the Prophet, he adds; “Men and brethren.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 29
… 22 .) ( i ) Observe also; it is with praise (that he says of him), “David after that he had served the will of God:” just as Peter—seeing it was then the beginning of the Gospel—making mention of him, said, “Let it be permitted me to speak freely of the patriarch David.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 89.37
… 48 ). For being raised from the dead He dieth no more, and death hath no more dominion over Him. And as in another Psalm it is said, “Thou shalt not leave my soul in Hell, neither shalt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption,” the Apostolic teaching takes up this testimony, and in the Acts of the Apostles
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
Eran. —He quoted the divine David, and said that he had received promises from God that the Lord Christ should be born of the fruit of his loins and that in trust in these promises he prophetically foresaw His resurrection, and plainly said that His soul was not left in Hades and that His flesh did not see corruption.
2:30
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.12.2
… For David has not ascended into the heavens; but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 1.7.15
17. Thus far Africanus. And the lineage of Joseph being thus traced, Mary also is virtually shown to be of the same tribe with him, since, according to the law of Moses, intermarriages between different tribes were not permitted.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… Then—and even so he does not come to the mention of Christ, but what next?—he goes on with his encomium upon David, “Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that with an oath God had sworn unto him.” (
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 1
… Only listen to the first of the apostles exclaiming “David being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit upon His throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell neither His flesh did see corruption.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 4.1.12
12. God swore to David that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ, as the prophet said and as the great Peter interpreted.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 146
… he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that His soul was not left in hell neither His flesh did see corruption.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 152
… came.” And the Evangelist writes “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham,” and the blessed Peter in the Acts says David “being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he seeing this before spake of his resurrection,”
2:31
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… For now that he has soothed them with his expression, he confidently adds this: The prophet [saith it] “of His resurrection, that neither was His soul left in hell, nor did His flesh see corruption.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 To Pammachius against John of Jerusalem 29
… What we aim at in fasting, they have through fellowship with God. They feed on heavenly bread, and are satisfied with every word of God, having Him as their food who is also their Lord. Listen to the Saviour saying: “And my flesh rests in hope.” And elsewhere,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 84
… He had power to lay down His life, and to take it again; but we have no power to live as long as we wish; and die we must, however unwilling: He , by dying, straightway slew death in Himself; we, by His death, are delivered from death: His flesh saw no corruption;
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
… heard the Lord saying “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.…I lay it down of myself that I might take it again.” And again, “Now is my soul troubled.” And again, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death,” and again David’s words as interpreted by Peter “His soul was not left in hell neither did His flesh see corruption.”
2:32
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 1
… 27 .) The Apostles themselves also often speak in a similar manner; “We are witnesses, and the Holy Spirit which God hath given to those that obey Him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 29
… And he does not say, They made a complaint (against Him), ( ἐνέτυχον , al. ἐντυγχάνει ) but, “They desired, though having found no cause of death” (in Him), “that He should be slain. ( e ) Who appeared,” he says, “for many days to them that came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem.” ( Rom. xi. 2 .) Instead of
2:33
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
“This Jesus”—observe how he does not call Him otherwise—“hath God raised up; whereof all we are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted” (
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 31
… hell, He is spoken of as ascending up to heaven, as the Prophet had foretold, “Ascending up on high He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men,” those gifts, namely, which Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, spoke of concerning the Holy Ghost, “Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, He hath shed forth this gift which ye do see and hear.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 15.26
… what must be understood and believed of the man Christ, of whose flesh the very conception was not carnal, but spiritual? Both natures, too, as well the human as the divine, are shown in that also that is written of Him, that He received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and shed forth the Holy Spirit:
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
“‘Being by the right hand of God exalted.’
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 3
… Whence also the Lord Christ charges upon Peter, and moreover also upon the rest of His disciples, “Go ye and preach the Gospel to the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
2:34
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 14
… and the rest. And in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter on the day of Pentecost standing with the Eleven
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… both the miracles and the signs and the slaying—“Whom God,” says he, “raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be kept in its power.” It is something great and sublime that he has hinted at here. For the expression, “It was not possible,” even itself is that of one assigning something.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
… speaks as to man, for they are not spoken to Him that sits ever on the throne of glory, as God the Word after His ascension from earth, but they are said to Him who hath now been exalted to the heavenly glory as man, as the Apostles say ‘for David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself the Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand.’
2:35
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 9
… 23, 24 .) He has done well to set the distinction here. For whenever he says anything great, he appeals to them of old. And he found a text which contained both truths; just as in the other discourse he said, “Until He put His foes under His feet.” (
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
“He does not put His enemies under Him as God but as man, but so that the God who is seen and man are the same. Paul too teaches us that the words ‘until I make thy foes thy footstool’
2:36
Tertullian † AD 220 Against Praxeas 28
… Christ therefore must be the same as Jesus who was anointed by the Father, and not the Father, who anointed the Son. To the same effect are the words of Peter: “Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ,” that is, Anointed .
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.13
… Name than they .’ And soon after, ‘Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him that made Him .’ And in the Acts, ‘Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.14.1
… unbelief of the present Jews , but would have inquired and learned that, whereas ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,’ in consequence, it was when at the good pleasure of the Father the Word became man, that it was said of Him, as by John, ‘The Word became flesh ;’ so by Peter, ‘He hath made Him Lord and Christ
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 30
… And what else can this be than God?—and that every knee should bow to Him That was made of no reputation for us, and That mingled the Form of God with the form of a servant, and that all the House of Israel should know that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ?
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.13
… nature a beginning and an example which it should follow of the resurrection from the dead, that all the corruptible may put on incorruption, and all the mortal may put on immortality, our first-fruits having been transformed to the Divine nature by its union with God, as Peter said, “This same Jesus Whom ye crucified, hath God made both Lord and Christ
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 5.1
It is now, perhaps, time to make enquiry into what is said concerning the words of the Apostle Peter
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 5.2
Now that we have had presented to us this preliminary view of existences, it may be opportune to examine the passage before us. It is said, then, by Peter to the Jews, “Him God made Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 5.3
The Apostle Peter says, “God made this Jesus, Whom ye crucified, Lord and Christ
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 6.1
But I perceive that while the necessities of the subject compelled me to follow this line of thought, I have lingered too long over this passage
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 6.2
And although we make these remarks in passing, the parenthetic addition seems, perhaps, not less important than the main question before us. For since, when St. Peter says, “He made Him Lord and Christ
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 6.4
But we must return once more to our vehement writer of speeches, and take up again that severe invective of his against ourselves. He makes it a complaint against us that we deny that the Essence of the Son has been made, as contradicting the words of Peter, “He made Him Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.15
An explanation of Acts ii. 36 and Proverbs viii. 22 , which are shown to refer properly to Christ’s manhood alone.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 6
… Since then these are great things that he has uttered, he again brings his discourse down to lowly matters. “Let therefore,” he says, “the whole house of Israel know assuredly: i.e. question ye not, nor doubt ye: then also in the tone of command it follows; “that God hath made Him both Lord”—this he says from David—“and Christ,” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 3
“Yes,” it may be said, “but Peter has asserted this clearly and openly.” Where and when? “When speaking to the Jews he said, that ‘God hath made Him both Lord and Christ.’” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 1
… As He also says in the second Psalm, “Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance.” ( Ps. ii. 8 .) For no longer is “Jacob the portion of the Lord” nor “Israel His inheritance” ( Deut. xxxii. 9 ), but all men: that is to say, He hath made Him Lord of all: which Peter also said in the Acts, “God hath made Him both Lord and Christ.” (
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
“‘Being by the right hand of God exalted.’ Who then was exalted? The lowly or the most high? And what is the lowly if it be not the human? And what is the most high save the divine? But God being most high needs no exaltation, and so the Apostle says that the human is exalted, exalted that is in being ‘made both Lord and Christ.’
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
“As he writes he expressly describes the man who was crucified as Lord of Glory, declaring Him to be Lord and Christ, just as the Apostles with one voice when speaking to Israel in the flesh say ‘Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.’
2:37
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.12.2
… Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 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.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 3.15
… What can be a greater sin than to crucify Christ? Yet even of this Baptism can purify. For so spake Peter to the three thousand who came to him, to those who had crucified the Lord, when they asked him, saying, Men and brethren, what shall we do
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… How had they “favor with all the people?” On account of their alms deeds. For do not look to the fact, that the chief priests for envy and spite rose up against them, but rather consider that “they had favor with the people.”—“And the Lord added to the Church daily ( ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό ) [together] such as should be saved.—And
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 13
… For to this end did God suffer the Apostles to be brought to trial, that both their adversaries might be instructed, and all might learn, and that the Apostles might be invigorated to boldness of speech. “And they hearing that, were cut to the heart.” ( v. 33 .) The
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 11
… vii .] and Ahab, and Ananias, and Sapphira, in order that by the one, we may cast out all despair, and by the other cut off all indolence; and that the soul become not reckless of the remedies suggested. And let us teach them of themselves to say what the Jews said on that day, approaching unto Peter, (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 8
But let us look again, if it seem good to you, at the words of the jailor, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” What language sweeter than this? This makes the very Angels leap for joy. To hear this language, even the Only-begotten Son of God Himself became a servant. This language they who believed at the beginning addressed to Peter. (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 2.17
… But since, when He had already passed by, so that His back parts were seen, upon the preaching to them by the Apostle Peter that it behoved Christ to suffer and rise again, they were pricked in their hearts with the grief of repentance,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 15.19
… tell us,”—said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins: and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 21.33
… “And Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 39.1
… and because they lay hid among thorns, He did not come to find them, save when torn by the thorns of His Passion; yet come He did, He found, He redeemed them. They had slain, not Him so much, as themselves. They were saved by Him who was slain for them. For, as the Apostles spake, they were pricked;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 40.2
… and they who in their rage slew Him were changed and believed; and they who in their rage shed His blood, now in the spirit of faith drank it; to wit, those three thousand, and those five thousand Jews
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 75.7
… let us hear now what He hath cried through these pillars.…He crieth what? “I have said to unjust men, Do not unjustly” ( ver. 4 ).…But already they have done, and they are guilty: already there hath flowed down the earth, and all they that dwell therein. Pricked to the heart were they that crucified Christ,
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 16
… For to you is the promise, and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him. With many other words also he testified and exhorted them saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. They then that received his word were baptized, and there were added in that day about three thousand
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 67
… For to you is the promise, and to your sons, and to all that are afar off, whomsoever our Lord God has called,” and soon after the Scripture goes on to say: “they therefore that received his word were baptized, and there were added on that day about 3,000 souls
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.34
… 22–24 ); in order, to wit, that having been thrown down by a recognition of their cruelty, they might hear the building up of holy preaching by so much the more profitably as they anxiously sought it. Whence also they forthwith replied, What then shall we do, men and brethren? And it is presently said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you (
2:38
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 72.17
… For this promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 1.12
127. As to peace we have proved the point; but as to grace the prophet Zechariah says, that God promised to pour upon Jerusalem the spirit of grace and mercy, and the Apostle Peter says: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Instructions to Catechumens 2.3
… For the one says, “Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our Father;” and the other says again to those who question him, “Repent ye and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… so have these also confessed that they are in extreme peril, and destitute of all hope of salvation. They did not say, How shall we be saved? but, “What shall we do?” Here again Peter, though the question is put to all, is the man to answer. “Repent,” says he, “and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.6
… His side is pierced by the spear, and blood and water flow forth, twin emblems of baptism and of martyrdom. After His resurrection also, when sending His apostles to the Gentiles, He commands them to baptize these in the mystery of the Trinity. The Jewish people repenting of their misdoing are sent forthwith by Peter to be baptized.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 27.4
… because they had crucified, and slain Him, in whose name though slain by them they saw such great miracles wrought; and saw the presence of the Holy Ghost. And so seeking counsel they received for answer; “Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven you.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 59.1.14
… they were pricked through with their consciences, they besought counsel of safety from the Apostles, they heard, “Repent, and be baptized each one of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be remitted unto you.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.37
… before the feet of the Apostles they laid the prices of their sold goods, going up from that Laver, concerning which the apostle Peter doth admonish them, when they were troubled because they had shed the blood of Christ, and he saith, “Repent ye, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven you.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 132.10
… and pricked at heart, at length believing that there was some hidden divinity in Him whom they had believed like other men, and asking counsel of the Apostles, they were answered, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 139.6
… He is building an idol in his own heart. In these words then are mighty mysteries.…They who raged against the Lord, whom they saw, now seek counsel how they may be saved; and it is said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven you.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 147
… yet as far as the sense is concerned there is here no difference. Wherefore after the Lord had commanded to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost the blessed Peter said to them who received his preaching and asked what they must do, “Believe and be baptized every one of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.30
… but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified ( 1 Cor. vi. 11 ); because, in truth, amended life sanctifies those whom the ablution of the affliction of tears cleanses through penitence. Hence Peter, when he saw some affrighted by consideration of their evil deeds, admonished them, saying, Repent, and be baptized every one of you (
2:39
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… Then he speaks of the gain; “For the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” If you are to receive a gift, if baptism conveys remission, why delay? He next gives a persuasive turn to his address, adding, “For the promise is unto you” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of the Work of Monks 25
… Such peradventure were many in Jerusalem. For it is also written, that they sold their houses and lands, and laid the prices of them at the Apostles’ feet, that distribution might be made to every one as he had need. Because they were found, being near, and were useful to the Gentiles, who, being afar off,
2:40
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… “even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Observe the time he takes for saying, “To those that are afar off.” It is when he finds them conciliated and self-accusing. For when the soul pronounces sentence against itself, no longer can it feel envy. “And with many other words did he testify, and exhort, saying.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 51.3
… Wherefore I beseech you, dearly beloved, and, casting myself down at your feet, I entreat you to grant to me and to yourself this one prayer, that you would save yourself, as it is written, “from an untoward generation.”
St Jerome † AD 420 To Pammachius against John of Jerusalem 8
… or I should rather say Epiphanius throws himself as a suppliant at your knees, and casts his hoary locks beneath your feet, and, for a time laying aside his episcopal dignity, prays for your salvation in words such as these: “Grant to me and to yourself the favour of your salvation; save yourself, as it is written, from this crooked generation,
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.23
… and they persuaded a great multitude, who, however, [already] possessed the fear of God. And there were, in one day, baptized three, and four, and five thousand men.
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 15.26
… Wear thou a garment of incorruption , resplendent in good works; and whatever matter thou receivest from God to administer as a steward, administer profitably. Hast thou been put in trust with riches? Dispense them well. Hast thou been entrusted with the word of teaching? Be a good steward thereof. Canst thou attach the souls of the hearers
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 21
… And if thou knowest not of them, it is nothing marvellous, since Elias too supposed he was alone, but was told, “I have left unto myself seven thousand men.” Whence it is manifest that even now there are many who show forth the apostolical life; like as the “three thousand” then, and the “five thousand.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 32
And had we attained to excellence in respect of concord, then had we no other home beside this. And that there is nothing over-burdensome in this saying, the “three thousand,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 1
… not now, to prevent thy receiving such a gift. Whereas now thou art wary before baptism, and negligent after it. But thou art waiting for Lent: and why? Has that season any advantage? Nay, it was not at the Passover that the Apostles received the grace, but at another season; and then three thousand (Luke says,) and five thousand were baptized: (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” He says nothing of the future, all is about the present, by which indeed men are chiefly swayed; he shows that the Gospel releases from present evils as well. “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 14
… In fact, this man all but preached the Gospel. “ Ye were persuaded,” one may say, “that ye had not strength to overthrow it. Wherefore did ye not believe?” Such is the witness borne even by enemies. There it is four hundred, there, four thousand: and here the first movers were twelve. Let not the number which added itself affright you. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 40
… this Table is calculated more (than all else) to shame us into friendliness. But many of us who come thereto do not even know one another. The reason, it may be said, is that there are so many of them. By no means; it is only our own sluggish indifference. (Once) there were three thousand (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 18
… This then is one proof, but the next, after it, is his saying, that “people whom He foreknew,” that is, who He knew clearly were suited to it, and would receive the faith. (Pococke on Hos. p. 23. See
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2.1
… to be crucified by enemies, to be handled by friends: yet the Physician of all, both of the ungodliness of those, and of the unbelief of these. For ye heard when the Acts of the Apostles were read, how many thousands of Christ’s slayers believed.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 65.5
… Have there come old men, and not come young men; or have there come young men, and not come youths; or have there come youths, and not come boys; or have there come boys, and have there not been brought infants? In a word, have there come Jews (for thence were the Apostles, thence many thousands of men at first betraying, afterwards believing
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 79.2
… after His beast, saying, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord:” among whom was also that company of children, in whom He declared to have been fulfilled, “Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise.” Hence also were those after His resurrection, of whom on one day three and on another five thousand were baptized,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 102.15
… At first suddenly three, afterwards five thousand; all living in unity, all laying the price of their possessions, when they had sold them, at the Apostles’ feet, that it might be distributed to each, as each had need, who had one soul and one heart toward God.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 132.10
… May the remnant be saved, as Isaiah saith, “And the remnant hath” clearly “been saved:” for out of them were the twelve Apostles, out of them more than five hundred brethren, to whom the Lord showed Himself after His Resurrection: out of their number were so many thousands baptized,
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 17.21
… So great was the grace which wrought in all the Apostles together, that, out of the Jews, those crucifiers of Christ, this great number believed, and were baptized in the Name of Christ, and continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and in the prayers
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… “He testified and exhorted, saying.” This is the perfection of teaching, comprising something of fear and something of love. “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” He says nothing of the future, all is about the present, by which indeed men are chiefly swayed; he shows that the Gospel releases from present
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… “And they continued steadfastly and with one accord in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship.” ( v. 42 .) Here are two virtues, perseverance and concord. “In the Apostles’ doctrine,” he says: for they again taught them; “and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer.” All in common, all with perseverance. “And fear came upon every soul” (
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.18.2
… as that poor widow acted who cast all her living into the treasury of God.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… The wonders also bore witness to the words: “Many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles.” As was the case with Christ; first there were signs, then teaching, then wonders; so was it now. “And all that believed were together, and had all things common.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 11
… ( v. 32 .) Great, you perceive, is the virtue of this thing, seeing their was need of this (grace) even in that Company. For this is the foundation of all that is good, this of which he now for the second time makes mention, exhorting all men to the contempt of riches: “Neither
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Catechising of the Uninstructed 23
… and living in Christian love harmoniously with each other, they did not affirm anything to be their own, but they had all things in common, and were one in soul and heart toward God.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of Holy Virginity 46
… and come, follow me;” and dare not unite themselves to those dwelling together, among whom no one saith that any thing is his own, but all things are unto them common;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of the Work of Monks 17
… speaking, moreover, of the saints who had sold all that they had and distributed the same, and were dwelling at Jerusalem in an holy communion of life, not saying that any thing was their own, to whom all things were in common,
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Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 2.17.6
… “For as many as were possessors of lands or houses,” as the account says, “sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet, so that distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 150.3
… and he proved the point from the acts of the apostles, because they sold their property and brought and laid it at the feet of the apostles, and by them it was distributed to each as every man had need.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… 44 .) They are all become angels on a sudden; all of them continuing in prayer and hearing, they saw that spiritual things are common, and no one there has more than other, and they speedily came together ( ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ), to the same thing in common, even to the imparting to all.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 5.18
… treasury was enriched were so poor, ought not all Christians, who make common property of their riches with a far nobler purpose, even that (according to what is written in the Acts of the Apostles) they may distribute to each one according to his need, and that no one may say that anything is his own, but that all things may be their common possession,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of the Work of Monks 25
… Such peradventure were many in Jerusalem. For it is also written, that they sold their houses and lands, and laid the prices of them at the Apostles’ feet, that distribution might be made to every one as he had need.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.37
… For those former Churches were of such sort, as that of them it is said in the Song of Songs, “Thy teeth—are like a flock of shorn ewes going up from the washing, all of which do bear twins, and a barren one is not among them.” For they then laid aside like as it were fleeces the burdens of the world,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 133.2
… All were from thence, and 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,
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… “He testified and exhorted, saying.” This is the perfection of teaching, comprising something of fear and something of love. “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” He says nothing of the future, all is about the present, by which indeed men are chiefly swayed; he shows that the Gospel releases from present
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 15
… He that thinketh that he is “wise among you,” saith he, “let him become a fool, that he may become wise.” ( 1 Cor. iii. 18 .) 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.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 6
… The former murmured and quarreled with each other. The latter had one soul. “They were of one heart, and of one soul,” it is said, “and grace was upon them all.” ( Acts iv. 32 .) And they lived in great simplicity.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 3
… For if even without a gift, the mere consciousness of a pure life be sufficient to lift a man up, much more when the grace is added also. Wherefore to the humble, to the simple, it was rather given, and especially to the simple: for it is said, “in singleness and gladness of heart.” (
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 The Great Catechism pref
The presiding ministers of the “mystery of godliness” have need of a system in their instructions, in order that the Church may be replenished by the accession of such as should be saved
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 To Those Who Had Not Attended the Assembly 2
… Where are they now who oppress us with their presence on the feast days? I look for them, and am grieved on their account when I mark what a multitude are perishing of those who are in the way of salvation,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… For, as having become more earnest, they had increased devotion also to the place. For the Apostles did not for the present pluck them away from this object, for fear of injuring them. “And breaking bread from house to house, did take their portion of food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.” (
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1. And when the days of Pentecost were fulfilled. — Namely the fifty days from Easter, so that now the fiftieth day was at hand; for Pentecost in Greek signifies both the fifty preceding days and the fiftieth day itself, which was the feast of Pentecost. The Latin translator therefore takes Pentecost in the former sense, the Greek text in the latter. For thus it reads, ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς, in being fulfilled, that is, while the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, that is while the fiftieth day from Easter and the resurrection of Christ was arriving. For Pentecost was celebrated on a single day only, namely the fiftieth, whereas on the other hand Easter, as also the Feast of Tabernacles, was celebrated for seven continuous days, as Philo teaches in the book On the Decalogue, and is evident from Leviticus 23:43. Hence it follows that the word "fulfilled" is taken here from the Hebrew phrase in an inchoative sense, not a perfective one. For on the fiftieth day begun, namely in the morning, the Holy Spirit came, not in the evening and end of the day. A similar case is Luke 2:22: "After the days of her purification were fulfilled," that is after they began to be fulfilled, when namely the fortieth day from the birth of the Mother of God had arrived and dawned. And Jeremiah 25:12: "When seventy years shall be fulfilled." For, as is evident from Josephus and the Chronologists, the Babylonian captivity was relaxed in the beginning of the seventieth year, not at its end. Note first: The Jews were commanded by God to observe the feast of Pentecost for a twofold reason. The first was in memory of the law given on that day through Moses on Sinai, Exodus 19:1. The second, in thanksgiving for the new fruits of that year, which they then began to reap: hence they offered the firstfruits of these, namely two loaves made from the grain of that year, to God at Pentecost. These were a type and shadow of the Christian Pentecost, in which the new law was promulgated by St. Peter and the Apostles through the Holy Spirit appearing in fiery tongues: hence in it likewise the firstfruits of faith, namely three thousand souls, were offered and dedicated to Christ. Most excellently St. Chrysostom, in homily 2 On Pentecost: "What law, therefore," he says, "do you learn was given from heaven today? The grace of the Spirit. What are your rational tablets, on which this law is inscribed? Your soul and body. What is your spiritual circumcision? The cutting away of all evil desire, and turning away from it. What is your altar? Your spiritual mind. What is your spiritual sacrifice? Every good work. What is the fire of your altar? The heat of compunction. What is your temple built by God? A pure heart, in which God loves to dwell." Note secondly: The first Pentecost of the Christians fell on a Sunday: for on a Sunday the Holy Spirit descended, just as Christ rose again. For if you count fifty days from the Sunday of the resurrection, you will find that the seventh Sunday is the fiftieth day, that is Pentecost. Whence it follows that the first Pentecost of the Christians, which Luke here describes, was different and distinct from the Pentecost of the Jews. For they had celebrated it on the Saturday immediately preceding, but the Apostles celebrated it on the Sunday following; so that it might be signified that the new law succeeds the old, and the old ends in the new, and to it, as if its course were completed, hands over the torch. When therefore Luke says, "When the days of Pentecost were fulfilled," understand the Christian Pentecost, not the Jewish. For just as Christians differ from Jews in celebrating the Passover, so consequently also in Pentecost. For the Jews celebrated the Passover on the fifteenth day of the first month, whatever day that might be, and from thence the fiftieth day is their Pentecost, whether it falls on the first day of the week, or the second, or any other. But Christians celebrate the Passover on the Sunday which immediately follows the fifteenth moon, or the day of the first month, or the vernal equinox, and this in honour of the resurrection of Christ, who rose on a Sunday: and thence counting 50 days, they consequently celebrate Pentecost on a Sunday; because on that day likewise the Holy Spirit descended, who through the Apostles promulgated the new law in Sion. And this Luke here narrates: for he is himself the Historian of the primitive Church, who pursues in order its infancy, progress, feasts, religion, etc. Whence he writes that he appends these Acts to his Gospel, cap. 1, 1, as it were a continuation of the History of Christ and the Church. Just as therefore he ends the Gospel in the first Christian Passover, namely in the resurrection of Christ, so from that he immediately here in the Acts counts the first Christian Pentecost, not Jewish, in which through the Holy Spirit there was made the promulgation of the new law: especially because he himself wrote these things 28 years after Christ's ascension into heaven, as I said in the Preface, at which time the Jewish Pentecost had been abolished, and everywhere among Christians the Christian Pentecost was celebrated, whose origin he here describes. Thus Francis Suarez, III part., Question LIII, disp. XLVI, sect. 1; Vatablus and others. I have confirmed this in more places at Levit. xxiii, 45. Morally: R. Moses, son of Maimon, notes in the Resolution of Doubts of the Law, lib. III, cap. xliv, that God appointed these 50 days before His coming to Moses and the people at Sinai, so that through the delay of so many days He might kindle in them the desire for His coming: "Just as," he says, "he who awaits the vision of a friend whom he loves with all his heart, counts the days until he sees him." Whence some relate that the Jews were accustomed to gather daily from the Passover in the Synagogue, and there after prayers and blessing to count and proclaim: This is the first day, this the second, this the third, etc., until Pentecost. Thus the Apostles and the first faithful counted each day from the ascent of Christ, eagerly awaiting Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. Let Christians do the same. For what is more desirable than the coming of the Holy Spirit, who just as He first descended upon the Apostles with the fullness of His gifts at Pentecost, so in the same way He descends yearly upon the faithful, who worthily prepare themselves for and aspire to His coming. For Pentecost is the proper feast of the Holy Spirit and its jubilee. For just as the fiftieth year was a jubilee, in which servants became free, and all returned to their ancestral inheritances, even if they had been sold a thousand times, so through the Holy Spirit we return to grace and the friendship of angels, to the freedom of the glory of the sons of God, to the inheritance and the heavenly kingdom. Wherefore the Greeks, denying that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, but from the Father alone, when they had been reproved for this error many times and finally in the Council of Florence by the Latins, nevertheless persisted in it. Hence in the Council of Florence Pope Nicholas V predicted to them by letter that after three years had passed they would come into the power of the Turks: which thing happened so plainly, as Gennadius, their own Patriarch, testifies in that book which he wrote against the error of the Greeks. The same thing had been predicted to them much earlier by St. Brigid, as Thomas Bozius noted in the Signs of the Church, sign. 99. And lest anyone should doubt that they were punished with this penalty on account of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, Constantinople was captured by the Turks, Constantine, the last Emperor of the Greeks, was slain, and the Eastern Empire was utterly destroyed on the third day of Pentecost, in the year of Christ 1453. Justly were the Greeks delivered to the Turks, who confess one God and deny the Trinity, and therefore reject the Holy Spirit, because they were unwilling to consent to and submit to the Latins, who confess the Holy Trinity and the divine procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son. Justly do they bear the hard yoke of the Turks, who cast off the sweet yoke of the Roman Church. Justly do they serve the Turks as if they were slaves, they who have gone over to the error of the Turks, and who have broken fraternal union and kinship with the Latin Church through monstrous hatred and schism. For implicitly they remove the Holy Spirit from their midst. For if the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Son, then He is not distinguished from Him, but is the Son Himself. For in divine things there is no distinction of persons except through procession: for from this arises the opposition of relations, and from this the distinction of persons. Were all. — Christians numbering 120, concerning whom the preceding chapter from verse 15 hitherto Luke has dealt with and deals with. Thus St. Chrysostom and St. Cyprian, sermon On the Holy Spirit; indeed Joel, whom St. Peter cites in verse 17. Wherefore ineptly and ignorantly Beza restricts this coming of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles alone, and excludes from it the Blessed Virgin, and mocks painters who depict her in the midst of the Apostles receiving the Holy Spirit. St. Augustine notes, sermon 116 On the Seasons, that the Holy Spirit promised by Christ to the twelve Apostles was truly given in a number tenfold: for ten times twelve make one hundred twenty. Such is the faithfulness, indeed the liberality of Christ, teaching us to promise little, but to bestow tenfold more. With one accord. — In Greek ὁμοθυμαδόν, that is unanimously. For unanimous concord, consent and prayer drew to itself the Holy Spirit, who is uncreated love, and therefore a lover of concord. In the same place, — of the cenacle, concerning which I spoke in chapter I, verse 13.
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2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven. — This sound was a symbol of the sound of the Gospel received throughout the whole world by the Apostles preaching under the Holy Spirit, according to that passage in Psalm xviii: "Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth," namely of the heavens, not so much material as spiritual, namely of the Apostles, "and their words unto the ends of the whole world." Literally, this sound then stirred the minds of the faithful to devoutly receive the Holy Spirit coming, and also the Jews scattered throughout the world, so that, aroused by its roar, they might run to the Apostles' cenacle: for this sound was borne thither and pressed upon that place, just as thunder and lightning strike a certain place and house. Suddenly. — For a twofold reason. The first is, so that the Holy Spirit might show that this fullness of himself and his gifts, especially of tongues and other graces, are poured out upon them without the merit or sufficient disposition of the faithful, from his mere liberality. The second is, so that he might declare his swiftness, power and efficacy, by which he suddenly transforms earthly men into heavenly ones: just as he suddenly made St. Paul an Apostle from a persecutor, and Mary Magdalene a penitent and holy woman from a sinner. "For the grace of the Holy Spirit knows not slow proceedings," says St. Ambrose, on chapter I of the Gospel of St. Luke. Thus in Samson, whenever he was about to perform a work of heroic and supernatural strength, it is said that the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, as if preparing, stirring, elevating and strengthening him for it. Most excellently St. Gregory, homily 30 on the Gospel: "O what an artificer is this Spirit! No delay is made in learning all that he wills. For as soon as he has touched the mind, he teaches, and to have touched alone is to have taught. For when he suddenly illuminates the human mind, he changes the affection: he suddenly denies what it was, he suddenly exhibits what it was not. Let us consider our holy Preachers, what he found them to be this day, what he made them!" And a little before: "Behold Peter rejoices in stripes, he who before feared at words, and he who previously, when questioned by a maidservant's voice, was afraid, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, beaten by the forces of princes, endures it." From heaven. — First, because in heaven is the throne of the glory of God and the Holy Spirit. Second, so that he might signify that he calls the Apostles and the faithful to heaven and raises them up and makes them heavenly, so that they themselves likewise call other men to heaven and lead them there. Hear St. Chrysostom, sermon 1 On Pentecost: "Today earth has been made heaven for us, not by stars descending from heaven to earth, but by Apostles ascending to the heavens; because abundant grace of the Holy Spirit has been poured out, and has made the whole world heaven, not changing nature, but correcting the will. For he found a publican and made him an Evangelist; he found a persecutor and made him an Apostle; he found a thief and brought him into paradise; he found a harlot and made her equal to virgins; he found magicians and showed them to be Evangelists; he drove away malice and brought in benignity; he destroyed servitude and brought in freedom; he granted the debt and brought in the grace of God. Therefore earth has been made heaven, and I shall not cease saying this often. For what such stars as the Apostles? Stars in heaven, Apostles above the heavens. 'Mind the things that are above,' says the Apostle, 'where Christ sitteth on the right hand of the Father.' Stars of insensible fire, Apostles of intelligible fire. Stars shine in the night, are darkened in the day: Apostles in day and night shine with their rays, that is, their virtues. Stars are darkened when the sun rises, Apostles shine with their brightness when the sun of justice shines. Stars in the resurrection shall fall like leaves, Apostles in the resurrection shall be caught up in the air in clouds. And among those stars one is called the Morning Star, another the Light-bringer: but among the Apostles there is no Morning Star, all are Light-bringers, and therefore the Apostles are greater than the stars." And shortly after: "The vine-dressers were, and they being absent in body, the vineyard flourishes and brings forth clusters. For indeed they were vine-dressers and fishermen, and towers, and columns, and physicians, and leaders, and teachers, and harbors, and governors, and shepherds, and athletes, and fighters, and bearing crowns. Columns indeed, because by their virtue they are the strength of the Church; but a foundation, because the Church is founded upon their confession, the Lord saying: 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.' But a harbor, because they repressed impious tempests. Governors, because they taught the world the right way. Shepherds, because they drove away wolves, and preserved the sheep. Ploughmen, because they rooted out thorns. Vine-dressers, because they rooted out wild vines, and planted seeds of piety. Physicians, because they healed our wounds. And that thou mayest learn that I have not said these things in vain, I will bring Paul forward doing all these things. Dost thou wish to see him as a planter? Hear: 'I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase.' Dost thou wish to see him as a builder? 'As a wise architect I have laid the foundation.' Dost thou wish to see him fighting? 'So do I fight, not as one beating the air.' Dost thou wish to see him as a runner? From Jerusalem and round about even unto Illyricum, and thence to Spain and to the uttermost parts, the Gospel of Christ was filled. Dost thou wish to see him as an athlete? 'Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood.' Dost thou wish to see him as a leader? 'Take unto you the armour of God, and put on the breastplate of faith, and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.' Dost thou wish to see him contending? 'A good fight have I fought, I have kept the faith.' Dost thou wish to see him crowned? 'For the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice.' And though he was one, he did all things, imitating his Lord. For indeed, since the Godhead is of one substance, and unchangeable, for our salvation it becomes all things to all. The same, homily 2: 'The Holy Spirit is the reformation of our image, the perfection of the spiritual mind, the sun of the eyes of our mind, the light of our inner man, the Lucifer in the heaven of our breast. The Holy Spirit is the bond of our union in Christ, the exultation of souls, the rejoicing of the heart, fire, a dewy fountain. The Holy Spirit is the consolation of the mourning, the laying down of sadness, the rest of the mind, the communication of wisdom, the discovery of prudence, the illumination of foreknowledge. By this the Prophets are illuminated, Kings are anointed, Priests are ordained, Teachers are declared, Churches are sanctified, altars are founded, ointment is consecrated, waters are purified, demons are driven out, diseases are healed.' And soon after: 'He shows to the soul inwardly as in a mirror, with ineffable joy the future eternal joy, and exhorts it, and says: Come to the Father, come to the heavenly fatherland, come to the heavenly kingdom, come to the incorruptible chamber of the Bridegroom.' From what has been said it is clear how insane was the arrogance and heresy of Mani, who taught that the Holy Spirit came to us not through the Apostles, but through Mani, and therefore rejected this history of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles as if fabricated, whom St. Augustine rightly refutes, in the book On the Usefulness of Believing, chapter iii, and in book XIX Against Faustus, chapter xxxi. Thus according to his name Manes, that is mad (for this in Greek is μανία: whence mania is madness), he raved; and therefore he paid the deserved penalties of his impiety and madness, when he was flayed alive by the king of the Persians, because the son of the king, whom he had promised to restore to health, stood before him dead while living, as Socrates testifies, book I of the History, chapter xvii, where he also adds that Curbicus, who called himself Mani, called himself not only an Apostle, but also the Paraclete. As of a wind coming. — In Greek πνοῆς, that is a blast of wind. Violent. — In Greek βιαίας, that is violent. Whence St. Cyprian, book III Testimonies against the Jews, reads, "as if a violent blast were borne"; Vatable, "similar to a violent wind which is borne"; Pagninus, "as if by the force of coming" (for this is φερομένης πνοῆς, a violent blast). This spirit therefore was not the Holy Spirit, but a blast, or violent wind, and therefore coming with force and as if rushing into the cenacle, to represent the efficacy, vehemence and force of the Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles, by which he was about to make them efficacious, strong and impetuous to invade, overcome and subdue the whole world to Christ. "That blast purged hearts from carnal chaff, that fire consumed the hay of old concupiscence," says St. Augustine, sermon 188 On the Seasons. Note: The Holy Spirit appeared variously in different forms, according to the variety of His operations and significations. For first, He appeared in Christ's baptism in the form of a dove, to signify the innocence and fruitfulness of good works, which He suggests to Christ and to the baptized to perform. Second, in the Transfiguration He appeared as a shining cloud to signify the rain of doctrine which He delivers, and the protection which the faithful receive. Third, in the cenacle He was given by Christ as a breathing to signify the spiritual life which He confers upon us through the Sacraments. Whence Christ, breathing upon the disciples, said: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them," John xx. Fourth, in Pentecost He was given in the form both of fire, because like fire He purifies minds, illuminates them, inflames them and elevates them to heavenly things; and of a mighty wind, to signify the efficacy of the preaching of the Apostles, imparted to them by the Holy Spirit. Thus St. Thomas, 1 part., Quest. XLIII, art. 7 ad 6. For just as a strong wind, a whirlwind and a tempest, especially if a violent storm, not only levels crops, shrubs and trees, but also tears down entire houses from their foundations and carries them aloft and transfers them elsewhere; so likewise the Apostles overthrew all the world's power, wisdom, eloquence, etc., and transferred them from paganism into Christ's Church, according to that: "In a mighty wind thou shalt break the ships of Tharsis," Psalm xlvii, 8. And: "The voice of the Lord is in power, the voice of the Lord is in magnificence," Psalm xxviii, 4. Wherefore this sound did not strike down the Apostles and the faithful, nor did it dismay them, but sharpened and stirred them to love, reverence and desire for the Holy Spirit, and at the same time signified what they and the other faithful ought to be, namely vehement in the contest of virtue and salvation, "for the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away": thus Cyril, Catech. 17. On the other hand, to Elias zealous and indignant against the idolaters, and desiring their death and destruction, the Holy Spirit appeared in wind and breeze, not vehement but gentle, that He might soften his indignation and excessive zeal, and impart to him a spirit of patience and gentleness, III Kings xix, 11. For as St. Bernard says, serm. 23 in Cant.: "God tranquil tranquilizes all things, and to behold the quiet is to rest." See the seven gifts and benefits of winds which I enumerated Daniel. III, 65, and accommodate them mystically to the Holy Spirit. Finally, many hold that there was a real wind here, which rushed with force through the cenacle of the Apostles: just as the sound was real, produced, as it appears, by the rushing wind. Others, however, hold that the sound was real, but not the wind, both because Luke says: "As of a mighty wind coming," at the feast of Pentecost: "The Apostles praying to God, it is announced that He came." A sound and a great noise was heard, such as is usually produced by a strong wind rushing in; even if there were no such wind. For God can produce the noise and sound which wind usually causes, without a wind: indeed men by a certain art and collision of bodies represent a similar sound, just as some imitate the voice of the nightingale and other birds and beasts so that it cannot be distinguished from the voice of the birds themselves. Then because if a real wind had been present, its vehemence would have harmed and knocked down the Apostles and cast them to the ground; and finally because likewise the fiery tongues were not real and proper, but only their appearance and likeness, as I shall presently say. Morally St. Chrysostom, hom. De Spiritu Sancto: "Give me a ship empty, a helmsman, sailors, ropes, anchors, everything arranged, and nowhere be the spirit of wind, will not all the apparatus, however great it is, be delayed, if the operation of the spirit be lacking? Thus it is wont to happen, although there be ample supply of discourse, and a deep mind, and eloquence, and understanding, if the spirit which supplies force be not present, all things are idle." And it filled (the sound of wind, not the wind, as I have already said) the whole house. — To signify that the inhabitants of the house were to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Whence, explaining this symbol, he adds, vers. 4: "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." By house, in Hebrew phrase, understand the cenacle: for in it the Apostles and the faithful were sitting; for those who were outside it did not receive the Holy Spirit. Whence St. Cyprian, lib. III Testim., cap. 21, reads: "And it filled the whole place." Where they were sitting. — Or properly, as Cajetan thinks. For sitting is a symbol of quiet and collected mind (which is the best disposition for receiving the Holy Spirit). Whence in the life of St. Bernard we read that he devoted himself almost entirely to contemplation while sitting. Hence that saying of the Philosopher: "The soul becomes wise by sitting." Or "sitting," that is dwelling and remaining, for this is what the Hebrew יָשַׁב iaschab, that is to sit, signifies. For it is credible that the faithful devoted themselves to prayer and invoked the Holy Spirit, when He Himself came upon them: and therefore either kneeling, or standing after the manner of the Jews, they did the same, according to what the Church sings in the feast of Pentecost: "The Apostles praying announce that God has come." Note: The Holy Spirit wished by this visible sign to exhibit Himself as it were visibly, and to descend visibly upon the Apostles. Nazianzen and his interpreter Nicetas give the reason, oration 44: "For since the Son had familiar intercourse with us in a sensible and visible body, it was fitting that the Spirit also should appear corporeally: just as He also appeared first in the form of a dove, now in the form of fiery tongues. And since Christ, having returned to those things which befit God, and been restored to His glory, the Spirit had to descend to us after Christ." Just as therefore Christ was incarnate, that He might teach us by His own mouth the way of virtue and salvation, and might utter forth things hidden from the foundation of the world in the bosom of the Father, so after Christ the Holy Spirit was as it were incarnate in fiery tongues, that He might imbue the Apostles and the faithful with them.
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3. And there appeared to them parted tongues. — "Parted," that is, distributed among individuals, so that each one had his own partial tongue sitting upon his head, although whole and undivided, as painters commonly depict them. Many, however, with probability hold that the individual tongues were properly parted, that is, divided, as the Zurich version translates it (for this is what the Greek διαμεριζόμεναι signifies), so that they appeared in a divided form, which we can thus conceive, by imagining that several partial tongues rested upon each one, which nevertheless coalesced below into one as it were root, so that below there appeared to be one total tongue, of which it is said: "And it sat upon every one of them;" which, rising up into several tongues as it were stalks and reeds, divided and parted itself. Whence the Church in the Mass of Pentecost, within the Canon, says that these tongues were innumerable. For fire, the appearance of which these tongues had, on account of its agility and mobility easily divides and parts itself into various parts as it were tongues. The reason is, because these tongues signified the Holy Spirit resting upon the Apostles, and giving to them the knowledge of all the tongues of so many nations to which they were about to go: many tongues therefore represented the manifold tongues of nations (which the Holy Spirit was giving to the Apostles). St. Cyprian adds, in his sermon On the Holy Spirit, that by this multiplicity of tongues is signified the multiplicity of gifts, which the Holy Spirit communicated to each one, according to that in I Corinthians XII, 4: "Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit." Similar is what Diodorus Siculus relates, in book II, final chapter, that in a certain island there are found men who have a divided tongue, so that at the same time they can speak in two ways, and therefore can speak with two: for with one part of the tongue they speak to one, with the other to another. But prudent men rightly hold this for a fable, especially since no classical historians have made mention of so great a prodigy. Moreover, serpents, whose prudence Christ bids us imitate, Matthew X, 16, have a three-forked and three-furrowed tongue, and it is burning and scorching, so that they appear to be three-tongued. Tongues. — You will ask, why did the Holy Spirit rest upon the Apostles in the form of a tongue? I answer: First, because He was constituting the Apostles here as preachers of the Gospel: but the instrument of preaching is the tongue. Through tongues therefore they received the gift of tongues. Note here: The gift of tongues comprises three things: first, the very knowledge of various sounds; second, their signification; third, the habituation of the motive powers and organs, to form the sounds of diverse idioms correctly and promptly, by which habituation they had the habitual faculty of properly composing, coordinating and pronouncing the sounds and sentences of any language. For this habituation is different in the Spanish tongue, different in the German, different in the French. And in this properly consists the habit, or the habitual gift of tongues. Add fourth, since along with tongues there was given to the Apostles perfect wisdom and knowledge of the things of faith and of sublime mysteries, to the preaching of which they were destined, and this was signified through tongues, both because tongues and sounds are symbols of things and of the truths signified by them, and because they themselves are the instrument for preaching them. For if the Holy Spirit gave them the accessory instrument, therefore much more did He give them the principal one, which is the mover and source of such doctrine and preaching. But this is clear faith and contemplation of the saving truth necessary or fitting for the salvation of men, as St. Bernard says, sermon 4 on Pentecost. Furthermore, the Apostles received here supernatural prudence, by which they might providently and prudently compose and direct all their acts and words through so many difficulties, dangers, diversities of things and persons to their own and others' salvation. Finally, they received boldness and zeal and the other virtues and gifts necessary for so great a task, and these in perfect and heroic act. For to him upon whom that divine sun shines, to him easily all things shine forth. The second cause is, because, as St. Gregory says, homily 30 in the Gospel, the tongue has the greatest kinship with the word. For just as the word of the mind produces the voice of the tongue, so from the word the Holy Spirit is breathed forth and produced. Thus Nazianzen, oration 44 on Pentecost, through the tongue considers the kinship and bond which is between the Son and the Holy Spirit to be signified. Again, just as the tongue is of the same nature with the mouth and other members, so the Holy Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son, so that as it were their secret and hidden things it announces to us, according to that 1 Corinthians XII, 3: "No one can say, Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit." Thus St. Gregory, homily 30 in the Gospel. Third, just as the tongue discerns tastes and distinguishes sweet from bitter, savory from insipid, so the Holy Spirit illuminating the mind, makes it distinguish heavenly and eternal things from earthly and perishable ones, so that we may choose those and despise these. For this reason the Apostle says, 1 Corinthians II: "The animal man perceiveth not the things that are of the Spirit," because namely he does not have a sincere taste nor this tongue of the Holy Spirit. These tongues therefore signified that the Holy Spirit was giving to the Apostles the innermost tastes of divine things and the power of tasting them divinely, as St. Bernardine says, sermon 1 on Pentecost, whose pious and learned sermons written in his own hand I saw, read and kissed with great pleasure of soul at Rome in the illustrious Library of the Duke of Altemps, who therefore adorned them with a golden binding. Fourth, because the tongue greatly aids digestion, for with the teeth it divides food, chews it and as it were turns it into chyle. Whence the Physicians teach that the first digestion takes place in the mouth, the second in the stomach, and therefore it is healthy and very useful that food be well chewed first in the mouth, before it is carried into the stomach. Thus the Holy Spirit does, so that through meditation as it were we ruminate and chew the words of God with the tongue, and thus carry them into the mind and incorporate them into ourselves. Fifth, because the tongue is to man either a most useful member, or the most harmful. For as it is said in Proverbs XVIII, 21: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." And St. James says, chapter III, 8: "No man can tame the tongue: an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison." Wherefore there is need of the Holy Spirit, who tames the tongue, governs it, sanctifies it, according to that Proverbs XVI: "It is the part of man to prepare his heart, but of the Lord to govern the tongue." For the Holy Spirit teaches to speak little with discretion and to do much with fervor, and to praise God continually. For in this the perfection of spiritual life consists. The Gentiles saw this through a shadow. That saying of Anacharsis is well known, who when asked, "what was the worst and what the best thing in man?" answered: "The tongue." For this is most useful, if it be governed by right reason; but most pestilential, if otherwise. Thus Laertius, book I On the Lives of Philosophers, chapter IX. Stobaeus, sermon 34, relates that Thecritus of Chios, when Anaximenes was about to speak, thus prefaced it: "A river of words begins, a drop of mind;" signifying that he was very talkative, but little wise. But Demosthenes, when asked, "why does man have one tongue, but two ears?" answered: "Because it is twice as expedient for man to hear than to speak." Whence Zeno said to a talkative youth at a banquet: "Your ears have flowed into your tongue," as Laertius relates, book VII, chapter I. As it were fire. — The word "as it were" seems to signify that these tongues were not true fire, but had only the appearance and likeness of fire, first, in red color; second, in brightness; third, in volatility and motion. Thus Cajetan. But many probably hold that it was true fire and there was true sound. For the word "as it were" or "as," often in Scripture signifies not likeness, but truth, as: "We saw his glory as it were of the only begotten," John I, 14. Add, that "as it were" may signify rather that there was a multitude in the tongues, than in the fire, so that it be hypallage, that is to say "Tongues as it were fire," that is fire as it were tongues, or rather: These tongues were not true tongues, human and carnal (for these would have been gross and unbecoming, and incongruous to represent the Holy Spirit, who is the most subtle spirit), but were like fire; because this fire appeared in the form of a tongue and sat upon the Apostles. The first opinion, as being simpler, so also appears more genuine, both because the word 'as' signifies there was a likeness of fire, not the reality; and because in Greek it is ὡσεὶ πυρός, that is, as fire, in the genitive case, as if to say: These tongues were not true, but in the manner of fire, or were tongues not of flesh, but bearing the appearance of fire, just as if they had been fashioned from fire. Just as therefore the tongues were not of flesh and human, so neither was the fire true, but its appearance and likeness, as painters are accustomed to paint fire. But this fire-painting and appearance was more lively, because it appeared to burn, to move and to rise upward like true fire. Then finally, because it was not a true dove, but only its appearance, which descended upon Christ when he was baptized in the Jordan, Matt. III, 16, as the weightier doctors judge, and Matthew signifies saying: "And he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove." For the word "as" indicates there was a likeness of a dove. It was similar with the wind, as I said verse 2; finally, if it had been true fire, it would have scorched and burned the hair and heads of the Apostles. It appears therefore that this fire was figurative, being denser air or vapor, to which God imparted a rosy and ruddy light like fire, conformed into the appearance of a tongue, so that it seemed to be a fiery tongue, both because fire is by its nature pyramidal, and gradually narrowing itself rises into a cone, as a tongue also does; and because God was properly shaping this fire in the manner of a tongue. The tongues were therefore tongues of fire, that is, fire, namely flames of fire, which are far more acute than our tongues. Wherefore they were plainly pyramidal and rose to a point and ended thus, and this for five reasons. The first is that it might be signified that the ardor of the Holy Spirit sharpens the mind and causes it to penetrate the deep things of God. The second, as a sign that it entered and penetrated the hearts of the disciples most subtly and acutely. The third, as a sign that it would cause them to sigh and pant toward heaven and heavenly things. The fourth, as a sign that it would impart to their tongues a wonderful efficacy for penetrating and inflaming the minds of hearers, according to that which Christ promised in Luke XXI: "I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay." The fifth, as a sign that it would give them the gift of discernment of spirits, by which they might penetrate minds, affections and the secrets of hearts, so that they might speak, preach and counsel to them fittingly for salvation. For this gift is very useful and opportune for those who deal with souls, such as Confessors, Preachers, and Rectors. You will ask, why were these tongues fiery? I answer: First, because God, and especially the Holy Spirit, is the most subtle, most efficacious, most powerful, most agile love. Whence his symbol is fire, according to that in Deut. IV, 24: "Thy God is a consuming fire." The same thing I have shown through many analogies in Levit. IX, 23. Again, just as the old law was given on Sinai through fire and with fire, indeed with smoke, thunders and lightnings, as is said in Exodus XIX, 16 and 18; so much more was its antitype, the new law, to be given through fire. For that fire represented these fiery tongues, the thunders represented the sound of the mighty wind, the lightnings the sermons and miracles of the Apostles, the smoke the contrition and penance of Jews and Gentiles. Isidore of Pelusium gives the reason, epistle 494: "That one God might be known in both Testaments, namely that he himself was the author of both, and therefore by his right and will he abolished the old and substituted the new in its place." Secondly, because just as the Holy Spirit authorized the Prophets through fire, so it was much more fitting that He would authorize and the Apostles. Concerning the Prophets it is clear: for He made Isaiah, chapter VI, 6, a Prophet and an Apostle of his age, touching and cleansing his lips with a burning coal. Thus concerning Elias Ecclesiasticus says, XLVIII, 1: "Elias rose up like fire, and his word burned like a torch;" whence also he was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot, IV Kings II, 11; and Jeremiah, Lamentations chapter I, verse 13: "From on high He sent fire into my bones, and instructed me." And Ezekiel describes the four Cherubim attendants of the chariot of the glory of Christ thus, chapter I, 13: "Their appearance was like burning coals of fire and like the appearance of lamps." These indeed were types of the Apostles, who like Cherubim, nay rather Seraphim, bore the chariot of the Church and the glory of God throughout the whole world, while they celebrated and propagated the magnificence of God and the Church throughout the whole world. Wherefore Christ Himself foretold this, saying, Luke XII, 49: "I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?" Hence also the Holy Spirit was represented as a pillar of fire and cloud, which went before and led the camps of the Hebrews through the desert into the promised land, as I said at Exodus XIII, 21. Thirdly, to signify that the law of Christ, which He was about to promulgate, is a law of fire, that is of charity and zeal, according to that in Deuteronomy XXXIII, 2: "In His right hand a fiery law." Fire therefore signifies the burning of love, which the Holy Spirit was to kindle in the Apostles and the faithful. Fourthly, to signify the effect which the Holy Spirit was about to work in the souls of the Apostles and the other faithful, namely that He would consume and burn up in them torpor, fear, concupiscences and vices like fire, and would make them fiery, that is zealous, effective and agile for all good, just as fire ignites iron, as Cyril says, Catechesis 17. "This fire," says Chrysostom, homily 4, "burned up the sins of the world like a forest." And below: "For just as a fiery man, if he should fall into the midst of stubble, suffers no harm, but rather exerts his force; so it happened here." And St. Gregory, homily 30 in the Gospel: "In fiery tongues the Spirit appeared, because all whom He fills, He makes burning and speaking alike. Teachers have fiery tongues, because while they preach that God is to be loved, they inflame the hearts of their hearers. For the discourse of a teacher is idle, if it cannot provide the burning of love. This burning of doctrine they had conceived from the very mouth of truth, who said: Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He spoke in the way and opened to us the Scriptures?" That precept of Cicero concerning the orator is true, book II On Oratory: "Let the orator burn, if he wishes to kindle the judge." It was necessary therefore that the Apostles burn with this fire, so that by it they might inflame the whole world lying torpid and frozen with cold. Fifthly, Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 17: "Fire signifies the great and manifold tribulation which the Apostles and the faithful were about to suffer; but they were to overcome through the fire of divine love, which for this reason the Holy Spirit kindled in them here." Sixthly, fire signifies the keen examination and light which the Holy Spirit suggests to the mind. Hear St. Bernardine, sermon 2 On Pentecost: "What does He seek from you, who comes seeking you with such solicitude, except that you walk solicitous with your God? This solicitude is not made except by the Holy Spirit, who searches the depths of our hearts, the discerner of thoughts and intentions of the heart, who does not permit even the smallest speck of chaff to remain within the dwelling which He possesses, but immediately burns it with the fire of most subtle circumspection. Sweet and gentle Spirit, who bends our will, nay rather raises it up and directs it more to His own, so that we may both truly understand it, and fervently love it, and effectively fulfill it." Finally, St. Augustine, sermon 185 On the Seasons: "He himself (the Holy Spirit) poured forth His Apostles from the fountain of living light, so that they afterwards, like twelve rays of the sun and as many lamps of truth, might illuminate the whole world, and, intoxicated with new wine, might fill and water the thirsting hearts of peoples." Wherefore the same, invoking Him with all his affection in Meditations IX: "Now, holy communication of divine love, of the almighty Father and of His most blessed offspring, almighty Paraclete Spirit, most merciful consoler of the sorrowful, now with mighty power steal into the innermost recesses of my heart, and, O bright inhabitant of light, gladden with the splendor of pious radiance whatever dark lurking places of the neglected dwelling, and with the abundance of Thy dew, long withered in the squalor of dryness, make fruitful by visiting. Wounded by the arrow of Thy love in the secret places of the inner man, and penetrating the sluggish marrow of the liver with healing flames, kindle it, and with the fire of holy fervor, illuminating the innermost parts of mind and body, feed all. Drench me in the torrent of Thy pleasure, so that I may now wish to taste nothing of worldly things of poisoned sweetness. Judge me, O Lord, and discern my cause from an unholy nation, teach me to do Thy will, because Thou art my God: I believe therefore, that whomsoever Thou shalt dwell in, Thou makest a dwelling place of the Father and likewise of the Son: Blessed is he who shall merit to have Thee as a guest, because through Thee the Father and the Son make their abode with him. Come now, come, most kind consoler of the grieving soul, protecting in opportunities, helper in tribulation. Come, cleanser of sins, healer of wounds; come, strength of the weak, raiser up of the fallen; come, teacher of the humble, destroyer of the proud." The Gentile Philosophers saw the same thing. "The Stoics," says St. Cyril, book I Against Julian, "call God an artificial fire, proceeding by way to the nativity of the world. Democritus asserts that God is mind in fire of spherical form, and that He is the soul of the world." And it sat upon each of them. — "Sat," that is, it rested upon, it settled upon: for neither tongue nor fire properly sits. Now it sat, not sound or wind: for this did not sit, but was moved and swept through the whole house, but this fire of tongues, or fiery tongue, and consequently the Holy Spirit, represented by these tongues, which was one in all the tongues. Whence he says sat, not they sat: both because there was one total tongue, although divided into various partial ones, which rested upon each one, as I said in verse 3; and because there was one Holy Spirit, of which the tongue was the sign. The Syrian, however, translates, and they sat, namely the fiery tongues, which were many in many, indeed in the same one, but partial, as I said. Thus St. Cyprian, book III of Testimonies, chapter 101: "And there appeared to them divided tongues as it were of fire, which also sat upon each one of them." The Fathers commonly hold that these tongues rested upon the heads of the Apostles, although some think they entered into their mouths. Cyril of Jerusalem gives the reason, Catechesis 17: "It sat upon them, so that new spiritual crowns might be placed upon their heads through fiery tongues." Second, because in the Apostles, as in a Cherubic throne, the majesty of the Holy Spirit was seated, says Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 44. Third, so that it might authorize them as Doctors of the world and show them to be heavenly, and therefore endowed with heavenly wisdom and eloquence. Thus Ammonius here. Fourth, so that the Holy Spirit might show, says Chrysostom, that it would remain in them and their successors even to the end of the world, according to the promise of Christ, John XIV, 16. Fifth, this sitting signified first, tranquility of soul and of all appetites; second, stability and constancy of mind, lest they be lifted up by prosperity and cast down by adversity; third, gravity and maturity of conduct, which the Holy Spirit imparted to them. Sixth, our Francis Turrian adds, book I On the Hierarchy of the Ordering of Ministers, chapter II, citing St. Dionysius, On Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and St. Jerome, Dialogue against Lucifer; likewise Ammonius, Damian and others, that the Apostles were created Bishops by this symbol at Pentecost, whereas previously by Christ at the last supper, saying: "Do this in commemoration of me," they had been created Priests. Their reason is that at Pentecost the Apostles received the power of giving the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands, namely through the sacrament of Confirmation and Orders. But to this it can be said that the Apostles received this power then in the second act, having previously received it in the first act; for it was not fitting for them to use this power in the second act before they themselves had received the fullness of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. For then they themselves, confirmed in grace, began to confirm and ordain others. Wherefore it is more true that they were created Bishops by Christ himself after the resurrection, when he said to them, John XX, 21: "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you." For by these words he created his Vicars and Doctors of the world, and consequently gave them their office and authority, namely all ecclesiastical power, and therefore created them Bishops, as St. Cyril, Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Rupert and others assert in the same place. Finally, some, as Dionysius the Carthusian, hold that the Apostles were here confirmed in grace through the continuous assistance and protection of the Holy Spirit, which was here appointed and assigned to them by him, so that henceforth they could not fall from it, nor sin mortally, but only venially. For St. Ambrose teaches that they were confirmed in grace, book On the Blessing of the Patriarchs, chapter IV, and the Scholastics everywhere: nor does it appear where they were confirmed in it, except at Pentecost; for then they received the fullness of the Holy Spirit, just as the baptized, in the sacrament of Confirmation, are said to be confirmed, strengthened and perfected in the grace received in baptism and filled with the Holy Spirit, although not with that fullness with which the Apostles were. Whence Eusebius of Emesa (or whoever is the author), homily On Pentecost, asserts that in the sacrament of Confirmation that strength of the Holy Spirit is conferred which was conferred upon the Apostles at Pentecost.
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4. And they were all filled. — Those who previously had the Holy Spirit now received its fullness, says St. Leo, sermon 3 On Pentecost. Moreover, not all received equal grace, but one received greater, another lesser, each according to his own condition, both of office and rank, and disposition, just as smaller and larger vessels are filled with wine; but the larger receives and holds more than the smaller, on account of greater capacity. Now greater capacity for receiving the greater gifts of the Holy Spirit is greater. St. Augustine, sermon 185 On the Seasons: "What great and ineffable piety of the Redeemer! He carried man to heaven, and sent God to the earth. What care the Author has for the restoration of His creation! Behold again a new medicine is sent from on high, behold again His majesty deigns to visit His sick ones through itself. Behold again divine things are mingled with human things, that is, the vicar successor of the Redeemer, so that the benefits which the Savior began, He might complete with the peculiar power of the Holy Spirit, and what He redeemed, this one might sanctify; what He acquired, this one might guard." Note here: St. Augustine calls the Holy Spirit the Vicar, that is the successor of Christ. For the Holy Spirit wished to descend into the world, so as to imitate the descent of the Word, namely of Christ, and to complete His undertakings and deeds. Wherefore the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles was similar to the descent of Christ into the world, namely to the Incarnation. First, as to substance. For just as the substance of the Word descended into flesh, so the Holy Spirit descended substantially into the Apostles. Second, as to manner. For just as the manner of the Incarnation was hypostatic union, so the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit was united to the Apostles in a manner somewhat similar. Whence just as the Word in flesh was as fire in a coal, and therefore they compare it to an ignited coal, St. Cyril, Damascene and others; so likewise the Holy Spirit was as fire falling upon the Apostles. For fire as to splendor represents the Word, which is wisdom, light and splendor of the Father: but fire as to heat represents the Holy Spirit, who is heat, that is the love of the Father and the Son: and tongues represent flesh, which are the noblest part of flesh, and have connection with the lung and heart, from which all spirit, blood and life of flesh arises. Third, as to cause. For both the descent of the Holy Spirit and of Christ had as cause the immense and divine love, by which He as God and the highest good, wished supremely to do good to men and to communicate and give Himself to them in the highest way, and thus substantially and personally. Fourth, as to properties. For just as the properties of human nature in Christ are attributed to God and the Word, and vice versa through the communication of idioms, by which God is said to be born, to have hungered, to have thirsted, to have suffered, to have died, to have been crucified, because namely the human nature which He assumed was born, hungered, suffered, died and was crucified; and conversely this man is said to be God, almighty, immortal, eternal, because namely the person of the Word to which humanity is joined, is God almighty, immortal, eternal: so likewise there is a certain communication of idioms between the Holy Spirit and the Apostles, through which communication the Apostles are said to have become divine, spiritual, holy, on account of the divine and holy Spirit which they received, and conversely the Holy Spirit Himself is said to be apostolic, multilingual, prophetic, teacher, preacher, because He made the Apostles such, and thus through their mouths and tongues He spoke, taught and preached. Fifth, as to fruits and effects. For just as the incarnate Word purged us from sins, illuminated us, endowed us with all grace, perfected us, made us blessed and led us to eternal glory: so likewise the Holy Spirit purges, illuminates, perfects, makes us blessed. With the Holy Spirit. — You will ask, who, what kind, how great is the Holy Spirit? I answer and say: First, the Holy Spirit is called the third person of the Holy Trinity whom the Father and the Son breathe forth and by breathing forth produce, just as man by breathing produces a breath, or exhalation and spirit. For just as the heart through the mouth produces a breath, so the Father through the Son produces the Holy Spirit, He therefore is the spirit and exhalation of the Father and the Son. Or rather, just as the soul from the understanding of a thing to be loved breathes forth and produces the love of the same, so the Father through the Word breathes forth the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Holy Spirit is and is called chaste and holy Love, breathed forth and produced by the Father and the Son. For love is as it were a spirit which affection breathes forth: hence also lovers among men languish. Hence also concerning Wisdom, whose source is the Holy Spirit, the Wise Man says, VII, 25: "For she is the vapor of the power of God, and a certain pure emanation of the clarity of almighty God." Note: Here the Spirit is not extrinsic to God and sent forth and breathed out by Him, but intrinsic and substantial. For this Spirit is not a creature, but truly and properly God, and the third person of the Holy Trinity, subsisting in the same divine nature with the Father and the Son, spirated and produced by them from eternity by natural emanation, and therefore consubstantial with both, coeternal and equal in all things. Hear St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 17: "There is one Holy Spirit, subsisting, who is present everywhere to the Father and the Son, not one who is formed from the mouth of the Father and Son speaking, or breathed out, so as to be diffused into the air, but substantial, speaking himself and operating." Hence St. Gregory Thaumaturgus in his confession, which Gregory of Nyssa relates in his oration On His Praises, calls the Holy Spirit the image of the Son, because namely He proceeds from the Son, as from His principle and exemplar: "One Holy Spirit having origin and existence from God, who appeared through the Son, the perfect image of the perfect Son." And St. Athanasius, in the Symbol: "The Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." The same, sermon 4 Against the Arians, showing how in one God there are three persons, brings forth a comparison from the sun. For just as in the sun there are splendor and heat, which it emits from itself, so in the Father is the Son and the Holy Spirit, whom He produces both from Himself, begetting the Son, spirating the Holy Spirit: "For we do not introduce three principles, or three Fathers, as the Marcionites do, since we do not bring forward three suns for comparison, but one sun, and its splendor, and one light from both." Tertullian brings forth other similitudes of a tree and a fountain, in his book Against Praxeas: "The third is the Spirit from God (the Father) and the Son, as the third from the root is fruit from the shoot, and the third from the fountain is a stream from the river, and the third from the sun is a ray from the light. Yet nothing is alienated from the matrix from which it draws its properties." I say secondly: Just as the Son proceeds from the intellect and intellection of the Father, by which the Father understands and comprehends Himself, as the adequate terminus of this intellection, and the consubstantial Word, and therefore begotten and Son, so the Holy Spirit proceeds from the will and love by which the Father and the Son infinitely love each other, as the adequate terminus of this love and consubstantial love, and therefore the Holy Spirit, spirated, not begotten. Whence Richard of St. Victor, in his letter to St. Bernard, on the Procession of the Holy Spirit: "If you are rightly said to love yourself with the love of your heart, why are not the Father and the Son also rightly said to love each other with the love of their heart, which is the Holy Spirit?" And this is the common opinion of the Fathers: "The Father and the Son, loving each other, produce the Holy Spirit," says Francis Suarez, on God Triune and One, book XI, chapter II. The Holy Spirit therefore by virtue of His procession is notional love, first, uncreated, immense, divine, and Himself God: and therefore He communicates this love to us, while He communicates Himself with the created charity which He infuses into us, to us, according to that of the Apostle, Romans V: "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us." Hence that saying of the Philosopher is true: "God is a circle, which beginning in itself, ends in itself." For beginning in the Father to beget the Son, it ends in the Holy Spirit who is the same God with the Father and the Son; "For God is charity, and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him," 1 John IV, 16. God therefore is charity to him to whom God is dear above all things. Again St. Augustine, book XI of the City of God, chapter XXIV: "The Holy Spirit is called as the substantial and consubstantial holiness of both." Hence the same St. Augustine, book VI of the Trinity, chapter V, calls the Holy Spirit "the unity, charity and holiness of the Father and the Son." And St. Bernard, sermon On Pentecost, says, "The Holy Spirit proceeds as the most firm and indissoluble bond of the Trinity." And sermon 8 in the Canticles, he calls Him "the kiss of the Father to the Son." Hence I say thirdly: The Holy Spirit is the first and uncreated gift of the Father and the Son, in whom they gave to him their essence together with all divine attributes, so that he could give and communicate the same to us; thus St. Augustine, book IV On the Trinity, chapter XX: "For the Holy Spirit to be a gift of God is to proceed from the Father (and the Son)." The same, book V, chapter XV: "Because the Spirit proceeded from eternity in such a way that he could be given, he was already a gift before there was anyone to whom he could be given. For it is understood differently when it is called a gift, differently when it is called something given. For a gift can exist even before it is given: but something given cannot in any way be said to exist unless it has been given." See St. Thomas and the Scholastics, I part., Question XXXVIII. Hear St. Basil, book V Against Eunomius, near the end: "The Spirit is said to be the image of the Son, and the Spirit of God, and the Word, and the Spirit of the mouth, and the good Spirit, and the upright, and the principal, and the Spirit of power, and Lord, and God is said to be the Spirit of God, just as the Word itself." Where note that improperly by catachresis the Spirit is said to be the image and the Word, namely because he is similar to the Father and the Son, from whom he proceeds, although by the force of his procession he does not formally proceed as similar: for this is proper to the generation of the Son, who therefore alone is properly the image and the Word of the Father, and therefore his character, splendor and beauty. For beauty is nothing other than the splendor of the highest good shining forth in the Word, and through the Word in creatures. I say fourth, that in reality and physically the very person of the Holy Spirit is given to us, together with grace and charity, and consequently the Father and the Son as well; this is evident from John xiv, 23: "If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him." Therefore the dwelling place of God and the seat, the temple and the throne of God and the Holy Trinity is the soul of the just, and consequently God is properly and more intimately present in it than He is in created things by essence, presence and power; nay, if by impossibility God were not in the soul by essence, presence and power, He would begin to be really present there by grace and justice, as Suarez says in the place cited shortly after, just as the body of Christ begins to be under the species of bread by the words of consecration, and just as the divinity of the Word began to be present to the humanity of Christ when He united it to Himself hypostatically; so that, if it had not been present in it before, by this hypostatic union it would have begun to really exist and be present in it: for it began to be there hypostatically, that is, personally; so also here. For this is the supreme union of God with a holy soul, than which no greater can be given to any pure creature. For, as St. Peter says, by it we become partakers of the divine nature. Just as therefore God is really present to the Blessed, when He shows them His essence and communicates it to them to be enjoyed and possessed; so also is He in the holy soul, and therefore immediately in it He pours forth and communicates His grace, charity and other divine gifts: as the sun, when it rises, immediately spreads forth its light, rays and heat. Therefore, when the ultimate disposition to justice is placed, for example contrition, immediately God and the Holy Trinity enter into the soul, and then communicate to it His charity and grace. This is signified by "we will make our abode with him." Thus St. Bonaventure, in I, dist. xiv, art. 2, Quaest. 1; ibid. the Master, Scotus, Gabriel, Marsilius and St. Thomas, I part., Quaest. XLIII, art. 3 and 6; ibid. his disciples, and Gregory of Valencia, Vasquez, and at length Francis Suarez, lib. XII De Deo trino et uno, cap. v, where he also adds another moral reason, namely this: Perfect friendship requires the presence of a friend; but justice and charity is perfect friendship with God: therefore God is present to the holy soul, as to His friend, and dwells in it as in His temple, so that the soul may worship, love and venerate Him present. Wherefore St. Basil, in the homily On the Holy Spirit, teaches that the just are made gods by grace and live a divine life, because the Holy Spirit dwells in them, who as it were vivifies them as a soul and moves them to all good. The words of St. Basil are: "Man has through the indwelling Spirit the dignity of prophet, apostle and angel, when before he was earth and ashes." And soon after: "By this grace each of the Saints is god; for it was said to them by God: I have said, You are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High. And: God of gods (namely of the Saints) has spoken. And: God of gods (namely of the Saints) shall be seen in Sion. But it is necessary that the Spirit be divine, and be from God, who is the cause of divinity to gods." And a little later: "As in fire there is heat partly which it has in itself, partly which it brings to water; so also the Spirit has life in itself, and those who are partakers of it live in a divine manner, having attained divine and heavenly life. Wherefore all things are perfect in Him, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, prudence, wisdom, counsel, security, piety, knowledge, holiness, redemption, faith, the operations of virtues, gifts of healings and whatever other things are like these. Whoever has joined himself to Him, and as it were become one with Him, will hear that word of the Apostle: He that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit with Him." The same, lib. III Contra Eunom.: "As iron which lies in the midst of fire does not lose the nature of iron, yet by the vehement action of fire, being made ignited, when it has received the whole nature of fire into itself, passes over in color, heat and action to fire: so the holy virtues from the communion which they have with Him who is holy by nature, received throughout their whole subsistence, now have as it were an innate sanctification: but the difference in them from the Holy Spirit is this, that the Spirit is holiness by nature, while in them sanctification exists by participation." Wherefore Cyril, in Catechesis 16, calls the Holy Spirit the steward of graces, that is, the provider, the giver by office. For a steward is called one to whom the office of caring for and providing something is incumbent. I say fifth, that the Holy Spirit is indeed given to all the just, but nevertheless is not said to be sent to anyone "unless when he makes progress in some new act, or new state of grace, as for example when someone makes progress in the grace of miracles, or of prophecy; or in this that from the fervor of charity he exposes himself to martyrdom, or renounces those things which he possesses, or undertakes whatever difficult work," says St. Thomas, I part., Quest. XLIII, art. 6, ad 2. Thus on Pentecost he was sent to the Apostles, because he conferred upon them the excellence of all gifts. The same is signified by "they were filled," namely in such a way that by that with which they were full, as if overflowing, they poured themselves out upon others. Most excellently Richard of St. Victor, serm. On the Mission of the Holy Spirit, sets forth and distinguishes three degrees in him, namely the infusion, diffusion, and effusion of the Holy Spirit. Infusion is when he pours his grace into the soul, even if he does not fill it; just as when wine is poured into a vessel up to half the vessel. Diffusion is when it is diffused through the whole soul, so that it leaves no part of it empty. Effusion is when he so fills it that it overflows, and he pours it out upon others. And thus the Apostles here and other faithful ones in the Acts are said to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Whence St. Augustine, serm. 185 On the Seasons: "He was present on this day to his faithful ones no longer through the grace of visitation and operation, but through the very presence of majesty itself, and into vessels not now the odor of balm, but the very substance of sacred ointment flowed down." The same asserts Nazianzen, orat. 44. And St. Leo, serm. On Pentecost: "The Holy Spirit, inspirer of faith, teacher of knowledge, fountain of love, seal of chastity, and is the cause of all virtue." And, serm. 2, he asserts that the Apostles on Pentecost received "the constancy of that charity, which would cast out all fear and would not fear the fury of persecutors; because filled with a new abundance of the Holy Spirit, they began to will more ardently and to be able more efficaciously, making progress from the knowledge of precepts to the endurance of sufferings; so that under no tempest now trembling, they would trample the waves of the world and the exaltations of the world under foot by faith surpassing, and despising death would bring the Gospel of truth to all nations." Let us therefore invoke this holy Spirit, let us say with the Christian Poet, nay rather with Holy Church: Powerful breeze, mighty love, breathable divinity, common love of both (Father and Son), golden flame of heaven, Holy One, come, set the world ablaze with holy ardors. O divine flame, breathe yourself into our minds. Fill us with your flame, stream, light, divinity. "Come, Creator Spirit, visit the minds of your own, fill with heavenly grace the breasts which you have created. Kindle light in our senses, pour love into our hearts: strengthening the weakness of our body with virtue to endure forever. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and confirm me with a principal spirit." Finally, the Wise One recounts many properties, epithets and gifts of the Holy Spirit, cap. VII, vers. 22, saying: "For in her (Wisdom, whose source and author is the Holy Spirit) is a spirit of understanding, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, eloquent, mobile, undefiled, certain, sweet, loving good, keen, which nothing prevents, doing good, human, benign, stable, certain, secure, having all virtue, foreseeing all things, and which can comprehend all spirits, intelligible, pure, subtle." Hence he is called "Spirit," not only by reason of essence and mode of proceeding, because namely he is breathed forth by the force of spirit, as I said at the beginning: but also by reason of efficacy and efficiency, because he is subtle, penetrating, efficacious, etc., as a spirit, as is evident from the words just cited. "Holy" is added, because he is most pure and most holy, and is the source and cause of all created holiness. And they began to speak. — The Apostles could not restrain themselves, being filled with the Holy Spirit as with new wine, but immediately burst forth into the praises of God, and showed forth and poured out upon others the gift imparted to them by the Spirit. For the force and fullness of the Spirit urged them to this, just as the Blessed Virgin, having conceived the Word, full of God, burst forth and sang: "My soul doth magnify the Lord," etc. Most excellently does St. Leo exclaim in his first sermon on Pentecost: "O how swift is the word of wisdom; and where God is the teacher, how quickly is learned what is taught! From this day therefore the trumpet of evangelical preaching sounded forth, from this day the rains of charisms, the rivers of blessings watered every desert and all the dry land." And St. Augustine, in Psalm LIV: "Through proud men tongues were divided, through humble Apostles tongues were gathered together. The spirit of pride scattered tongues, the Holy Spirit gathered tongues together." The same, in the book On Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit: "For this reason the Apostles spoke in the tongues of all nations, because through tongues is established the fellowship of mankind. And it was fitting that through the tongues of all nations should be signified this society of the sons of God and members of Christ to be in all nations, so that, just as then he appeared to have received the Holy Spirit who spoke in the tongues of all, so now he may know himself to have received the Holy Spirit, who is held in the bond of peace of the Church, which is poured out in all nations." In various tongues: — both because one spoke one language, another another, for example Andrew spoke Parthian, John Greek, James Persian, Simon German. You will ask: How was this done? Some think the Apostles spoke in only one language, namely their native tongue, which was Syro-Hebrew; but that they were understood by various peoples of various languages, just as St. Vincent Ferrer speaking and preaching in Spanish was understood by Italians, French, Flemings and English; and St. Xavier with a single answer satisfied twelve asking different questions. This opinion is favored by what is said in verse 11: "We have heard them speaking in our own tongues." And because it implies the same person speaking in diverse tongues at the same time. For no one can produce at once more than one voice and utterance. Thus think St. Cyprian, sermon On the Holy Spirit, Arator, Oecumenius and Dionysius the Carthusian here. But I say the Apostles and the faithful individually here spoke in various tongues in turn and successively. This is proved first, because it is clearly said here: "They spoke in various tongues," in Greek ἑτέραις, that is, "in others and diverse from their native tongue," which was Syro-Chaldaic and Galilean. The Syrian, They spoke tongue and tongue, that is in many tongues. Second, because otherwise this miracle would have been of the hearers rather than of the speakers: for it would not have been in the Apostles, but in the Jews who heard them. But God wished to adorn and glorify the Apostles themselves with this gift of tongues. Thus Nazianzen, oration 44. Third, because Isaiah promised the same thing, chapter XXVIII, as the Apostle explains, I Corinthians xiv, 21, saying: "In other tongues, and in other lips I will speak to this people." Whence also the Apostle there glories: "I give thanks to my God that I speak the tongue of all of you." This is what Christ promised them: "They shall speak in new tongues," Mark XVI, 17. Fourth, because the Church signifies the same thing in the Mass of Pentecost, when below in the Action it thus prays: "Communicating, and celebrating the most sacred day of Pentecost, on which the Holy Spirit appeared to the Apostles in innumerable (that is, very many) tongues." Fifth, because many miracles would have been necessary, if they speaking in one language had been heard by various nations in various languages: for the voice and language of each would have had to be formed in the air by God, and thus carried to his ears. But if we say they themselves spoke in various tongues, there was only one miracle, namely the infusion of tongues made to the Apostles. But God and nature are not accustomed to multiply works and miracles without necessity. For it is done in vain through many things which can be done through fewer. Sixth, because thus think Cyril, Catechesis 17; St. Augustine, tract. 93 in John; St. Ambrose, in Psalm xviii, where he proves the same from its verse 4: "There are no speeches nor languages where their voices are not heard;"; Nazianzen, oration 44; St. Leo, sermon 1 On Pentecost; St. Gregory, homily 30 in the Gospel, and others. I add, however, that the Apostles, speaking and preaching sometimes in one language, were understood by hearers of various languages; and consequently they had this gift of tongues as it were doubled in both ways. For if this was granted to St. Vincent and other Apostolic men, much more so to the Apostles themselves. Indeed, the canonization process of St. Francis Xavier testifies that he had the gift of tongues in both ways. Whence the Most Illustrious Cardinal de Monte, in a revelation made in Consistory before Pope Gregory XV, thus professes concerning him from the Acts: "In the languages of diverse nations, which he had not learned, when he went to them for the sake of the Gospel, he spoke readily and elegantly, as if he had been born and educated there; and it happened not rarely that those hearing him preach, men of diverse nations, each in his own language heard him speaking plainly and politely: which thing was held by that nation as a great miracle, not only increased." Nay, and afterwards in those first centuries of the Church, this gift was given to many. For Irenaeus, book V, chapter vi, testifies that "he heard many speaking in all languages." Thus St. Basil, as Amphilochius says in his Life, spoke Syriac, Greek, Armenian and Hebrew. Thus St. Anthony of Lisbon, preaching before the Pontiff, was understood by hearers of various nations and idioms. Thus Bernardino, speaking in Latin in the Council of Florence, was understood by Greeks, Indians and others ignorant of the Latin language. In these things, therefore, that saying of Wisdom I is true: "The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world, and that which containeth all things hath knowledge of the voice;" and therefore He communicates and inspires it to His own, to whom He wills. Thus even now the Fathers of our Society, who go to the Indies as it were as Apostles, write that they feel a great facility in learning their languages, from the gift of the Holy Spirit, necessarily for converting those peoples. For if nature does not fail in necessary things, much less do God and the Holy Spirit. Whoever therefore desires fiery tongues, let him embrace the Apostolic life and earnestly and frequently beseech them from the Holy Spirit. Memorable is the example of Brother Gentilis the Franciscan, who in the year of the Lord 1330 set out to Persia for the sake of the Gospel, and when he dwelt in Babylon, since he was not making great progress in learning the Arabic idiom, whose use was there, he decided to return to Italy; but on the very way a young man ran to meet him, who, the cause being known, ordered him to return, because God would give him knowledge of that language: and so from that hour he spoke Arabic so well and readily, as if he had been born in Arabia. Thus the Chronicles of the Franciscans have it, and from them Jerome Platus, book II On the Good of Religious State, chapter xxx. Moreover, the Apostles received here knowledge of all the languages of the whole world, because they were destined for all nations, and were the Apostles and teachers of all. Thus St. Ambrose, epistle 33. The primitive languages are numbered by most as seventy: for in the division of languages at the time of the building of the tower of Babel, they think that as many were given to as many families descended from Noah. But truly Genesis x, 32, shows that at that time there were only 35 families, and consequently as many languages; but from those many others have been born over so many passing centuries, and many new ones have also been invented. I read that in one valley alone of the West Indies seven hundred languages are numbered, and so almost every city often has its own language, lest it be understood by the inhabitants of the neighboring city, with whom it wages hostility, nor communicate with enemies even in language. Whether all these were given to the Apostles is uncertain. But it is certain that all the primitive and primary ones, widely extending, were given to them: likewise the dialects of the same, and other particular ones, which were proper to those nations to which God foresaw they would go. For it is easy for the Holy Spirit to give these and more, just as it was easy for Him to give to all angels in the first instant of creation the species and sciences of all things, and their signs and spiritual languages, by which they themselves might enunciate their concepts to others and converse among themselves. Hence St. Leo, sermon 1 On Pentecost: "Nor is there doubt, in that exulting concert of all human voices, the majesty of the Holy Spirit was present." From which it follows that not only the Apostles, but also the other faithful, numbering 120, both men and women, received this gift of tongues, especially the Blessed Virgin and St. Mary Magdalene: for she herself was an Apostle, and as such preached to the Massilians, and converted them, as her Life relates. Thus against Cajetan, who denies this of the Blessed Virgin, Francis Suarez teaches, III part., Quest. XXXVII, disp. xx, sect. 2. For she herself was the teacher and consoler of all the Apostles and of all the faithful who flocked to her, as to the Mother of Christ, and to be seen throughout the whole world, and consequently in order that she might greet them, encourage them and instruct them, she ought to have known their language. Suarez adds that she had this gift before the coming of the Holy Spirit; for she spoke with the three Magi in their language. As the Holy Spirit gave them to speak. — In Greek ἀποφθέγγεσθαι, that is to speak excellently and sententiously, as it were divine maxims and heavenly apophthegms, says Chrysostom, not composed for elegance and pomp, but burning, and for striking and inflaming the hearts of the hearers with the fire of the Holy Spirit. It is improbable what James of Valencia asserts on the Magnificat, that the Apostles here saw the essence of God as it were in passing and by the way, and in it heard secret words which it is not lawful for man to speak: for neither to Moses, nor to Paul, nor to any Prophet or Apostle was this granted in this life, as is shown II Cor. xii, 4, and Exodus xxxiii, 19. Moreover they spoke "the mighty works of God," as is evident from verse 11. Morally: learn here that the Apostles and holy men speak not what nature, imagination or their own will, but what the Holy Spirit suggests. For He dwells in their mind as the sun in the world, illuminating it; as a king in his kingdom, governing it; as a father in a family, ruling it; as a master in a school, instructing it; as a gardener in a garden, watering it. For He Himself is the light of the intellect, the ardor of the will, the awakener of memory, the bridle of fear, the anchor of hope, the salt of the spiritual taste of the soul, the medicine of passions, the pilot of appetites and desires. Again learn that each one speaks from the spirit dwelling within in the heart: for this spirit moves the heart to speak through the mouth. If it is holy, it moves to holy words; if evil and unclean, to evil and unclean ones. Do you wish therefore to know the heart and secrets of anyone? Do you wish to know what sort each one is? Consider what things he frequently and willingly speaks. If you see him delighting in vain, curious, base, proud, envious, quarrelsome, slanderous conversations, know that his heart is vain, curious, base, proud, envious, quarrelsome, slanderous; but if in grave, chaste, humble, kind, beneficent, wise, spiritual ones, know that he is grave, chaste, humble, kind, beneficent, wise, spiritual. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," says Christ. Indeed Socrates also: "Speak, young man, that I may see you. For speech is the image and mirror of the mind." Hence the Apostles, because they were full of the Holy Spirit, eructated nothing but holy, divine, burning things. For a vessel exhales through its opening the odor of that thing with which it is full within: if full of wine, it exhales the odor of wine; if of vinegar, of vinegar; if of honey, of honey; if of stench, of stench, etc. Wherefore the Holy Spirit is to be continually invoked by the teacher, the preacher and any faithful person, that He may possess his heart, and from it govern his tongue, so that in this way he may teach, preach, speak, in such a manner as to strike the minds of the hearers and illuminate them with the knowledge of God, and kindle them with His fear and love, as St. Augustine relates happened to himself, in Possidius, in his Life, cap. xv. Thus Esther, about to convert Ahasuerus, prays to God, saying: "Give me eloquent speech in my mouth in the sight of the lion," Esther xiv, 13.
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5. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem — that is, staying, residing for a time, to celebrate the feast of Pentecost there, according to the law of Exodus, xxiii, 17, or for the sake of studies or piety, just as many come to Rome and stay there for some weeks or months to visit holy places; others for many years, for the sake of studies or business. For from what follows it is clear that these were born in other provinces and departed. For they say in verse 8: "We have heard, every one of us, in our own tongue wherein we were born, Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia." Whence also they distinguish themselves from Jews born and dwelling in Judaea, in verse 11, saying: "Jews also and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians." Finally, expressly in verse 7, "sojourners of Rome" are named among them. Thus Nazianzen, oration 44, Oecumenius and others. Note: In Jerusalem, as it were in the womb and metropolis of the Synagogue, there were colleges and hostels of all nations: for Jews dispersed throughout the nations, equally as proselytes, flowed together in Jerusalem both for the sake of religion and for learning wisdom and the law. Such things now exist in Rome. Religious men. — The Syrian, fearing God; others, devoted to the worship of God; others, worshippers of God and piety, such as the common people now call devout. For they were not bound by vows of religion, bound and pledged to God by the three religious vows as they now are: but Religious from the virtue of religion, whose proper function is to render to God the worship owed to Him, both on account of His excellence and superiority, and on account of the benefits which we have received from Him and perpetually receive. Whence Cicero, in book II of On the Nature of the Gods, thinks religion is called from "relegendo," so that those who carefully handled all things pertaining to the worship of God and as it were reviewed them, would be called Religious. But St. Augustine, in the book On True Religion, near the end, derives religion from "religando," as if this virtue were that which as it were binds us to God and binds us, namely a creature to its Creator, man to his God. Thus St. James says, chapter I, 27: "Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself unspotted from this world;" because namely the virtue of religion does not elicit these acts of mercy, purity and innocence, but commands them. Most excellently St. Augustine, tract. 29 in John: "What is so thine as thou? What is so not thine as thou, if thou art something of another's?" For as whatever a beast is belongs to man, so much more is man wholly God's. And St. Gregory, book X of the Morals, chapter x: "It is necessary that man in all his movements be bound under the discipline of religion, and as a domestic animal bound with straps serve and live restricted to eternal dispositions." And St. Bernard, sermon On the Fourfold Debt: "Behold at the door is He who made heaven and earth; and thy Creator is, thou creature: thou servant, He Lord; He potter, thou vessel. All therefore that thou art, thou owest to Him; from whom thou hast all, thou owest especially to the Lord, who both made thee and did good to thee, who ministers to thee the course of the stars, the tempering of the air, the fruitfulness of the earth, the abundance of fruits. To Him truly with all thy marrow, with all thy strength must thou serve, lest perchance He regard thee with the eye of indignation and despise thee, and crush thee forever." Thus the Psalmist, nay Christ, Psalm XXI: "My soul shall live to Him, and my seed shall serve Him." Of every nation. — For Jews on account of various persecutions, especially of Antiochus Epiphanes, dispersed throughout the whole world, dwelt everywhere among the nations, as they still dwell. Thus Nazianzen, oration 44. Moreover God so disposed it that from every nation there were present those who were witnesses of this prodigy, returning home, would relate it among their own, and thus would be seeds of future preaching in the whole world: thus Chrysostom. These therefore were as it were forerunners of the Apostles and paved the way for them to evangelize. Note on "of every," that is of many. It is hyperbole, for they were not absolutely of every nation; for we do not read that Indians, Japanese, Chinese were present here, nor even Gauls, Germans, Spaniards, Sarmatians.
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6. When this voice had been made, — then a sound of great force, verse 2, for here as it were a loud trumpet aroused all the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the Apostles' cenacle, to which it was incumbent, as I said verse 2: thus the Syrian; then the speech of the Apostles in various tongues. Whence it is clear that the Holy Spirit imparted to the Apostles both a sonorous and trumpet-like voice, as well as a burning mind, which would be heard from afar, especially since so many men, namely 120 of the faithful, would run together and resound at the same time. Thus concerning St. Paul St. Jerome says, epistle 61 to Pammachius: "Paul, a vessel of election, a trumpet of the Gospel, the roar of our lion, the thunder of the Gentiles, whom whenever I read, I seem to myself not to hear words, but to hear thunders." Add that this voice, heard by few, was spread abroad to many. Whence the Zurich translation renders it, when this rumor had grown, a multitude came together, not only on account of the calling of the voice, but chiefly on account of the impulse of the Holy Spirit, who was inwardly stirring them to inquire into the cause of this voice, and by that means to hear Peter's sermon, to be converted and to believe in Christ. Thus Cajetan. Multitude, — of many thousands. For soon Luke says that three thousand were converted from it, verse 41. Therefore this cenacle through the confluence of all tongues and nations was as it were a compendium of the world and a microcosm. And the mind was confused. — The word "mind" is not in the Greek, but only συνεχύθη, which first, the Syrian translates, was troubled. Second, Chrysostom, they were struck, on account of fear of conscience suggesting that they had killed Christ, and that God was threatening and menacing them with vengeance for this crime by this crash. Third, Bede, "confused," he says, that is, was mixed, "just as once the lip of all the earth was confused, and the name of that place was called Babel," Gen. xi, 9. Fourth, others say "confused," that is, with shame, as if to say, it blushed at so great a prodigy by which God was glorifying Christ, whom they themselves had killed. Fifth, others, it was in tumult, as is wont to happen in the confluence of men and a crowd at an unusual and prodigious spectacle. For some were amazed, others asked: What does this mean? Others mocked saying that they were full of new wine, as appears verse 12. Sixth, and genuinely, "was confused" with admiration, amazement and sacred fear, reverence and horror at so great and so new and unusual a miracle. Thus Vatable, Cajetan and others. For, as follows, verse 7: "All were amazed and wondered." Whence Luke, explaining the cause of this confusion and at the same time the confusion itself, adds: Because they heard each one in his own tongue them speaking. — Nazianzen doubts, oration 44, to what the phrase "his own tongue" should be referred, whether to heard, as if to say, Each in his own tongue heard and understood them speaking in one tongue, namely their native and Hebrew tongue: or rather to speaking, as if to say, Each heard them speaking in various tongues, and consequently also in his own in which he was born. But I say it pertains to both: because the Apostles were speaking in various tongues, hence each of the hearers heard in them his own tongue likewise, as I said verse 4.
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7. Were amazed, — ἐξίσταντο, that is, were carried out of themselves as if into ecstasy. Are Galileans. — They marvel that Galileans are polyglots, because Galileans, with a duller but martial genius, were more suited to arms than to letters and languages, says the Gloss.
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9. Elamites. — Elam is twofold, one in Persia, another in Media, against which Jeremiah prophesies, cap. xlix. See the things said there. Who dwell in Mesopotamia and Judaea. — as if to say, Both those who dwell in Mesopotamia, Parthia, Cappadocia, etc., and those who dwell in Judaea itself. For the Jews themselves dwelling in Judaea marveled that the Apostles, who were Jews, spoke not only in the Jewish manner, but in so many foreign tongues, even if they themselves did not understand them. Note that the Holy Spirit imparted to the Apostles the tongues of more nations than are named here. For Brazilians, Mexicans, Peruvians, Germans, Gauls are not named here, whose tongues nevertheless the Apostles knew, as being about to be sent to them and to go to them shortly. And Asia. — Asia is the third part of the world, but in magnitude equal to the other two, namely Europe and Africa, indeed greater, and therefore it is as it were half the world: for it comprises the Indies even to the Chinese inclusive. In Asia, namely near Babylon, was the earthly paradise. Asia is twofold, greater and lesser. Hugo here takes Asia Minor, which today is the better and more fertile portion of the Turkish empire, and is called Anatolia, because it looks toward the Orient, ἀνατέλλειν, that is, the East, says Ortelius in the Theatre of the World. But because this comprises Cappadocia and Phrygia, which are as it were separately enumerated here from Asia, hence more distinctly others understand by Asia the Propontis, concerning which Ptolemy, lib. V, tab. I Asia, and St. Peter, Epistle I, cap. 1, verse 1: "Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, etc." Thus Salmeron, Lorinus and Sanchez here, who secondly adds that "Asia" can be taken as a city in that region, the principal one, having the same name as the province, as in Africa there is a city Africa, from which the province took its name; and in Spain there are metropolises Valentia, Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Murcia, from which entire provinces took their names.
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10. Libya, which is about Cyrene,—and therefore from its metropolis Cyrene, among Cosmographers it is called Cyrenaica. That Simon the Cyrenean, the father of Alexander and Rufus, whom the Jews impressed to bear the cross of Jesus, was born from this place, Gagneius and others believe; although others think he was descended from another Cyrene, which is in Cyprus, or that which is in Syria. Roman Sojourners.—Syrus, who came from the city of Rome, were namely Jews dwelling in Rome, who had come to Jerusalem for the sake of religion or business.
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11. Jews also and Proselytes.—A little before he named those "who dwell in Judaea:" here therefore he calls "Jews" those who from the Jews everywhere in the lands and nations, which he had hitherto enumerated, were descended. For he opposes them to Proselytes, who namely were sprung from the Gentiles, but had embraced Judaism, as if to say, Those whom I have hitherto named, "Parthians, Medes, Elamites," etc., were both Jews and Proselytes. Cajetan by Jews understands those who were born from the tribe of Judah, and spoke a different dialect from the other inhabitants of Judaea. Proselytes.—It is a Greek word προσήλυτοι, that is, sojourners, or newcomers, who namely coming from the Gentiles attached themselves to the Jews and undertook their circumcision and sacred rites. These therefore were Gentiles by nation, but Jews by religion. Note: Luke does not care here for the situation and order of nations: whence he adds: "Cretans and Arabians," who are removed from Cretans, before Parthians, Medes, etc., are neighbors to Jews, indeed bordering on them. By this enumeration he merely signifies that promiscuously any peoples heard their own language resounding from the mouth of the Apostles, not only Jews, but also Proselytes. The Mighty Works of God,—Syrus, the wonderful deeds of God, both formerly wrought through Moses, the Patriarchs and Prophets; and a little before through Christ, and now accomplished through the Holy Spirit. For they were celebrating the nativity of Christ, his life, miracles, death, redemption, ascension, the sending of the Holy Spirit, as well as the love, condescension and magnificence of the Holy Spirit toward themselves and the Church: just as the Blessed Virgin sang of God's munificence toward herself, by which she became the Mother of God, saying: "My soul doth magnify the Lord." The same is seen in the canticle of Anna, I Kings II. The tongues of the Apostles were therefore like resonant lyres, organs and plectra of the Holy Spirit, sounding forth and modulating with a mouth as it were of ten strings the praises and mighty works of God.
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12. And they were amazed,—διηπόρουν, which the Zurich Bible translates as were perplexed; others, were questioning: for διαπορέω signifies many things, namely I doubt, I am uncertain, I am of divided mind and lacking in counsel, I marvel, I question, I inquire. For these affections are connected: for from amazement follows doubt, from doubt follows questioning.
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13. But others mocked. — It is likely that these were Scribes and Pharisees, and their followers. For they mocked Christ in the same way, and also the Christians, especially the Apostles, and persecuted them: for this mockery proceeded not from ignorance, but from malice, for they could easily see that the Apostles were moved not by wine, but by the Spirit of God: for there is no wine that inspires foreign tongues. Thus Œcumenius. They are full of new wine. — The Greek γλεῦκος means both new wine and wine with sweet juice. Whence others here translate, "they were full of sweet wine." For they said this at Pentecost, namely in May, when there are no grapes, so that from them new wine and fresh wine could be pressed. But in mocking and speaking under a curse, as if to say, These men seem drunk and mad, just as if they had drunk new wine. For new wine, because it is slow, turbid and full of sediment, intoxicates and disturbs the brain more than old and clarified wine, especially because on account of its sweetness it is drunk more eagerly and in greater quantity, and on account of its slipperiness it easily penetrates the brain. Thus Œcumenius. Whence by Ovid, book III of the Tristia, elegy X, they are called fervent new wines. And Pliny, book XIV, chapter XX: "To turbulent new wines more drunkenness is added, to mild wines less." Whence also Cicero, in the book On Famous Orators: "Thus I would judge these men, and this new kind of fervent speech, as it were from new wine and a lake, should be avoided": although others judge to the contrary, namely that old wine, as being more potent, intoxicates more than new, namely new wine. "The Jews speak truly," says Cyril, in Catechesis 17, "but in mockery. For that wine was truly new, the grace of the New Testament. But this new wine is from the spiritual vineyard, which had already often borne fruit in the Prophets, and flourished again in the New Testament. For just as the sensible vineyard always remains the same, but in the succession of time brings forth new fruits; so also the Holy Spirit, always remaining the same as He is, who often worked in the Prophets, has now declared something new and wonderful." And further below: "Not as you suppose, these men are drunk, but as it is written: They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure. They are inebriated with a sober drunkenness, which mortifies sin and vivifies the heart: a drunkenness altogether contrary to that bodily drunkenness. For that one brings forgetfulness even of known things, this one grants knowledge even of unknown things. They are inebriated drinking the wine of that spiritual vineyard, which says: I am the vine, you are the branches." Consider here the analogies of both kinds of drunkenness, namely bodily and spiritual. "Drunkenness," says St. Bernard, in the book On the Manner of Living Well, chapter XXV, "weakens the body, ensnares the mind. Drunkenness generates disturbance of mind. Drunkenness increases the fury of the heart. Drunkenness nourishes the flame of fornication. Drunkenness so alienates the mind that a man does not know himself; nor is drunkenness anything other than the most manifest demon." Similar, but in the opposite kind, is spiritual drunkenness; and just as a drunkard with wine appears an incarnate devil, so one drunk with love and the Holy Spirit appears an incarnate angel. First, indeed, just as bodily drunkenness takes away natural reason, so spiritual drunkenness makes a man of moved mind, and transfers him from natural to supernatural reason, so that he no longer savors earthly and human things, but heavenly and divine things. Second, just as a drunkard does not recognize friends, but attacks and wounds them, so one drunk with the Spirit of God does not care for parents, brothers, kinsmen, when they attempt to turn him away from the worship of God, from religion, from martyrdom, as the Levites did by the command of God, slaying idolaters, even if they were brothers, sons and fathers, according to that word of Moses, Deuteronomy XXXIII, 9: "Who said to his father and to his mother: I know you not; and to his brethren: I know you not, and they knew not their own children, these kept thy words and thy covenant." Third, just as a drunkard runs through the streets and attacks those he meets; so the Apostles ran through the world attacking kings and princes, and subdued them to Christ. Fourth, a drunkard is most joyful, so also the Apostles. Hear St. Bernard, in the tract On Loving God: "Then truly He inebriates His dearest ones, then He makes them drink of the torrent of His pleasure: for in that most close and most chaste embrace of bridegroom and bride, the impetus of the river gladdens the city of God." Fifth, wine inflames a man, and so also do charity and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Whence St. Bernard, in the same place: "Hence that sober drunkenness truly, drinking not in mere wine, but not made wet with wine, but burning with God." And sermon 49 in the Canticles, explaining that passage from the Canticles: The king brought me into his wine cellar, he ordered charity in me: "The bride is drunk, but with love, not with wine, unless love itself is wine. The Apostles were drunk, but with the Holy Spirit, not with new wine." This sober and holy drunkenness drink the eminent Saints in the Eucharist, concerning which the Psalmist, Psalm XXII, 5: "And my chalice which inebriates, how goodly is it;" and Zacharias, chapter IX, 17: "For what is his good, and what is his beauty, but the corn of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins?" See the things said there. Sixth, the drunk exhales and belches forth the wine and the effects of drunkenness with which he is full, sings and cries out: so also the Apostles "were bubbling over with new wine, and with the new wine bubbling forth the tongues of the Gentiles flowed," says St. Augustine, sermon 486 On the Temporal. And sermon 488: "For they had already become new wineskins, renewed by the grace of holiness, so that filled with new wine, that is the Holy Spirit, speaking in all tongues they would fervent, and would most evidently prefigure the Catholic Church about to be through the tongues of all the Gentiles, by that most evident miracle." Seventh, the drunk burning with wine, spirited and quarrelsome, fears nothing, but rushes intrepidly into swords and fires. Whence Kosaki and other soldiers about to fight fill themselves with strong wine, and being full of it breathe nothing but fights and threats: so the Apostles, formerly most timid, after receiving the Holy Spirit became most spirited, breathed nothing but war against infidelity, impiety and the demon, and threw themselves intrepidly into dangers, prisons and martyrdoms. Hear the drunken Apostle: "Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ: tribulation? Or anguish? Or hunger? Etc." Rom. VIII. Eighth, drunkenness begets madness. For, as Anacharsis used to say, the first cup which is drunk is of necessity, the second of cheerfulness, the third of pleasure, the fourth of madness: so those drunk with the Spirit become mad to the world and to worldly things. Beautifully St. Bernard, tract. On the Nature of Divine Love, chapter III: "Hear holy madness: Whether we are beside ourselves, says the Apostle, to God, or whether we are sober, to you. Do you wish to hear madness at these things? If you forgive them this sin, forgive: but if not, blot me out of the book of life," Exodus, chapter XXXII. "Do you wish another? Hear the Apostle himself: I wished, he says, to be anathema from Christ. This was the drunkenness of the Apostles at the coming of the Holy Spirit, this was the madness of Paul, when Festus said to him: You are mad, Paul. Was it strange if he was pronounced mad, who in the very danger of death, was striving to convert his very judges themselves, by whom he was judged for Christ, to Christ? Not many letters in him were making this madness, as the King said, understanding the truth but dissembling; but, as has been said, the drunkenness of the Holy Spirit, in which both in small and in great he was eager to make them like himself, who judged him. And that I may omit the rest, what greater, what more unexpected madness, than for a man leaving the world desiring and burning to cleave to Christ; for Christ again by the necessity of obedience and fraternal charity to cleave to the world; tending to heaven to plunge himself into mud? This is Benjamin a young man, who in the excess of his mind feels nothing of his own, but only him into whom he has wholly gone in excess. With this madness the Martyrs were mad, laughing amid torments. Why should I not say here, what the wanton Poet said in the fervor of his wantonness: It pleases to go mad? Just as therefore wine, so also love makes mad. To see this is in those who love desperately some woman: what do they not do, what do they not attempt, what dangers do they not undergo, that they may obtain her favor? They think of nothing else, dream of nothing else, speak of nothing else but of her, as if mad. The same, but more powerfully, does love inflamed and zeal for God, which so inebriates a man, that he thinks, dreams, speaks of nothing but God, and those things which are God's. For he desires everywhere to celebrate God and to allure all to the worship and love of God, nay to impel them. Wherefore he says and does many things, which worldly men esteem madness. Finally he wishes daily for God to undergo a thousand dangers, labors and deaths. St. Augustine describes this drunkenness graphically in sermon 185 On the Seasons, whose meanings full of spirit I shall therefore set down here word for word, for the benefit and convenience of the reader. Thus he speaks: "By this new wine they are inflamed, and by this excellent cup daily are even the hearts of the faithful and the souls of the converted made drunk. Which we frequently see happen, when for the desire of their salvation parents and their fatherland flee. They go forth, compelled by no one, from their land and from their kindred; and dead to this world they seek other parents spiritually for souls, and children come under the yoke, and shortly before exalted and lifted up they seek humble things, they despise proud things and desire to be what they had before despised: and they begin to hate what they were. Guests of present things, seekers of future things, they sigh for that eternal fatherland, despising the falsity of temporal things. By this wine therefore spiritual souls made drunk, and completely changed, prefer abstinence to delights, vigils to sweet sleep, poverty to riches. They reckon hard labour against vices a most pleasant pleasure: vile things become sweet to them, and what before were precious become vile: they love their enemies, and do good to those who hate them. They are not convinced by those who are indignant, they are not irritated by reproaches; they are not broken by injuries: they feel none of these things at all because of the fervour of the Holy Spirit and because of eternal retribution. By this spiritual wine the Martyrs grew hot, when casting aside and throwing behind them all the blandishments of the world, they went to their passions, forgetting their possessions and affections, their patrimonies and marriages, and overcoming the pity armed against them by the weeping of little children, with parents indeed crying out, throwing dust upon their heads, and mothers tearing their faces with hair torn out. But they, as if drunk, saw none of these things, nor knew their own: because the Holy Spirit being poured into their hearts, they hastened to pains, to tortures, as to consolations and to rewards."
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14. And Peter standing, — as the Primate of the Apostles and head of the Church. Whence he alone speaks for all, and renders the reason of the prodigy and solemnly promulgates the law of the Gospel. At Pentecost by Peter, as the vicar of Christ, this first and solemn promulgation of the law of Christ in Sion ought to have been made, by which the old law was abrogated, so that henceforth it ceased to bind, as St. Thomas and the Theologians teach everywhere. Moreover Peter raised himself up and stood, so that he could be seen and heard by so many thousands. Whence also he lifted up his voice, that is, he cried out with an elevated voice. For it is probable that so many thousands could not have been contained in the cenacle, but stood around it in neighbouring places and in the very square itself; unless one should say with some, that Peter led the crowd into the temple and there held this discourse to them. Tropologically: The "standing" signifies constancy and loftiness of spirit in Peter after receiving the Holy Spirit, who before had been terrified at the voice of a maidservant and had denied Christ. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 4 on Acts: "Peter was the mouth of all, he pleads the cause of faith for all, by his teaching he instructs all: he is the chief assertor of faith, he is held to be the chief Catechist, and he was the first preacher of the word, and he was the first to gather the Church, and that not from the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the Jews dwelling round about; but from Parthians, Medes, Phrygians, Libyans, Egyptians, Arabians, Roman sojourners and others. And he who was appointed by the Lord as shepherd of all, began to gather sheep from all nations: he taught them faith, and at the same time Apostolic customs, namely to renounce all things, to come together at the same time in prayer and in the breaking of bread taught by Christ."
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15. For they are not drunk, etc., these men are not drunk, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. — From the rising of the sun the Jews had a day of twelve hours, which they divided into four parts, namely the first, third, sixth, and ninth, assigning three hours to each. The first was reckoned from the rising of the sun, and comprised three hours; when these had passed, the third followed with the same number of hours, after which at midday the sixth followed, which according to Plutarch, lib. VIII Symp., Quaest. VI, among almost all peoples is wont to be the time and hour of breakfast. Whence also breakfast, says Plutarch, is called as it were παρ' ἔνδιον, that is, near midday, or meridian. Thus Josephus in his Life, and from him Baronius, relate that the Jews on all feast days were accustomed to abstain until the sixth hour. From this it is clear that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles at a morning time, namely at the third hour from the rising of the sun: and this for several reasons. First, because at that time men after sleep are awake, and before food are fasting, and are wont to be more apt to receive the inflowing of God. Second, because for the same reasons the hearers were more suitable for considering this prodigy and for hearing the preaching of Peter. Third, because that hour, says Bede, was appointed among the Jews for prayer, as it is also now among Christians. Wherefore at this hour Masses are wont to be celebrated, because the Holy Spirit descended upon the praying Apostles at that same hour, says Rupertus, lib. X Officior., cap. xviii. Fourth, because at the third hour, namely at its ending, Christ was crucified, as St. Mark says, cap. xv, vers. 25, who therefore at that same hour fulfilled what he had promised in life and merited on the cross, namely the sending of the Holy Spirit, says St. Cyril, Catech. 17. Symbolically Hugo: "The third hour signifies that a third law is given to the world. For the first was the law of nature, the second of Moses, the third of Christ."
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17. I will pour out of my Spirit. — That is, I will pour out my Spirit, as our Interpreter renders it, Joel. cap. II, vers. 28. It is a Hebraism. I have expounded this oracle of Joel at Joel cap. II, vers. 28, to which it refers: wherefore what I said there, I do not repeat here.
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22. A man approved. — ἀποδεδειγμένον, which Pagninus renders, designated; Tigurina, exhibited; Vatablus, demonstrated, whom namely God showed by many signs to be sent by him; Tertullian, lib. De Carne Christi, cap. xv, destined; the Syriac, who appeared from God; Our Interpreter, approved by God, whom namely God proved by many demonstrations to be his son and legate. It is not therefore necessary to say with Erasmus that our Interpreter read ἀποδεδειγμένον, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀποδέχομαι, that is, I receive, I approve; nay, this reading gives a cold and alien sense. For Luke does not wish to say that Christ was received by God, but demonstrated and proved to the world by many prodigies. Among you. — Syriac, among you; Pagninus and Tigurina, toward you, namely for your sake, that he might consult your souls and bodies and save you in both respects. Virtues, and wonders, and signs. — These three are the same, or nearly the same, with only a difference of connotation; but they are joined for the sake of exaggeration, to signify the multitude and magnitude of the miracles of Christ. For miracles are called virtues, in Greek δυνάμεις, because they are works of virtue, that is, of the omnipotence of God, which transcend the powers of men and angels. The same are called wonders, because they are portentous and amazing, especially when they occur in the air or in the heavens. The same are called signs, because they signify things either future or present, for example, Christ, their author, to be the Messiah the Son of God, both because the Messiah would perform those things, as Isaiah and other Prophets foretold, and because Christ did them for this purpose, that by them he might prove to the Jews that he was the Son of God.
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23. By a definite counsel. — He says this lest the Jews think that Christ was crucified by chance, or by necessity and violence, as if to say: Do not suppose that you by your own strength forced violence upon Christ, and that he could not escape your hands; this was decreed from eternity in the council of the Holy Trinity, and consequently by Christ himself, inasmuch as he is God: therefore he freely and willingly underwent death and offered himself to it. For he could have withdrawn himself, he could have dried up all of you, killed you, indeed annihilated you. With good reason Tertullian, Apology, chapter xxv, mocks the Gentiles, because they subjected their gods and Jupiter to fate: "That wretched wife and sister of Jupiter could not prevail against the fates (to protect Carthage against the Romans) plainly. Jupiter himself stands by fate." Morally, St. Chrysostom: "Peter attempts to free them from guilt, just as once Joseph freed his brothers, from whom he had been sold, saying, Genesis, chapter XLV, verse 8: I was sent here not by your counsel, but by the will of God. And chapter L, verse 19: Fear not; can we resist the will of God? You thought evil of me, but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me, and save many peoples." Secondly, by "definite counsel," he signifies how willingly and freely Christ underwent the passion, and worked it out as predetermined by God, says Oecumenius. And foreknowledge. — Impiously and impudently Calvin, Beza, for foreknowledge, translate providence and decree. For they hold that God is the author of all works, both evil and good, for example both the betrayal of Judas and the calling of Peter; both the crucifixion of Christ and the conversion of St. Paul. That God is the first cause of all things and actions, and therefore all actions, both evil and good, which happen in time, he decreed from eternity and ordained that they should happen, and by virtue of this decree God in time procures and effects that they happen. Whence it follows that God is the author of sin equally as of virtue: which impiety and blasphemy is horrible and unheard of even to the Gentiles and in all ages. Peter excludes this here by saying προγνώσει, that is foreknowledge, that is by foreknowing and foreseeing, namely that he foresaw the impious wills of the Jews, which would eagerly receive (which the Greek λαβόντες signifies) Christ delivered and presented to them by him, and would put him to death. This therefore was the series and combination of foreknowledge with the decree of God. God foresaw by his omniscience that the Scribes and Pharisees at such a time and place would be so impious and perverse that, if he presented Christ to them, especially one reproving their crimes, they themselves would attack him and crucify him. Then he decreed and said: I will present Christ to them, and I will that he himself suffer and undergo the cross and death to be inflicted by them, so that through it he may make satisfaction for the offense and injury done to me by the sin of Adam and his posterity, and thus the human race may be redeemed and saved. Foreknowledge therefore was of the impiety of the Jews, but the decree was of the passion of Christ and our redemption. This is what theologians celebrate with a common axiom: The action displeased, the passion pleased. The action, namely the killing and crucifixion of Christ done by the Jews, greatly displeased God, because it was a monstrous parricide, indeed Christicide and Deicide. But the passion of Christ, undertaking this cross, greatly pleased God, because it was an act of supreme humility, obedience, charity and piety, by which he offered himself as a holocaust to God for us. See St. Leo, sermon 16 On the passion. God could have decreed and commanded some King or Prophet to immolate Christ, just as he commanded Abraham to immolate his son Isaac. But he was unwilling, because it was not fitting. He therefore preferred to use for this the impious wills of the Jews, which he himself foresaw would certainly be at such a certain time and would certainly do this. You will say: Given this foreknowledge and decree of God, it was infallible and necessary that Christ be killed by the Jews: for the foreknowledge of God cannot be deceived, and therefore it is impossible that what he foreknows will happen should not happen. Therefore, given this foreknowledge of God, it was necessary and fated that the Jews kill Christ. Why therefore was their killing of him necessary, how therefore was it free to them? I answer: There is a twofold necessity, just as there is a twofold impossibility: one preceding the free act, or the consent of free will; the other following upon the same act. The preceding necessity destroys freedom and makes the consent of the will not free, but necessary. Such is God's decree, just as also the efficacious and predetermining grace which Calvin posits. For this alone produces the act in the will, with the will cooperating in nothing freely. Consequent necessity does not destroy the freedom of the act, but follows upon it and presupposes it. Such is the necessity of God's foreknowledge; for this follows upon the free act and presupposes it. For this reason God foresaw that the Jews would kill Christ, because they themselves were freely going to kill Him, if He should present Him to them; but not conversely, that the Jews killed Christ because God foresaw that they would kill Him, for this is false. For vision follows upon and presupposes the thing seen, as its object: for what does not exist cannot be seen: it is therefore necessary first that it be, and then, as it were afterwards, it follows that it can be seen, and is seen in act, as St. Augustine rightly teaches, book V of the City of God, chapter 10. You will object first: God's foreknowledge is from eternity, but the free act is made in time: Therefore foreknowledge precedes the free act. Therefore the necessity of foreknowledge is antecedent to freedom, not consequent. Therefore it destroys freedom from the free act, and imposes necessity upon it, because whatever precedes the free act in such a way that the act necessarily follows from it, this determines the act and makes it necessary, not free. But God's foreknowledge appears to be such. I answer: The necessity of foreknowledge is antecedent in time, but consequent in causality. For it precedes the free act in time, indeed it preceded it from eternity, yet it follows upon it objectively, and in the manner of a material cause. For God by His foreknowledge anticipates the existence of future things, and from afar, as it were from a high watchtower of eternity, foreknows the acts which are to be after many centuries. And so He precedes them in time, but follows upon them objectively. For it is prior that a thing be future, than that it be foreseen as future by God; just as it is prior that a man walk, than that he be seen by me walking. Just as therefore my vision, by which I see Peter walking, does not impose upon him the necessity of walking, because, notwithstanding it, he can whenever he wishes cease from walking and stop it; so also God's foreknowledge does not impose necessity upon future free acts: because, notwithstanding it, the will can whenever it wishes cease from them, indeed do the contrary, and thus take away God's foreknowledge, and make it so that God no longer foreknew them. Therefore the necessity of foreknowledge is simply not antecedent to freedom, but consequent, which follows upon and presupposes the consent of the will as free, even if it precedes it in time, indeed in eternity. You will object secondly: It is impossible for these two things to be composed with each other, and to exist and be true simultaneously, namely that God foreknows a future act, and yet that it is not going to be, or is not future. Therefore, given that God foreknows it as future, it necessarily comes to be; but it is now posited that God foreknows it, therefore now it is necessary that it come to be at some time and be future. I answer: This impossibility and necessity is from the supposition of the future act, and therefore is consequent, not antecedent. For this reason it is impossible that it not be future, which God foreknows as future, because it is impossible that that which is future, and therefore is foreseen by God as being future, not be future; but just as it is future freely, so also God foreknows it as freely future: therefore His foreknowledge imposes upon it no necessity by which it is necessarily future. This necessity therefore is nothing other than that by which a thing, while it is, necessarily is; while it is past, necessarily is past; while it is future, necessarily is future: which follows upon the thing and its existence; and therefore does not destroy freedom, but presupposes it. Thus the Antichrist will sin freely; yet given that he will sin, it is necessary that he sin. For it is impossible that the same thing be simultaneously future and not future, or that the same thing simultaneously be and not be. Thus given that I see Peter walking, it is necessary that he walk: for I cannot see what is not; and yet Peter walks freely, because he can by not walking take away my vision. You will object thirdly: That which is seen and foreseen is already outside causes, and already exists, and is in the state of being: therefore it is impossible that it not exist, and be undone: therefore it necessarily exists, not freely. I answer: A free act can be considered in two ways: first, as it is in the process of being done; second, as it is in the state of having been done: in the former way it is free, in the latter it is necessary: for it proceeds freely from the free choice of the will, so that it is in the power of the will to elicit it, or not to elicit it, indeed to elicit the contrary; but after it has proceeded, it cannot but have proceeded; God foresees both by His foreknowledge: for He foresees it proceeding freely from the will, and after it has already proceeded, that it cannot but have proceeded, and therefore by the former consideration it is free, by the latter necessary: for He foresees the thing as it is in itself, and contemplates the whole series and manner of it both while it begins and while it is completed. I have said this in passing on account of the objections of certain persons, who are wonderfully tormented by them: but by a single distinction of necessity into antecedent and consequent, and by another, whereby the act is considered now in the process of being done, now in the state of having been done, the whole matter is easy and clearly perceived, equally as the harmony of efficacious grace and predestination with free will; for both rest upon God's foreknowledge. For efficacious grace is that which so attracts and soothes the free will, that it persuades it and draws forth the effect, namely the free assent of the will: wherefore it is not efficacious, and consequently cannot be foreseen, unless it be foreseen that the free will freely allows itself to be bent by it, and that it will accept it and freely consent to it, when it could easily reject the same and dissent from it, if it wished. The same is true of predestination, which rests upon efficacious grace, and consequently upon God's foreknowledge. For predestination is nothing other than the preparation of grace, namely a decree of God, by which He decrees, for example, to give to Peter efficacious grace and to continue it until the end of his life. Calvin did not understand this, and therefore held that God's foreknowledge and predestination are as it were an unavoidable fate, which takes away free will from man; just as on the other hand Cicero so established free will, that he denied God's foreknowledge; and in order to do away with fate, he did away with providence, and thus while he made men free, he made them sacrilegious, says St. Augustine, book V of the City of God, chapter ix and following. From what has been said it follows that certain common people falsely blame God's foreknowledge, and cast upon it their own lots and chances, indeed both damnation and salvation. St. Augustine also relates and reproves, in the book On the Good of Perseverance, chapter xv, a certain Religious of his monastery, who when he was reproved for his faults, answered: "Whatever I am now, such shall I be as God foresaw I would be." He would have said better: "God foresaw that I would be such as I would wish to be either by sinning through myself, or by acting well through God's grace." For by that axiom of his, being negligent of care for his own salvation and casting it upon God, he at length abandoned the monastery, and became like a dog returning to his vomit. Delivered. — Ἔκδοτον, that is, exposed; the Syriac, separated. Note: Christ was delivered, both by the Father, Romans viii, 32, and by Himself, Galatians ii, 20; then by the devil, John xiii, 2, and by Judas, by the Jews, by Pilate unto death and the cross: but passively and objectively by the Father and by Himself; by the devil however and by his followers actively and positively. Again by a different end, for He was delivered by the Father and by Himself, that He might save the world; by the devil, that he might impel the Jews to the parricide of Christ; by Judas, through greed for the price; by the Jews, through malice; by Pilate, through fear. Thus Origen and St. Thomas, in Matthew xxvi. By the hands of wicked men. — These words can be referred both to delivered, which preceded: for Christ was delivered by the hands of the wicked Judas and his attendants, to the high priests Anna and Caiaphas; and to those affixing, namely to the cross, as the Syriac has it; for Christ was affixed to the cross by the hands of wicked soldiers.
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24. Whom God hath raised up, loosing the sorrows of hell. — This "hell" is also read by Irenaeus, lib. III, cap. xii; St. Augustine and others in him, epist. 99 to Evodius, and the Syrian who translated it, loosing the cords of hell. For the Hebrew חבל chebel signifies both a rope and sorrow: because sorrow is as it were a rope binding, tightening and constraining, and sharply piercing the afflicted. But the Greek texts have λύσας τὰς ὠδῖνας τοῦ θανάτου, that is, loosing the sorrows of death, and this is clearer and plainer. Yet the matter comes to the same thing, for death and hell are as it were the same, because formerly before Christ all who died went into hell. Whence then to be held by death, or by hell, seemed to be the same thing: for the soul after death went to hell, the body to the sepulchre. Whence concerning both being raised up he adds, vers. 27: "Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, nor wilt Thou suffer Thy holy one to see corruption." You may ask, what are the sorrows of death and hell which God loosed by raising up Christ? First, Calvin thinks they are the punishments, anxiety and desperation which the damned suffer in hell. For Christ took upon Himself to expiate this debt owed by us, and therefore despaired on the cross, when He cried out: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But this is no less foolish than blasphemous and impious, as I showed in Hebr. v, 7. Secondly, others have thought it signified here that Christ dying liberated the damned from hell, and this seems to be hinted at by St. Augustine, epist. 99. But this is a heresy which the same St. Augustine reviews and refutes, heresy 79, and St. Gregory, lib. VI, epist. 179. Better do others think that Christ dying liberated all, or most, from Purgatory and gave them the first and plenary indulgence, as I said on Zachar. ix, 13. Thirdly, others from the Syrian think the sorrows or cords of death are here called the forces of death, by which as it were by cords death bound and held the body of Christ in the sepulchre, and his soul in hell. Fourthly, Cajetan from St. Thomas thinks the sorrows of death and hell are called the penal conditions which naturally and by common lot and right the body of Christ suffered in the sepulchre, and the soul in hell, which were two. The former, that the soul was separated from the body, as from its companion, to which it has a natural inclination, and thus as it were was truncated and mutilated in one of its parts. The latter, that it was held in a place so vile and lowest, such as the sepulchre and hell. But all pain and punishment of Christ was finished in His death. And it is certain that the soul of Christ was not detained in hell, nor His body in the sepulchre in vengeance, or punishment, or satisfaction for any sin; but this was to the dead body as it were natural and fitting, and to the soul it was rather honor and triumph: because by it Christ as the victor of hell and liberator of the Patriarchs descended there. Fifthly, others answer that Christ loosed, that is, dispersed and scattered, the sorrows or cords of hell prepared to constrain themselves, just as they had constrained and constrain all other dying, and made it so that He was not constrained by them. Again in fact He loosed them in others who in limbo or Purgatory were held constrained by them, when He liberated and led them out from there. Thus St. Augustine, epist. 99. This sense is probable and apt. Sixthly, St. Chrysostom and Oecumenius answer that these sorrows were not of Christ, nor of the faithful, but of death itself: "For death holding him grieved, as a whale swallowing Jonah as it were grieved, and therefore vomited him," as if to say, God by the resurrection of Christ freed death itself from sorrows as it were of travail: for death and hell in their womb unwilling to bear so great a burden and weight of Christ, as it were suffered pain when they enclosed Him, whom they could not hold and contain. But this is more subtle than solid and genuine. Seventhly therefore and genuinely, the sorrows of death and hell are called by metonymy the gravest sorrows which bring death to men and send their souls into hell, so that there as in darkness and an inescapable prison they are perpetually held and dwell. Hence that passage Psal. xvii, 5: "The sorrows of death have compassed me about, the sorrows of hell have surrounded me, the snares of death have prevented me," to which Peter alludes here. Whence for sorrows of death, the Interpreter, II Reg. xxii, 5, translated, the pangs of death; and for sorrows of hell, he translated, the cords of hell. For the Hebrews metaphorically call sorrows חבלי, chable, that is, cords, because like cords they bind and afflict. Thus St. Basil and Theodoret, in Psal. xvii, and Suarez, III part., Quaest. LII, disp. XLIII, sect. 1. The sense therefore is, as if to say, God raised up Christ, the sorrows of death and hell being loosed, that is, death and hell overcome by Christ's resurrection together with all the sorrows attending it, namely both those preceding in agony, passion and the cross; and those which are wont to follow in hell, as if to say, God through Christ rising dissolved and destroyed the kingdom of death and hell, with all its sorrows and afflictions. Again by hypallage, the sorrow of death and hell can be understood as sorrowful death, or mortal and infernal sorrow; such as is a lethal disease or torment, which by its bitterness tears and wrings the soul from the body, as if to say, Through resurrection God loosed and abolished death, which in Christ was most sorrowful. To this is added the exposition of Ribera on Hosea chapter xiii, verse 14, who thus explains it: "The sorrows of death being loosed," that is, loosing and undoing that which death had effected through so many sorrows and torments, namely that the soul of Christ should be separated from the body, when He united it again separated in the resurrection to the body. For death and hell by their afflictions and sorrows, as if by cords, seemed to hold the soul and body of Christ bound and imprisoned, so that there seemed to be no hope of escaping thence and returning to life. But God loosed these bonds and these cords, when He brought Christ back from them to light and life restored. He gives to death, or to hell, the epithet and title of "sorrows," both because death in itself is full of sorrows: whence "of all terrible things death is the most terrible," says Aristotle; and because it properly signifies the sorrows of Christ, which He had very many and very great in His passion and death, so much so that they surpassed all the sorrows of all the Martyrs. Thus St. Leo, sermon 1 On the Ascension: "After the passion, the bonds of death being broken, which had lost their force in Him who was ignorant of sin, by advancing, weakness passed into virtue, mortality into immortality, shame passed into glory." Tropologically St. Jerome and St. Augustine, in Psalm xvii: The sorrows of hell, they say, are the envies of detractors and slanderers and those who reproach, which work infernal death, and hurl the soul into the second death and hell, such as Christ suffered from the Scribes and Jews, even hanging on the cross, when He heard from them: "Hail! Thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days buildest it again: save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross," Matthew chapter xxvii, verse 40. According to which it was impossible that He should be held by it. — By hell namely and death: both because Christ was most innocent and most holy; but death and hell are the punishment and prison of sinners; and because the divinity of Christ, equally as the power and strength of His humanity, could not be shut up and held by death and hell, but rather Christ as victor, ruler and conqueror shut them up by His hand and power, nay, dissolved, weakened, abolished them.
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25. For David saith concerning him. — Concerning him: thus the Syriac, namely concerning Christ. Or, "concerning him," that is in his person, says Cajetan, for David spoke these things in the person of Christ: I set the Lord always in my sight. — That is to say: In all my action, passion, cross and death I looked to the Lord and set him before me, acting and enduring all things with strong and steadfast hope, as if contending for God in his sight; just as soldiers fight vigorously when they are in the sight of their commander. For I knew that I was continually beheld by God, and therefore in turn I continually beheld him, saying with Elias: "The Lord liveth, in whose sight I stand," III Kings cap. xvii, vers. 1; and therefore I fixed all my hope, love and affection in the Lord beholding me, certain that he would deliver me from all tribulation and raise me from death to glorious life. Whence he adds: "For he is at my right hand," as a protector and defender, "that I be not moved," etc. "And my flesh" crucified, dead and buried "shall rest in hope" of resurrection, namely that on the third day thou shalt raise it from death to life. Thus all the Saints walked in the sight of God, thinking that they always and everywhere had God present, and in his presence did all things and suffered all things, and therefore in all things they strove to please him. For this is a sharp spur to virtue. Whence St. Ephrem, serm. On Virtue, cap. x, asserts, "by continual remembrance of God the passions of the soul depart, like evildoers when the magistrate approaches." Hence God commanded Abraham: "Walk before me, and be thou perfect," Gen. xvii, 1. See the things said there. St. Basil, Admonition to his spiritual son: "Remember that thou standest before the sight of the Lord, who seeth the secrets of the heart and knoweth the hidden things of minds. Whatsoever work thou beginnest, first invoke the Lord, and cease not to give thanks when thou hast perfected it. Seek the Lord, and thou shalt find him: nor let him go when thou hast taken hold of him, that thy mind may be joined in love of him. Strive in thy life that thou mayest offer pure prayer to God. Such as thou wishest the Lord to be toward thee, be thou thyself toward thy fellow servant. In every work which thou thinkest to do, first examine whether what thou thinkest is according to the Lord. And if it be right before God, perfect it: but if it be found to be contrary, cut it off from thy soul." At my right hand. — That is to say: To me Christ, inasmuch as I am man, God the Father is near and stands by, that he may protect me, preserve me and raise me up; but God the Son stands by me as hypostasis and subsistence sustaining me, through the hypostatic union, which he will never dissolve: and therefore even if in death the soul be separated from the body, nevertheless the divinity will remain united to each; just as he who breaks bread in his hand separates the parts of the bread from one another, but holds each part in his hand, one in the right, the other in the left. That I be not moved. — "But that I may remain steadfastly in him," says St. Augustine, in Psalm. xv.
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27. Since thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. — Therefore it is of faith that Christ's soul after death descended to the infernal regions, as the Apostles' Creed holds. Thus St. Ambrose, sermon 74 On the Martyrs; St. Jerome, in Psalm xv; St. Augustine, epistle 99, and others throughout. Ineptly therefore and impiously Beza, following Calvin, translates: "Thou wilt not leave my body in the sepulchre;" changing soul into body, hell into sepulchre with unheard-of theatrical levity of metamorphosis. For he himself with his Calvin denies that Christ descended to the infernal regions, and thus in fact removes this article from the Creed: "He descended to hell," while he interprets it so that it means the same as he descended to the sepulchre: for he explains, he says (rather obscures, corrupts and overturns), what preceded: "And was buried." Ineptly, I say. For, to pass over other things, here soul is opposed to flesh. For concerning flesh it preceded: "My flesh also shall rest in hope;" and follows: "Neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption," namely in the sepulchre. But concerning soul by antithesis he subjoins: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." Secondly, because the Greek ᾅδης always signifies hell, never the sepulchre. See Bellarmine, book IV On the Soul of Christ, chapter xii. Note this "since": for this word gives the reason for what preceded: "And my flesh shall rest in hope," as if to say: Therefore my flesh shall rest securely in the sepulchre in hope of resurrection, since thou, O Lord, wilt not leave my soul in hell, as thou hast foretold and promised through David, Psalm xv, but on the third day thou wilt bring it forth from hell to the sepulchre, that it may put on flesh again, vivify it and glorify it. Ineptly again Calvin and Brentius think that to descend to hell is the same as to be extinguished, to perish and to be destroyed, as if to say, says Calvin: Thou wilt not suffer my soul to perish and be extinguished, because it is upheld by divinity. Whence thou mayest rightly infer that the souls of other men, which are not upheld by the hypostatic union of divinity, perish and are extinguished, just as the souls of brutes. See here how Calvin paves the way for atheists and atheism. Neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One. — (אַל תִּתֵּן al titten, that is, thou wilt not suffer, thou wilt not permit.) In Greek it is a masculine word τὸν ὅσιόν σου, by which Christ is denoted, who is Holy by antonomasia, as being the Holy of Holies, as if to say: Thou wilt not suffer, O Lord, me Christ according to the body to be corrupted, because I am the Holy of Holies, to whom corruption is not fitting, but incorruptibility and immortality. Where note: The hypostatic union alone was not sufficient (though it demanded it) to preserve Christ's body from corruption; but besides it there was required a physical action of divinity, which would preserve the body and protect it from air, moisture and other things which are wont to corrupt and putrefy dead bodies. Whence St. Augustine, in Psalm xv, expounds this passage thus: "Neither wilt thou suffer the sanctified body, through which others are to be sanctified, to be corrupted." The same Durandus and Gabriel extend to the blood shed by Christ suffering, whom our Suarez cites and follows, III part., vol. II, disp. xlvii, sect. 3, namely that this blood during the three days of Christ's death was not corrupted, as blood shed by other men is wont to be corrupted, because the divinity of the Word protected it from corruption, to which, as before, it remained hypostatically united, as Suarez proves at length there, and says this appears to be defined by Clement VI and Pius II. Yet the contrary, namely that Christ's blood during the three days of his death was corrupted, yet remained hypostatically united to the Word, is not improbable: for although it was corrupted as to the vital form (whether that be the soul or something else) which it had in the body of living Christ, yet the same remained incorrupt as it were under a form of cadaver suited to it; and in the manner in which that blood remained as it were dead, or as it were a cadaver of blood, so likewise it remained united to the Word. To see. — That is, to feel, to experience. It is catachresis: for sight, the noblest of all the senses, is put for any sense in Scripture: here it is put for touch. Corruption. — The body of living Christ saw corruption, because it died: for death is the corruption of man and of life. But the body of dying Christ did not see corruption, in Greek διαφθοράν, namely putrefaction and incineration. For the bodies of other men after death putrefy: from putrefaction are born worms and toads, which devour the flesh down to the bones: which done, they themselves, food failing, die, putrefy, and are resolved into their elements, earth and water. The cadaver therefore goes into putrefaction and worms, thence into earth, and thus the first sentence of God against sinning man is fulfilled: "Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return," Gen. iii, 19. But Christ's body was immune from this sentence, both because it was immune from sin and holy; both because it was hypostatically united to the Word; and finally because by his passion he merited dominion over death and corruption, and its destruction through the raising up of himself and us.
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28. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. — (The Syrian, thou hast revealed, shown, exhibited) the ways (Hebrew and Syriac, the way) of life, that is, Thou hast brought me back and recalled me from death and hell to life. For the Resurrection and glorification of the body are the ways by which Christ advanced to immortal and glorious life, and by which He will cause us to advance in the universal resurrection. Whence for "thou hast made known to me," the Hebrew is הוֹדִיעֵנִי todieni, which since it is future in the Hiphil, properly signifies, thou wilt make me teach, make known, demonstrate the ways of life, so that namely I may show and exhibit them, both to the Patriarchs and Saints who will rise again with Me, and to My faithful ones on the day of judgment who will rise again by My power. These are called ways of life, both because they lead to the new life of those rising again; and because they lead into heaven, which is the land of life and of the living. Hence the Theologians teach that Christ in this life was a wayfarer until the resurrection, working and meriting salvation for us, resurrection for Himself: although He was at the same time a comprehensor, because His soul beheld the essence of God, and by that vision was blessed. Tropologically St. Augustine, in Psalm xv, expounds: "Thou hast made known through Me the ways of humility, so that men might return to life, from which they had fallen through pride; in which because I am, thou hast made known to me." For Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. St. Bernard, sermon I on the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul: "Do you think it a small thing to know how to live? It is something great, indeed the greatest. He does not live who is puffed up with pride, who is defiled by luxury, who is infected by other plagues; for this is not living, but confusing life and drawing near even to the gates of death. But I consider a good life to be this: to suffer evils, and to do good, and thus to persevere unto death." And a little later: "I think moreover that you, who are in the congregation, live well, if you live orderly, sociably and humbly. Orderly toward yourself, sociably toward your neighbor, humbly toward God. Orderly, so that in all your conduct you may be careful to observe your ways, both in the sight of the Lord and in the sight of your neighbor: guarding yourself from sin, and him from scandal. Sociably, so that you may strive to be loved and to love, showing yourself mild and affable; bearing not only patiently but also willingly the infirmities of your brothers, both of character and of body. Humbly, so that when you have done all these things, you may strive to blow away the spirit of vanity, which is wont to arise from such things; and whenever you sense it, deny your consent." And St. Ambrose, sermon 22: "The Martyrs, just as they experienced the way of the passion of Christ, so also will they experience the way of life. For it is written: Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. This indeed is said in the resurrection in the person of the Savior, so that He who after death returns from the lower regions to the upper," and therefore was no longer in the tomb. For it is more true that the Saints who rose with Christ did not return to death and the tomb, but rose to immortal life and with Christ in body and soul ascended gloriously and triumphantly into heaven. For this befitted the triumph of Christ, so that when He triumphed in a glorious body, He might likewise have the Saints in a body as followers and attendants of His triumph, whom, as it were captivity and prey snatched from death, He might lead triumphantly with Him into heaven. This also befitted the Saints themselves, to whom it would surely have been more miserable to die again than desirable to rise to so brief a life. Add that their souls were already blessed, and therefore it was fitting that they be united to bodies that were glorious and immortal. Thus Origen, St. Jerome, Bede, Anselm, St. Thomas, in Matthew xxvii, 58; Clement of Alexandria, book VI of the Stromata; Eusebius, book IV of the Demonstration, chapter XII; Epiphanius, heresy 75, and throughout the Recent authors.
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30. Concerning the fruit of his loins. — For in the loins is the origin of seed, which descends from them through veins into the members destined for generation. The fruit therefore of the loins, or belly, as the Syriac translator renders it, are offspring and posterity. Note: The Greek text here adds κατὰ σάρκα ἀναστῆσαι Χριστὸν, that is to say, Knowing that God had sworn to him concerning the fruit of his loins, namely Christ, who would be raised up, or resurrected, according to the flesh (for τὸ ἀναστῆσαι you may translate either actively as "would raise up" or passively as "would be resurrected"), whom he would place upon his seat. Or, as Oecumenius says, that is to say, When he had sworn concerning the fruit of his belly to place upon his seat, foreseeing Christ resurrected according to the flesh, he spoke concerning his resurrection. But truly these words neither the Syriac nor our Interpreter has, and the sense stands complete without them. Whence Erasmus suspects that they were added in the Greek by some learned man to whom the sense did not seem to be so clear and absolute, and from there were afterwards transferred into the text. And his sepulchre is with us. — That is to say, The body of David up to this year lay in the sepulchre: therefore it was corrupted, decayed and reduced to dust. Therefore David did not prophesy concerning himself, but concerning Christ, when he said: "Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption." Note: St. Peter says cautiously: "His sepulchre is with us," not his body, or his flesh: because it appears that David a little before, among other Patriarchs, namely Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, etc., rose from the sepulchre with Christ, Matt. xxvii, 53, and therefore was no longer in the sepulchre. To sit upon his seat, — to occupy the kingdom of David his father and to sit as a king upon his throne. This kingdom of Christ was not temporal, as David's was, but spiritual and eternal. The kingdom therefore of Christ is the Church, first in Judaea, then scattered throughout the whole world, now militant, which at the end of the world will be triumphant. For Christ restored the fallen line and kingdom of David, but more august and more noble: for in place of the earthly he substituted the heavenly, in place of the perishable the eternal. This restoration of his kingdom promised by the Prophets, the Jews eagerly awaited in the time of Christ, as they still await it. Whence Gabriel announcing to the Mother of God the conception and incarnation of Christ, Luke I, 32: "He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord shall give unto him the seat of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Wherefore in vain do the wretched and abject Jews await this carnal, exiled and perishable kingdom of their Messiah.
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31. Foreseeing, — προϊδών, that is to say, foreseeing. Thus the Syriac. Because neither was he left in hell, — as to his soul, but that soul departing from him resumed his flesh in the sepulchre, and with it rose gloriously.
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33. By the right hand therefore God exalted, — when through the right hand, that is the mighty virtue and operation of God, as it were a victor and triumpher over sin, death, the demon and hell, he rose gloriously and ascended into heaven. Having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father. — That is to say, Christ received from the Father the power of promising and sending the Holy Spirit, or he received from the Father that he might be able to send into the Apostles the Holy Spirit which he had promised to them. For God the Father as it were promised Christ, Christ promised us, the Holy Spirit. He hath poured forth this (Holy Spirit) which you see (in fiery tongues) and hear, — through our mouth speaking in various tongues the mighty works of God. Hence the Fathers prove against the Arians that Christ is God. For "how is he not God, who gives the Holy Spirit? Nay, how great a God is he, who gives God?" says St. Augustine, lib. XV On the Trinity, cap. xxvi.
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34. For David did not ascend into heaven. — That is to say, when David says, Psalm cix, as I shall presently cite, "Sit thou at my right hand," he does not speak of himself, but of Christ risen, because he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and from thence poured out the Holy Spirit upon us. At Rome a certain learned man, a Rabbinic-Christian, assured me that St. Peter said this against the metempsychosis of Pythagoras: for Pythagoras held that souls transmigrate from one body into another. Which error also pervaded the Hebrews, so that it is ancient in their Cabala: whence their Cabalists say that Adam has three letters, each of which signifies an illustrious man: the first is A, which signifies Adam; the second is D, which signifies David; the third is M, which signifies the Messiah, or Christ. These three therefore they make Adam, that is, one man as it were; because the soul of Adam migrated into David, and from David into Christ. Wherefore St. Peter here touches upon this error, and says that the soul of Christ, not of David, ascended into heaven. Thus he himself. For otherwise, he says, who does not know that David is dead, and did not ascend into heaven? Or who else ever raved and said that David ascended into heaven, so that Peter should refute it here? It is supported by the fact that in like manner Herod thought that the soul of John the Baptist, whom he had slain, had migrated into Christ, Matt. xiv, 2. And the Jews hold that the soul of Phinees migrated into Elias, and the soul of Elias into John the Baptist. Whence they ask him: "Art thou Elias?" John i, 21. But he himself said. — Hence it is clear that David is the author of Psalm cix, not Melchisedech, nor Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, or any other, as the Rabbis feign. For David sings in that psalm not of the kingdom of Abraham, nor of David, nor of Ezechias, as the Jews dream, but of the kingdom of Christ through resurrection and ascension in heaven and on earth, whence he began to reign from Sion over all nations, until he shall crush the impious in the day of judgment. Said. — Hebr. נאם neum, that is, a saying, an utterance, a pronouncement, a decree, an oracle of the Lord concerning Christ my Lord. The Lord (God the Father) to my Lord. — Hebr. אדוני adoni, that is to say, to Christ, who is mine, namely of David, although he is the Son, is nevertheless also Lord, not only as he is God, but also as he is man. For as man, by right and title of redemption, as well as of hypostatic union, by which he surpasses immeasurably all men and angels, he is Lord of all men and angels, and consequently mine, that is, of David. "Said" therefore God the Father to Christ the man, with triumph ascending into heaven: Sit thou at my right hand, — that is, be thou next to me in my supreme glory and reign. Thus St. Jerome and Theodoret, in Psalm cix. How Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, I have explained at length in Colossians iii, 1. Christ himself cites this verse of Psalm cix, Matt. xxii, and St. Paul, Hebrews i, 13, and from it prove that Christ is greater than the angels, and is God: for Christ the man obtained this dominion over David and all men, not by force of his humanity, but by hypostatic union, because namely he himself is not mere man, but man God.
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35. Until I make thy enemies (on the day of judgment) thy footstool, — so that they may be completely conquered, subjected to thee and thy feet, and laid out as it were like a vile footstool. Thus Sapor, king of the Persians, made the Emperor Valerian, conquered in war, a footstool for his feet: for he offered his back as it were as a footstool for the feet of Sapor mounting his horse, as Eutropius and Victor say in their account of Valerian. Tamerlane did the same to Bajazet, the conquered and captured Emperor of the Turks. Note: the word "until" does not signify that Christ shall sit at the right hand of God only up to that point, as if afterwards he were not to sit and reign; but rather the contrary, that is to say, Sit and reign with me until I subject all thy enemies to thee, when thou shalt reign far more: for thou shalt rule not only with me, but over the whole world, because I shall subject all thy enemies to thee. It is similar to Matt. i, 25: "And he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn son," that is to say, the Blessed Virgin did not conceive of Joseph, because he knew her not until the birth; much less did he know her after the birth. By enemies he calls the infidels, Saracens, Pagans, heretics and all the impious, who would not subject themselves to Christ and obey him. All the house (that is, the whole family, the whole posterity, the whole race) of Israel, — that is, of Jacob the patriarch.
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36. Because God made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus. — That is to say, God the Father exalted Jesus to this pinnacle of dignity, that He might be Lord of all and Christ or Messiah, that is, anointed with the fullness of grace, from which we all have received: He exalted Him, I say, by that very fact that He united Him to the divine person and nature in the incarnation. Wherefore the Arians wrongly twist these words against the divinity of Christ; as if Peter said: Christ was not God and Lord by divine nature, but was made and denominated by God the Father through the communication of divine authority and power. For St. Peter speaks of Christ, not as He is God, but as He is man: for Jesus is the proper name of this man, and as man He was made Lord of all, and Christ and redeemer of the world, when He was crucified by the Jews. Thus St. Cyril, book IX of the Treasury, chapter III; St. Basil, book IV Against Eunomius, and others. Likewise Theodore of Mopsuestia wrongly taught that Christ was a mere man, because by His sanctity He merited union with the divine nature, and he was trying to prove this very thing from this passage. Hear Vigilius: "In the aforesaid chapter xxxix again that which Blessed Peter said, Acts II, Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, explaining it says, by the anointing of the Spirit which he merited, and made him immaculate in all things, and to have merited union with the divine nature: which words openly signify Christ as a mere man. Whoever therefore thinks, teaches, believes, or preaches these things thus, let him be anathema." Thus Pope Vigilius in the Vatican codex, which Baronius cites, in the year of Christ 553, page 417. Whom you crucified. — Here is a great goad with which St. Peter with wonderful boldness and sincerity pricked the hearts of the Jews, as if to say: See what a great crime you have committed: for you crucified Jesus, that is the Savior of the world, who is Lord of all and your Messiah or Christ. Whence St. Chrysostom notes that many of the Jews, who had cried out before Pilate against Christ: "Crucify, crucify him," were present at this sermon of Peter, and being moved by it were converted to Christ, whom they had crucified.
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37. They were pricked, — with inward sorrow and contrition, because they had killed and despised Christ. Whether should we marvel more at Christ's power over His murderers? Or His clemency? Or rather both? For clemency called them to repentance, and receiving the penitent into grace, He held them as most beloved sons: power pricked their hostile and stony minds, and moved them and made them benevolent and friendly, so that Christ, whom they had before greatly hated, they loved. This is the change wrought by the right hand of the Most High. This is the force of compunction. Most excellently St. Bernard, in the tract On the Manner of Living Well, sermon 10: "Mary Magdalene through compunction and tears merited to hear from the Lord: Your sins are forgiven you. Good compunction is a desirable treasure, and an unspeakable joy in the mind of man. A soul which has compunction in prayer makes progress unto salvation. The tears of the penitent are reckoned as baptism before God. Compunction of heart is the health of the soul. Compunction of tears is the remission of sins. Compunction brings back the Holy Spirit to itself, because when the mind is visited with the Holy Spirit, straightway man weeps for his sins." He then adds four causes and motives of compunction: "For we weep on account of our sins, and on account of the misery of this world, and on account of compassion for our neighbor, and on account of love of the heavenly reward. On account of sins he wept who said: I will wash my bed every night, I will water my couch with my tears. The same one groaned over the miseries of this world, when he said: Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar, my soul has been long a sojourner. The Lord wept through compassion over Lazarus and over the city of Jerusalem, saying: If you had known, even you. Also the Apostle Paul, who commanded to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to weep with those who weep, grieved through compassion, saying: Who is weak, and I am not weak? With love of the heavenly reward the just wept, saying that word of the Psalmist: Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered you, O Sion." But the heroic act and effect of compunction is that which St. Chrysostom assigns, book II On Compunction, saying: "This is the true compunction of a humbled heart, to do great things and speak humbly: to work justly and to fear and tremble over sinners."
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38. Do penance. — For penance before baptism, there is required and necessary contrition, not perfect, which is sorrow for sins from the love of God, namely because a man through it loves God above all things, whom he once offended: which however Navarrus requires in Enchirid., cap. 1, n. 38; but imperfect contrition, which is called by theologians attrition, and is sorrow for sins on account of fear of hell and damnation. For with this disposition in place, baptism, which is the regeneration of the soul, infuses into it grace, as it were a new and first life of the Spirit: otherwise, if perfect contrition were required, since this remains from perfect love of God, and therefore justifies and vivifies man, it would follow that life is required before life; nor would baptism regenerate, but the contrition preceding it. Nevertheless, the penitents to be baptized ought to be stirred up to true contrition, as being more perfect, just as Peter here stirs them up, although they were already contrite, to increase, declare and perfect their contrition. Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, — namely in the faith, profession, virtue, merits and baptism of Jesus Christ (not of John the Baptist, or of the Pharisees, who had their own and many baptisms), believing and professing him to be the Christ, and the sole mediator proposed by God the Father for obtaining the remission of sins, justice and salvation. Moreover, the baptism of Christ is that which is conferred in the name of the Holy Trinity, saying: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." For the three persons of the Holy Trinity (for the confession and profession of this is baptism) must be expressed explicitly and distinctly in baptism. For although some once doubted about this matter, indeed even denied that it was necessary, thinking it sufficient that the one baptizing should say: "I baptize thee in the name of Jesus Christ," because it seems to be said here, nevertheless the Church has declared and defined the contrary. See Francis Suarez, III part., tom. III, disp. xxi. Add, perhaps the Apostles in those first times added to the form of baptism the name of Jesus Christ, saying: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost," so that they might win faith, love and reverence for this new name. Wherefore it is certain that St. Peter, before he baptized these penitents, catechized them and taught them the mystery of the Holy Trinity and the other articles of the creed; and then baptized them in the name of the Holy Trinity: all which things St. Luke, compressing them briefly, says he said: "Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." For, as St. Augustine notes, lib. III Contra Maximin., cap. xvii, one person of the Holy Trinity does not exclude another, but includes it: wherefore Scripture now names one, now another, now all, to signify that all three are of the same essence and power. And Theophylactus, at the end of the Gospel: "The name of Christ, that is, the anointed, contains in itself both the Father anointing, and the anointing which is the Spirit, and the anointed which is the Son." Tropologically St. Chrysostom, hom. 42 in II ad Corinth.: "Since we live through Jesus Christ dead, we ought certainly to live for him on account of whom we live." And St. Bernard, serm. De quadruplici Debito: "Thou owest to Christ Jesus thy whole life, because he himself laid down his life for thine, and endured bitter torments, that thou mightest not endure perpetual ones." And after much more thus concludes: "When therefore I have given to him whatever I am, whatever I can, is not this as a star to the sun, a drop to a river, a stone to a mountain, a grain to a heap?" The same, tract. De Dilig. Deo: "If I owe myself entirely for being made, what shall I add now for being remade, and remade in this way? For he was not so easily remade as made; for he who made me once, and by merely speaking, in remaking certainly both spoke much, and did wonders, and endured hardships; nor only hardships, but also indignities. In the first work he gave me to myself, in the second he gave himself; and where he gave himself, he gave me back to myself. Given therefore and restored, I owe myself for myself, and I owe twice. What shall I render to God for himself? For even if I could repay myself a thousand times, what am I to God?" The same, serm. 20 in Cant.: "Worthy indeed of death is he who refuses to live for thee, O Lord Jesus, and is dead; and he who does not savour of thee, is foolish; and he who cares to be except for thee, is as nothing, and is nothing. For thyself, O God, thou hast made all things, and he who wishes to be for himself and not for thee, begins to be nothing among all things." And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. — First, as if to say, You shall receive the Spirit himself, who is the first and uncreated gift of God, as I have shown, vers. 4. Second, as if to say, You shall receive grace and justice, which is the gift of the Holy Ghost. Third, Francis Suarez, tract. De Sacramento Confirmationis, disp. xxxii, sect. 1, by "the gift of the Holy Ghost" understands the grace of the sacrament of Confirmation, which is an excellent and singular gift of the Holy Ghost. Whence to the sacrament of Confirmation Scripture attributes this effect, that it confers the Holy Ghost, as appears Acts viii and cap. xix. For in former times when the aged were baptized, immediately after baptism the sacrament of Confirmation was conferred upon them.
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39. For to you is the promise, — to you as sons of Abraham, pertains the promise made to Abraham concerning Christ, namely that through him all nations were to be blessed, that is justified and saved, Gen. xxii. This promise therefore is concerning Christ, and consequently concerning the Holy Spirit, whom equally as the Apostles they were about to receive in baptism, if they believed in Christ. To all that are afar off, — from God, the Church, faith and salvation, namely to the Gentiles, to whom the Apostle says, Ephes. II, 12: "At that time you were without Christ, separated from the conversation of Israel, and strangers to the testaments, having no hope of the promise and without God in this world. But now in Christ Jesus you also, who some time were afar off, are made nigh in the blood of Christ."
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40. He testified, — διεμαρτύρετο, that is as if calling witnesses he asserted, confirmed and protested that his words and doctrines concerning Christ were true. These witnesses were, both the Scripture and the prophecies concerning Christ, and the remembrance of the holiness and miracles of the life and passion of Christ, and the Apostles themselves and other faithful ones, indeed even the Jews themselves, who had seen the life, miracles and death of Christ. He exhorted. — The Syriac, he besought, or earnestly entreated them. Save yourselves from this wicked generation. — That is, through faith and baptism in Christ and Christian life separate yourselves from this unfaithful and impious age, namely from the unfaithful and impious Jews and Gentiles, that you may save your souls. Excellently St. Eucherius, epistle to Valerian: "True blessedness is to despise the blessedness of the world, and neglecting earthly things to burn with desire for divine things. Let that endless chain of worldly affairs be broken. Nothing is great in reality which is small in time: nor is joy extended by length, whatever is confined within a narrow limit." Note morally, that conversation with worldly and impious persons is dangerous and leads to eternal destruction. For few are so strong and steadfast that they always resist so many wicked examples, words, invitations, mockeries, threats, etc., of the impious, nor allow themselves to be bent to their ways. Whoever therefore is wise, let him flee with Lot from Sodom, lest he be afflicted by its fire. For that saying of Eccles. xiii is true: "Whosoever toucheth pitch, shall be defiled with it; and he that hath fellowship with the proud, shall put on pride." And that of St. Jerome, epistle 7: "The imitation of evils is easy, and those virtues which you cannot attain, you quickly imitate their vices." For, as St. Cyprian says, lib. De Spectac., "nothing is easier than that pride beget pride, anger beget anger, and in short every vice beget its own kind of vice in the souls of others, not only without their knowledge and attention, but often even against their will." An example is St. Augustine, who in lib. II Confess., cap. iii and ix, laments that as a youth among his peers boasting of their vices, he himself was also stirred not only to do the same things, but even to feign things which he had not done, lest he should appear more abject, the more innocent he was; and lest he should be held cheaper, the more chaste he was. For indeed wicked companions are a most contagious thing, when it is said: "Let us go, let us do," and it is shameful not to be shameless. Similar to this sermon of Peter is the sermon of St. John, Epist. I, cap. ii, when he says: "Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life." And St. Leo, serm. 5 De Quadrages.: "All things are full of dangers, full of snares. Desires incite, allurements lie in wait; gains flatter, losses deter; the tongues of detractors are bitter, nor are the mouths of those who praise always truthful." Wherefore wisely St. Bernard, epistle 103: "Blessed is he who did not go after those things which when possessed burden, when loved defile, when lost torment." See St. Ambrose, lib. De Fuga saeculi.
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41. Were added — to the Church and to the assembly of the faithful who were then gathered together, small in number, namely 120, upon whom the Holy Spirit descended. Thus says Jeremiah, L, 5: "They shall be added to the Lord in an everlasting covenant." Souls, — men. It is a synecdoche: for a part is put for the whole. Three thousand. — See here the fruit of the blood of Christ: see also the fiery tongue of the Holy Spirit, hurling forth fiery words from the mouth of Peter like arrows, by which he set on fire and inflamed the whole assembly of hearers with love of Christ. These were the firstfruits of fervor and spirit.
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42. And they were persevering, — προσκαρτεροῦντες, that is, enduring with great continuous and constant urgency. See the sayings at chapter 1, 14. In the doctrine of the Apostles, — to be heard, ruminated, meditated upon. And in the communion of the breaking of bread. — In Greek, in communion and breaking of bread. "Communion," namely of goods, says Vatablus, and of offices of mutual service, says Cajetan, as if to say: The first Christians mutually shared their resources, possessions and services with great charity: for all things were common to them. But concerning this communion of works Luke will speak in verse 44. Wherefore our Interpreter better took the καί as exegetical, for that is, as it is often taken elsewhere; or rather he thought it to be a hendiadys, by which one thing is expressed through two, as in Virgil: "He bit the gold and bridles," that is, he bit the golden bridles. Thus "in communion and breaking of bread," that is, in communion of the breaking of bread, or which communion was a breaking, or in the breaking of bread: otherwise the word "communion" lacks a genitive, nor is it explained of what thing this communion was. Whence for "communion," in Greek it is κοινωνία, that is, communion, or common union, by which name the Eucharist is called by St. Paul and the Fathers for four reasons. The first is, because it itself is a table and food common to all, at which all the faithful sit and communicate. Whence the Greeks think the supper is called as it were κοινήν, that is, common. The second, because in the Eucharist we communicate in food that is altogether the same and individual, namely the body of Christ, which does not happen in other suppers, where one takes and eats this part of the food, another another. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 88 on Matthew, says "we through communion with the body of Christ become one mass;" and Cyril of Alexandria, book IV on John, chapter xvii: "As wax is mixed with melted wax, and fire insinuates itself into heated iron, so we are mixed with the body of Christ," and consequently with his divinity; thus we become "co-bodied and co-blooded with Christ," indeed Christ-bearing. Wherefore Isidore of Pelusium, book I, epistle 228, asserts "it is called communion, on account of union with God, and because it makes us partakers of the kingdom." This is what Paul says, I Corinthians x, 16: "The chalice of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?" Where he also adds the third reason, saying: "Because one bread, one body, we, though many, are all one, who partake of one bread," as if to say: The Eucharist is the common union of all the faithful; for it unites all to the same body of Christ, and consequently unites all to one another. For things that are the same to one third thing are also the same to each other. Wherefore St. Dionysius, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, chapter III: "The most divine common and peaceful communion of one and the same bread and cup sanctifies for them, as for table-companions, a divine conjunction of manners;" and he adds that the Eucharist is the "consummation and perfection of all Sacraments." Finally, the Eucharist, uniting us to Christ, communicates to all and to each the blood, passion and merits of Christ. The Breaking of Bread. — Beza and heretics, and some Catholics too, understand common bread, as if to say Christians had common tables and held common meals. But this is not the praise of Christians, but of Epicureans. I say therefore that it is Greek τοῦ ἄρτου, that is, that bread, namely the Eucharistic and divine bread. Whence the Syriac translator clearly renders it, of the Eucharist: for this name, although Greek, the Syrians retained, as also the Latins did. And it is evident from the circumstances: for this breaking of bread is inserted between the doctrine of the Apostles and prayers. It was therefore of the same order, namely spiritual, as those were spiritual, not carnal. For Luke alludes to the words of his Paul, I Corinthians x, 16, cited a little before, where he calls the Eucharist the breaking of bread, for the reasons which I recounted there; to which add that the first Christians after the Eucharist held a common meal, which on account of the symbol of charity they called an agape, in which they broke and ate the same bread and food, of which I spoke, I Corinthians xi, 24. Moreover these things happened immediately after Pentecost and the visible descent of the Holy Spirit. After it therefore the faithful straightway began to frequent the Eucharist, and from this came such great fervor in them. In memory of which matter, the feast of the Body of Christ was instituted by Pope Urban IV, and by him ordered to be celebrated on Thursday after the Octave of Pentecost. For, as St. Thomas says, in the Office of the Church of that feast, "it is fitting that we should specially recall the institution of so great a Sacrament at that time, when the Holy Spirit taught the hearts of the disciples, to fully understand the mysteries of this Sacrament: for also at the same time this Sacrament began to be frequented by the faithful." Note here three primary duties and exercises of the first Christians, to be imitated and practiced by us, as far as we are able. For they persevered first in the doctrine of the Apostles: so also let us persevere in sermons and in hearing, reading, and meditating upon the word of God. "For he that is of God, heareth the words of God," says Christ, John viii, 47. The word of God is the light of the soul and the seed of prayer, meditation and all good works, according to that Psalm cxviii, 105: "Thy word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord, and a light to my paths." Second is the holy communion of the Eucharist, by which we are united to Christ himself really and substantially. For as food is united to the body, and is converted into it; so Christ as it were food is united to us: but he does not convert himself into us, but converts us into himself, according to that which St. Augustine said: "Thou shalt not convert me into thee, but thou shalt be converted into me." For which reason the first faithful communicated daily, as St. Luke hints here, and this was the principal cause of such great sanctity and perfection in them. The same is said to be done even now by the Abyssinians under the Prester John. This is what we pray in the Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread," in Greek ἐπιούσιον, that is, supersubstantial, as the Interpreter of St. Matthew, cap. vi, 11, translated it, "give us." Hence Tertullian, in his book On Prayer, last chapter, says "the prayer is to be concluded by receiving the body of the Lord." For this reason the faithful formerly carried the Eucharist home, especially in time of persecution, and received it daily, that they might arm themselves for martyrdom; and this was the cause of the fortitude of so many Martyrs, as St. Cyprian teaches, in his book On Spectacles, and Exhortation to Martyrs. Wherefore the Council of Florence teaches that the effect of the Eucharist is the increase of grace, and all that effect which material food produces in the body. And below Pope Eugenius adds: "The effect of this Sacrament, which it produces in the soul of one who receives it worthily, is the union of man to Christ; and because through grace man is incorporated into Christ, and united to his members, it follows that through this Sacrament grace is increased in those who receive it worthily." And the Council of Trent, session xiii, chapter ii, teaches "this Sacrament to be instituted as a spiritual food of souls, by which they are nourished and strengthened living the life of him who said: He that eateth me, the same also shall live because of me; and an antidote by which we are freed from daily faults and preserved from mortal sins." Hence it is called "bread," but sacred and transubstantiated, not only because it has the appearance of bread, but also because bread is used for every food; whence bread is said from feeding. Hence also by the Hebrews any food and nourishment is called bread. But the Eucharist in every way nourishes the soul with food; it is therefore bread and more than bread. Excellently St. Cyprian, On the Lord's Supper: "Whoever eats of this bread shall hunger no more: whoever drinks shall thirst no more; because the grace of this mystery so suffices, so refreshes the understanding, that to whosoever the fullness of so great a thing has become known, having found the end of all consummation, a bearer of Christ himself carries him in his breast, bears him in his mind, and at all times to his dweller let the words and deeds resound with jubilant praises and let thanksgivings be sung forth. This drunkenness does not kindle, but extinguishes sin: in this wine there is no excess, nor is wantonness moved to sport after this draught. When oblivion has lulled all the mockeries of the flesh, marvelous are the things which he feels, great are the things which he sees, unheard of are the things which he speaks: whom this Paschal Lamb inhabits, whose soul the strength of this pure wine gladdens and delights with inexplicable cheerfulness." Third is prayer by which we praise God, give thanks, and seek and obtain new grace. Where note in passing, Luke here describes in three words the rite and order which the first faithful observed in their assemblies and synaxes: first, indeed, they heard the word of God; second, they communicated; third, they sang to God hymns, psalms and spiritual canticles, as I have shown, I Corinthians, chapter xiv. For these three things are necessary to the Church and to any faithful person, and they are as it were its soul and life. For just as three things are required for bodily life, namely the sun, bread and breath or respiration, so the same number are required for spiritual life, namely the spiritual sun, that is the word of God; spiritual bread, that is the Eucharist; and spiritual breath, that is prayer: for by this breath we draw and drink in the divine spirit from heaven, according to that Psalm cxviii, verse 131: "I opened my mouth, and drew in the spirit." These three were foreshadowed by three vessels in the old temple, namely in the Holy Place, which were the seven-branched candlestick, the table of the loaves of proposition and the altar of incense: for the candlestick represents the word of God; the table of loaves, the Eucharist; the altar, prayer, for this is incense most fragrant and pleasing to God, as is evident from Apocalypse viii, 3. Furthermore, "perfect prayer is," says St. Bernard, tract. On the Nature of Divine Love, chapter III, "that in which there is such faith that it hopes for all things; such devotion that it seems to compel God (such as was that of St. Catherine of Siena, saying: Lord, I will not let thee go unless thou hast granted me this or that soul, virtue or grace); such love that all which it asks, it feels itself to obtain in the very prayer itself; such benign humility that in all things it prefers not its own, but God's will to be done in itself." Such was that of these first faithful, and therefore all things which they asked of God, he straightway granted. Bread. — From this place it is gathered that it suffices for the laity to receive the Eucharist under one species of bread, nor is the other required, namely the chalice. For as the number of the faithful grew immensely, it was difficult and almost impossible for all to be given the chalice. Add that many are abstainers, who abhor wine; and that in so great a number there is evident danger of irreverence and spilling of blood, especially in a crowd of the unlearned and rustic. The heretics object that the chalice is understood under the bread; for it is certain that the Apostles and priests offered the sacrifice, in which the consecration of both wine and bread is required. I answer: Luke here does not speak of the sacrifice of priests, to which both species are required, but of the communion of the faithful laity, in which since he mentions only bread, we gather that it alone was given and distributed in so great a multitude of thousands.
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43. And fear came upon every soul. — "Fear" here was a certain sacred horror and reverence, by which those seeing fiery tongues and hearing fiery words feared and venerated the Apostles as heavenly and divine men, who could work miracles, and could call down fire from heaven like Elijah and hurl it against enemies. Thus "fear first made gods in the world," says the Poet. Thus, when the wonders of Christ were seen, the crowds are said to have feared, Luke vii, 16: this fear was nothing other than religion and reverence toward Christ, conceived from his miracles. Thus Matthew, cap. ix, 8, when the paralytic was healed by Christ, says: "The crowds feared," in Greek ἐθαύμασαν, that is, they marveled; for the effect of marveling is fear, or reverence. Whence St. Luke, relating the same thing, cap. v, 26 of the Gospel, writes: "Amazement seized all" ἔκστασις, that is, ecstasy, namely fear flowing from astonishment and bursting forth into the glorification of God. Behold how the Holy Spirit makes the Apostles, formerly timid as deer, terrible to all as lions. Behold how great is the power of holiness, which even the impious fear and dread. Miracles. — For by these the new and first faith in Christ was to be confirmed by God, so that through them it might become credible to men; otherwise they would have believed rashly. Wherefore similar signs and miracles ought to be demanded of and exhibited by heretics bringing new dogmas, if they wish to be believed. Truly Richard of St. Victor, lib. 1 On the Trinity, cap. II: "If what we believe is error, we have been deceived by you: for these things were confirmed in us by those signs and miracles, which could be done by none but you." And great fear was upon all. — These words are wanting in the Greek and Syriac, because they are the same as what preceded: "And fear came upon every soul," and they emphasize and inculcate that.
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44. All also that believed were together. — In Greek ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, were in the same place; in Syriac, were together; the Zurich Bible and Pagninus, were joined together, not that they dwelt together; for this would have been impossible in so great a multitude of men, especially of married men and craftsmen. For what house could have held so many thousands of the faithful? They were therefore together, because at fixed hours they came together to the synaxis, namely to preaching, communion and prayer, of which Luke had spoken a little before, they gathered in the temple. Our Anabaptists imitate this, as it were apes, in Moravia: for each of them has his own house and workshop, but at fixed hours they all come together to their synaxes. Add that the Apostles and heads of the Church, namely the chief faithful, dwelt together near the temple in Solomon's porch. This is what Luke says, chapter v, 12: "And by the hands of the Apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. And they were all with one accord in the porch of Solomon." Finally, they associated themselves so that neighbors might dwell together around the temple, as far as they could, and as much as their duties and the state of affairs permitted each one, as we see in well-ordered cities, citizens who are of the same sect, nation, trade, or craft, dwell together in the same street. And this Luke hints at, saying, verse 46: "Breaking bread from house to house." And they had all things common. — For mine and thine is the cause of all discord, says St. Chrysostom. Plato, describing the idea of a perfect commonwealth, demands that in it all things be common, for the perfect union and concord of citizens, even wives. But in this he erred grievously: for the community of wives is repugnant to the law of nature, which ordains that one be joined with one for the certainty of offspring and its proper education. The first Christians therefore adopted this, and had all things common except wives, and consequently lived as it were as Religious; indeed, St. Jerome, in the book On Illustrious Men, on St. Mark; St. Augustine, epistle 109, and St. Basil in the Longer Rule, Rules XIX and XXXII, teach that the foundations of the religious life were laid by them. Pythagoras saw this in shadow, when he uttered this golden saying: "All things are common among friends;" from which Diogenes concluded, "It is the part of the wise man to possess all things that are in the world:" for these are God's, whose friend the wise man is; Seneca is witness, book VII On Benefits, chapter XII. From this place therefore, because the first Christians had all things κοινά, that is common, arose the cenobitic manner of living, namely Cenobies and Cenobites, among whom the first were the Essenes, whose founder was St. Mark, of whose holiness Eusebius writes wonderful things, book II of the History, chapter XVII; St. Jerome, in the book On Ecclesiastical Writers, in the Life of St. Mark. Wherefore rightly the same St. Jerome, in the same book on Philo: "Such was the Church of believers at first, such as monks now strive to be and desire to be, that nothing anywhere be private property, no one among them rich, no one poor: patrimonies be divided to the needy, let them be free for prayer and psalms, for doctrine and continence, such as Luke also reports the believers at Jerusalem to have been at first." Wherefore from that time the Religious and Cenobitic life began among men eager for perfection, who strove to emulate the primitive life of the Apostles and faithful, whose multitude was great scattered throughout the world, as St. Dionysius testifies, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, chapter X. This life was then restored after the year of the Lord 300, by St. Antony in Egypt, St. Basil in Greece, St. Jerome in Syria, St. Augustine in Africa, St. Benedict in Italy and the whole West, whom afterwards St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis, etc., followed. Furthermore, this community of goods is a great compendium of virtue and perfection. For first, it is a great incentive to mutual charity. Whence St. Lawrence Justinian, in the book On Obedience, chapter XVIII: "What else shall I say the monasteries of Religious and places serving God are, than spiritual military camps and fortifications of those fighting? Are not in them most frequent tears of devotion, sighs of compunction, breathings of piety, and vows of compassion and charity poured out unceasingly to God?" And a little after: "What, I pray, is more abundant than to have nothing and to possess all things? To lack superfluous things and to use necessary ones? To spurn one's own patrimony and to be an heir of Christ? For the revenues of monasteries are truly treasures of the Savior, which become common to all living in common. The person of the rich is not distinguished, deference is not paid to the status of the powerful; but as is expedient for each one, things are distributed; which is a divine work, a commendation of grace, an office of charity and an example of nature." Secondly, because it turns away love and affection from riches and earthly delights, as if from base and vile things, and transfers it wholly to God and heavenly things: whereby it comes to pass that, fixed in heaven as an eagle, he regards and despises all the pomp and dignities of the earth as ants, and as it were reigns as a king and dominates over all, according to that promise from Isaiah, chapter LVIII: "I will exalt thee above the heights of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father." For, as St. Cyprian says, in the tract On the Lord's Prayer: "He who has already renounced the world is greater than its honors and kingdom; and therefore he who dedicates himself to God and Christ desires not earthly but heavenly kingdoms." The monk therefore is more exalted than the world, lord of all things, equal to the angels, a citizen of the Saints, a dweller in paradise, an heir of God, a co-heir of Christ. See St. Chrysostom, homily 15 to the People. Hence he fears no one, however powerful and princely, flatters no one, but freely reproves the vices of all, boldly resists tyrants, as Elias resisted Achab, Nathan David, Eliseus Joram, Moses Pharao, who therefore heard from God: "I have made thee a god to Pharao," Exodus VII. Thirdly, it produces a communion of all merits and goods. Whence St. Basil, Monastic Constitutions, chapter XIX: "God is common to them, the commerce of piety is common, salvation is common, struggles are common, labors are common, rewards are common and the crowns of struggles, where many are one, and one is not alone, but in many." Fourthly, it removes the matter of lawsuits, desires, vices and all temptations; and on the other hand furnishes matter, time and opportunity for attending to oneself and to God, for meditating, for exercising works of piety, hope, charity and all virtues. According to that in Psalm XXXIX: "But I am needy and poor: the Lord is careful for me." Truly St. Augustine, sermon 33 On the Words of the Apostles: "Love of earthly things is a weight upon the wings of the spirit. Behold thou hast desired, thou hast clung fast. Who will give thee wings as a dove? When wilt thou fly where thou mayest truly rest, when here, where thou hast clung badly, thou hast wished to rest perversely?" Fifthly, it produces peace of mind, serenity, joy and perpetual jubilation. This life therefore approaches the life which Adam and Eve lived in paradise, and is the beginning of the heavenly life which the Blessed live in heaven. Wherefore the life of the first Christians was "angelic," says St. Chrysostom, according to that saying of Christ: "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven," Matthew xix, 21. And that in Psalm LXXII: "What have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? God of my heart, and God that is my portion for ever?" Whence St. Lawrence Justinian, Opuscule On Monastic Conversation, chapter II, describing the beauty of the monastic life, such as those living in cloisters lead: "The cloister is an enclosed garden, a paradise of delights, a bridal chamber, an undefiled bed, a school of virtues, a tabernacle of the covenant, a resting place of the Bridegroom, a station of warriors, a house of holiness, a guardian of chastity, a firmament of prudence, a teaching of religion and a singular mirror of holy obedience."
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Possessions. — Of fields or houses, as Luke explains, chapter IV; whence possession is called as it were a placing or setting of feet, says Festus: for indeed a field or house was taken possession of by placing one's foot in it, as in one's own property and peculium. 45. And substance (movable goods, such as cattle and household goods) they sold, — both from zeal for poverty and perfection, trampling upon earthly riches and aspiring to heavenly ones; and from the practice of common life and charity, so that they might distribute these among the brethren, namely Christians, especially the needy; and from the instinct of God, as it were foreseeing the impending persecution, lest these goods be confiscated by the Jews, but so that they themselves might live from their price and might succor other faithful ones despoiled of their goods in persecution, according to that saying of the Apostle, Hebrews chapter X, verse 34: "For you both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took with joy the spoiling of your goods, knowing that you have a better and a lasting substance." Whence Melchiades the Pontiff, XII Questions, I, chapter Futuram, says that the Apostles foresaw the future Church among the Gentiles, and therefore did not acquire estates in Judaea, but only their prices for supporting the needy: especially because they foresaw that Jerusalem and Judaea would shortly be utterly laid waste by Titus and the Romans. The same was done afterwards by Christians, who, while persecution raged, prepared themselves for martyrdom, as St. Valerianus, St. Cecilia, St. Sixtus, St. Lawrence, who also sold and distributed the goods of the Church among the faithful poor, lest persecutors confiscate and seize them, a prudent and pious counsel indeed. As every one had need. — "Not that anyone could childishly desire: nothing there was idle, and much less proud: what was needed, that is, as much as to clothing, which both covered nakedness and repelled cold," says St. Bernard, Apology to William the Abbot.
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46. In the temple. — This is imitated today by both monastic and pious lay communities, both men and women, who devote all the time they have free from business to prayer, reading and preaching in the temple. For where can anyone occupy himself better, more pleasantly, more usefully, more nobly, than with God in His house? And breaking bread about the houses, — (In Greek κατ' οἶκον, that is about the house, namely of God, that is the temple, as Oecumenius says) who therefore, along with many others, holds that this bread which they broke in the temple was the Eucharist. Whence for bread, the Syriac translator rendered it a blessed gift, namely consecrated and transubstantiated bread, and offered to God as it were as a minchah in sacrifice. And this is very probable, because the Eucharist is called by Paul and Luke the breaking of bread. Nor does it hinder that Our Lord renders it in Greek κατὰ οἴκους as about the houses, namely house by house, and this correctly from the Greek idiom; because, as the number of the faithful grew, it was necessary to distribute them through various houses and celebrate the Eucharist in them. And from this arose and were distinguished parishes, each of which has its own Parochial Priest or Pastor, whereas at first there was one οἶκος, or house and dining room of the faithful, as is evident from cap. I, vers. 13. Others, however, such as Lyra, Cajetan and the Carthusian, signify that this bread was ordinary and common, as if to say, "They broke," that is distributed through the houses bread, that is food, according to the number, quality and quantity of the inhabitants of each house. Whence Chrysostom notes that bread is said, as if to say, Necessary nourishment, not delicacies. This sense is favored by what follows: "They took food with gladness," but you should rightly understand this of the agape after the Eucharist, as if to say, After the Eucharist they took the agape, or food in a feast and common banquet, instituted in memory of Christ's last common supper, as a symbol and incentive of charity. Whence for they took, in Greek it is μετελάμβανον, that is they took together common food, namely in the agape, which they celebrated after the Eucharist. With gladness, — both on account of the grace of Christianity received, and on account of the aforesaid Eucharist, and on account of the agape and such mutual charity toward one another. For they saw a new Christian commonwealth in the world, such as had never been seen in the world, and one similar to heavenly and angelic life; and that they themselves through God's grace had been admitted into it, and therefore had been made partakers of all the charisms of the Holy Spirit in it. "For there is no greater sign of the indwelling Spirit than spiritual joy," says St. Bernard. Again: "A secure mind is like a continual feast," says the Wise Man. Namely: "The voice of exultation and salvation is in the tabernacles of the just," Psalm CXVII. Thus in the Holy Synaxis St. Francis exulted, as St. Bonaventure says in his Life, cap. IX: "He burned with fervor in all his marrow toward the Sacrament of the Lord's body, marveling with the greatest wonder at that most dear condescension and most condescending charity: he often communicated and so devoutly that he made others devout, while to the tasting of the immaculate Lamb, as if drunk in spirit, he was for the most part rapt into an excess of mind." Moreover, Tertullian enumerates and weighs the goods and delights of Christianity, in which Christians justly exult, so strictly in his book On Spectacles, chapter XXIX: "What is more delightful than the reconciliation of God the Father and Lord, than the revelation of truth, than the recognition of errors, than the forgiveness of so many crimes committed before? What greater pleasure than disgust with pleasure itself, than contempt of the whole world, than true freedom, than an undefiled conscience, than a life that is sufficient, than no fear of death; that you trample upon the gods of nations, that you cast out demons, etc., that you live for God? These pleasures, these spectacles of Christians are holy, perpetual, free." And soon after: "Do you desire strength and boxing and wrestling? They are at hand, not few but many. Behold impurity cast down by chastity, treachery struck down by faith, cruelty bruised by mercy, insolence overshadowed by modesty; and such are the contests among us, in which we ourselves are crowned. But what a spectacle is the coming of the Lord now undoubted, now proud, now triumphant! What exultation of angels, what glory of the risen Saints! What kingdom of the just thereafter! What the new city Jerusalem! What are those things which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man?" Whence a little before he concludes: "You are delicate, Christian, if you also covet pleasure in the world, nay rather you are exceedingly foolish, if you think this is pleasure. Tell me, can we not live without pleasure, we who ought to die with pleasure? For what else is our desire than that of the Apostles, to depart from the world and be received with the Lord? This pleasure is where the desire is." And with simplicity of heart,—that is, without malice, deceit, suspicion, envy, sadness; benevolently, candidly, sincerely, with integrity, cheerfully, liberally. It signifies that all things were done in good faith; there were no elaborate luxuries sought, nor even sects or schisms; but each one shared his own things with the brethren with willing and eager spirit, as Chrysostom says, and in turn received what fell to him from the distribution simply, candidly, cheerfully and with a grateful spirit, not looking to see whether a better or larger portion had been distributed to another. Note: Just as in natural things simple bodies are said to be those which are not mixed and composite, such as heaven and the elements, from which the remaining bodies are composed and formed: so in moral matters the simple are called those who lack artifice, deceit and the mixture of desires and passions. Wherefore God is most simple, both physically in nature and morally in virtue, brightness and purity. Hence St. Augustine most excellently, book XI of the City of God, chapter X: "There is one good alone that is simple, and for this reason alone immutable, which is God. From this good all good things have been created, but not simple, and for this reason mutable. Created indeed, that is, made, not begotten. For what is begotten from simple good is equally simple," namely the Word and the Son of God. And soon after: "Therefore it is called simple, because what it has, it is," inasmuch as "it is not the case that it has something which it could lose; or that the one who has is different from what is had, as a vessel is different from some liquid, or a body from color, or air from light, or a soul from wisdom. For neither is a vessel the liquid, nor is a body color, nor is air light, nor is a soul wisdom. Hence it is that they can also be deprived of the things which they have." And below: "According to this therefore those things are said to be simple, which are principally and truly divine, in that quality is not one thing in them and substance another; nor are they divine, or wise, or blessed by participation in others." Whence the same elsewhere: "You will be simple, if you have not entangled yourself with the world, but have disentangled yourself: for by disentangling yourself from the world (you will unite yourself with God most simple, and thus) you will be simple, by entangling yourself you will be double." And Ficinus, in chapter VII of Plato's Timaeus: "Supreme simplicity stands above eternity, from which in divine minds comes integrity, and in rational animals eternity mixed with time, and in the spheres of the world sempiternal time: but in those things which are made by the motion and power of the spheres, some portion of time." The more simple therefore anyone is, the nearer he approaches to God and divinity. Wherefore Christ admonishes: "Be ye wise as serpents, and simple as doves," Matthew X; as if to say, St. Jerome says in his letter to Rusticus: "Have the simplicity of the dove, that you may not devise deceits against anyone; and the cunning of the serpent, that you may not be supplanted by the snares of others: because there is not much difference in vice, either to deceive or to be able to be deceived." The same, in chapter VII of Hosea: "Prudence without simplicity is malice, and simplicity without reason is called foolishness." Opposed to simplicity is hypocrisy, which by the simulation of virtues hides a concealed vice and pallliates it by artifice, which Scripture therefore attacks sharply everywhere. For the hypocrite is a fox, a stage-player, a three-headed Mercury and an ape in purple. As the giraffe has the neck of a horse, the feet and legs of an ox, the head of a camel, the spots of a tiger or leopard: so among hypocrites there are those who express various human forms. If you examine their outward conduct, you would think them to be some holy person; if you hear their speech, you would think a satrap speaking; if you weigh their life, you will find a scoundrel; if their writings, a ploughman. See St. Gregory, book X of the Morals, chapter XXVII, on that passage: "The simplicity of the just is derided," where he graphically depicts the sentiments and customs both of the simple and of the duplicitous; and John Climacus, step XXIV, where among other things he says that simplicity is a condition of the soul lacking in variety and ignorant of all perverse thinking, and one who is moved by no evil thought. Thus St. Paul, exhorting to almsgiving, commands that they do it in simplicity: "He that giveth, in simplicity," Rom., chapter XII, verse 8. See the remarks there. We have in our Society a domestic example and mirror of this remarkable and primitive simplicity of the faithful, the Reverend Father Paschasius Broet, who, one of the ten first Fathers, companions of our holy Father Ignatius, was created Apostolic Nuncio for Ireland, and was judged by St. Ignatius worthy above all others of the patriarchate of Ethiopia, on account of his rare wisdom and sanctity joined with wonderful candor and simplicity; so much so that by the same he was called the angel of the Society. For thus our Sacchinus writes of him, volume II of the History of the Society, book VI, number 97: "His own praise was said to be simplicity mixed with prudence. Having embraced this from the beginning, he held it throughout the course of his life. He himself frequently preached this, and desired it to be commended by all;" and that for three reasons: "First, because simplicity is the matter most capable of heavenly gifts: a perennial fountain of blessed tranquility of heart, an impenetrable fortification against the devil, the reconciler, nurturer and ornament of the other virtues. For what cheerfulness is in a beautiful face, that simplicity is in the countenance, as it were, of virtue. Second, because it itself is an alluring bait for the favor of others. For nothing is so bland and lovable as a candid and open, and a trustworthy, character; a mind ignorant of how to harm anyone, and ready to benefit all. Third, because both God and men are wonderfully delighted by the company of the simple. Finally, simplicity places the human race in that state especially from which the fraud of the serpent cast down the first parent." Simplicity has also recently given a notable example in the Most Illustrious Cardinal Bellarmine; so much so that, when someone said rather freely that he had not been raised to the pontificate because he was considered simple, he answered candidly and cheerfully: "Happy simplicity, which freed me from so great a burden!"
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47. Praising God. — He notes that they gave thanks to God after food, and praised him as it were for his gifts of nourishment. Hence after the agape they sang hymns and spiritual canticles to God, as the Apostle says, Ephesians v, 19. Who again, I Timothy IV, 4: "Nothing is to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving." See the remarks there. And having grace, — that is, beloved, grateful and acceptable to all the people. For grace, the Syriac version renders rachame, which signifies visceral affection, and compassion, love and benevolence flowing from the innermost bowels. Moreover, this grace and love of the people was conciliated to the faithful "by the beneficence of almsgiving, and the candor of morals and simplicity," says St. Chrysostom; likewise by modesty, gentleness, sanctity shining forth in countenance, words and every action. And the Lord added, — προσετίθει, that is, he added to the number and assembly of the faithful, namely the Church, as the Greek has it, of which presently, more others "who should be saved," by inspiring in them faith and desire for baptism and Christian life, by which they might be justified, and, if they persevered in these things until the end of life, they would be saved and attain eternal beatitude. In the same place, — that is, together, namely in the Church, as the Greek and Syriac have it. Moreover the Greek ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, that is, in the same place, refers back to the beginning of the following chapter. But it seems that Luke wrote here ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, which someone explained by adding in the margin, τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, that is, in the Church; which then by another, thinking this belonged to the text, was transferred into the text, with ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ excluded into the following chapter. But however you read it, the sense is the same. For in the same place is the same as together, equally, namely in the Church, as I have said. Finally, St. Luke narrates here and in the following passages so exactly the virtues and life of the first faithful, because it itself was the interpretation of the Gospel and the practice of the doctrine of Christ, which expresses his law to us vividly in deeds, and therefore it itself is to us a living law and norm of Christian life. "In the lives of the Saints we learn what we ought to read in Scripture," says St. Gregory, homily 10 on Ezekiel. And conversely the Gospel and "the written law is a commentary on the lives of the Saints," says Philo, book On Abraham.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
2:1
v. 1 et cum complerentur dies Pentecostes, cum mensura illa quinquaginta dierum quasi compleretur (pluralem etiam habent syr arm aeth Ath Aug); graece legitur singularis. Sensus est idem; consideratur dies quasi mensura implenda, qui dies cum nondum adest, mensura illa nondum est impleta; incipit compleri die illo illucescente, quae dictio Hebraeis erat usitata (cf. Gen. 25,95; 50,30. Lev. 8,33; 12,4. 6 etc.) unde etiam saepius in libris novi testamenti reperitur (cf. 9,23. Luc. 2,6. 22 etc). Contendit δἰ. explicandum esse : cum in eo esset ut complerentur i. e. brevi ante diem pent., non ipso die haec esse facta; at nulla est ratio infinitivum praesentis temporis per futurum explicandi. Dies quippe completur (συμπληροῦσθαι prorsus, perfecte impletur), cum praesens adest. Atque de ipso die exponunt graeci : ἔδει γὰρ ἑορτῆς οὔσης πάλιν ταῦτα γίνεσθαι Chr., οἱ Severianus (cat. Cr.) ait sicuti lex data sit in die pentecostes, ita debuisse eodem die dari gratiam Spiritus sancti, et eadem ratione recentiores intelligunt : cum adesset dies Pentecostes (Beel. Patr. Felt. Wendt, Hilg.). | Ipso igitur sollemni die mane ante horam diei tertiam (cf. v. 15) erant omnes pariter in eodem loco; omnes i. e. non solum apostoli, verum alii quoque, uti ex v. 15.15.17 elucet; unde cum antea de turba hominum centum viginti narratum sit, hos merito intellexeris (cf. Chr. Didym. in cat. Oec. Lap. Beel. Patr, Felt. Wendt);
Primo die post diem sollemnem paschatis (16. nisan) manipulus, messis primitiae, in templo offerebatur; ita saltem posteriore tempore lex illa Lev. 23,10 intelligebatur, prout testis est Josephus (Antiq. 3, 10.5; cf. de Hummelauer Comment. in Ex. Lev. p. 514). fam ab eo die quo manipulus primitiarum offerebatur numerandi erant dies quinquaginta (Lev. 23,15. 260%. 16,9) et dies quinquagesimus dies erat sollemnis (Ex. 23,16. Num. 28,26); quem diem teste Josepho (l. c. 6) Hebraei 002202 appellant, σημαίνει δὲ τοῦτο πεντηχοστὴν. Haud diu igitur apostolis post ascensionem Domini i. e. post quadragesimum a resurrectione diem, exspectandum erat, donec baptizarentur Spiritu sancto (1,5). Nam
2:2
v. 2 et factus est repente de coelo sonus tanquam advenienlis spiritus vehementis zv; venti; exoritur repente quo magis omnium attentio excitetur et animi percellantur, quia eius nulla deprehendi potest causa, de coelo ex aere superiore sonitus percipiebatur quasi descendens; non tamen erat reapse venti tum divinitus excitati sonitus vel fragor, sed qui edebatur sonitus talis erat qualis editur (ὥσπερ) quando vehementer ruit ventus (Beel.); non igitur fuit ventus, sed verus sonus qualis excitari solet ingruente vento violento (Tir.). Spiritus sanctus sensibili modo se manifestat vim suam et efficaciam adumbrans, qua per apostolos sonitum evangelii omnibus vehementer ingerere vult; οἱ replevit totam domum ubi erant sedentes; domum illam, de cuius conclavi 1,13 sermo erat. Sonitum praeterea late per urbem esse auditum, patet ex v. 6. Cernitur quaedam huius divinae manifestationis similitudo cum illa qua Dominus olim in deserto Sinai suam declaravit maiestatem : ecce coeperunt audiri tonitrua ac micare fulgura, clangorque buccinae vehementius perstrepebat (Ex. 19,16); nam praeter sonitum, quo auditus percellebatur, etiam visui offerebatur signum
2:3
v. 3 et apparuerunt illis dispertütae linguae tamquam ignis, διαμεριζόμεναι, ὡσεὶ 025 linguae quasi igneae, quae igitur speciem ac colorem ignis prae se ferebant, 42 | ^ ACT. 2,9-4. | neque tamen igneae erant; erant quasi flammulae 80 modum linguarum efformatae, quae sese distribuebant in singulos : seditque una talis lingua supra singulos eorum; linguae apparent, symbola sermonis, praedicationis, testimonii viva voce reddendi; nam nuntius messianus praedicatione propagari debet (cf. Matth. 28,20. Marc. 16,15. Luc. 2&,V1. Rom. 10,16-18 etc.). In specie ignis; nam Messias baptzat in Spiritu sancto et igni (cf. ad Matth. 3,11. Luc. 3,16), venit ipse ignem mittere in terram (Luc. 12,49); Deus est ignis consumens (Deut. 4,294), in spiritu ardoris purgabit (Is. &,&; 6,6); vis illa declaratur, qua omnia mundanda et ad purum excoquenda sunt et quasi igne probanda et examinanda (cf. Is. 1,95. Ps. 11,7. Prov. 17,3. 1 Petr. 1,7). | Quae exterius exhibebantur symbolis, haec interius in eorum animis efficiebantur
2:4
v. & et repleti sunt omnes Spiritu sancto, quantum in animis acceperint illuminationis, fortitudinis, ardoris, satis declaratur narrationibus quae subsequuntur; hic unus refertur effectus qui statim palam manifestatur, operationem divinam declarat, symbolo linguarum respondet et significat missione Spiritus sancti fore ut praedicatio evangelii omnibus afferatur gentibus, et coeperunt loqui varits linguis , prout Spiritus sanctus dabat eloqui illis, ἑτέραις Ὑλώσcat, 1. e. aliis linguis, scil. diversis ab ea qua antea utebantur; qua notione ἕτερος usurpatur; cf. Matth. 12,45, Marc. 16,19 (£v ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ). Luc. 6,6; 9,56; 11,26. Act. 2,50; &,192 etc. Alii itaque ex illis loquebantur aliis linguis, prout unicuique Spiritus sanctus dabat eloqui ἀποφθέγγεσθαι, effari, verbum gravius (B/.), graviter, magnifice loqui (Beel.); est enim verbum hoc grandis ac sublimioris sermonis, et sapientium acute dicta ἀποφθέγματα vocarunt graeci (cf. Grimm, Lex. 8. V.). Quid grandi ea oratione pronuntiaverint , discimus in v. 11. Hoc modo narrandi clare affirmatur eos linguis aliis revera esse locutos et iis quidem linguis, quac enumeratione gentium v. 9-11 indicantur. Neque dici potest : « auditi sunt loqui; proinde sufficit, ut cum aliquibus statuatur miraculum auditus ». Id enim non uno nomine repugnat. Nam profecto describitur effectus et operatio Spiritus sancti in discipulis; verum si auditores aliislinguis pronuntiari percepissent quae una eademque lingua illi effabantur, tum miraculum non in discipulis, sed potius in auditoribus esset patratum. Praeterea verba haec, utpote inspirati auctoris narratio, non ideo significatione sua destitui possunt, quia homines de iis solum testari possunt quae audiunt (unde in miraculo auditus effectus et iudicium hominum utique idem fuisset) ; verum nobis offertur in verbis inspiratis ipsius auctoris primarii testimonium de illo eventu i. e. Spiritus sanctus dabat eloqui. Et cum Christus iam promiserit : linguis Joguentur novis, in qua promissione de miraculo auditus ne cogitari quidem potest, cur tandem in dubium esset vocandum quod adeo distincte hic affirmatur? Festum paschatis liberationem ex servitute in memoriam revocabat. Eo itaque tempore Christus liberator libertatem spiritualem, redemptionem ex captivitate peccati et mortis nobis promeruit et attulit. Pentecoste festum est messis (Ex. 23,16), primitiarum frugum messis triticeae (Ex. 34,92). Unde bene Chr. : « quae est haec pentecoste? cum.falx mittenda esset in messem (triticeam), cum fructus essent colligendi ; vidisti typum? vide iam veritatem. Cum. esset. falx sermonis immittenda, cum messis colligenda, tunc Spiritus ut acuta falx advolat .ג Iam enim fructus illi colligendi erant quos Christi doctrina et passio seminaverat. Adventu Spiritus sancti induuntur apostoli virtute ex alto, promulgatur nova lex in sermone Petri , sollemni modo Ecclesia exsistit et manifestatur statim tamquam universalis. Est itaque dies hic dies nascentis Ecclesiae ; iterum quasi Spiritus sanctus fertur super aquas ut ex elementis efformet novum mundum. Lex mosaica data est mense tertio egressionis Israel de Aegypto; cum festum Pentecostes etiam incidat in mensem tertium , orta est apud Iudaeos posteriores opinio hunc diem esse anniversarium legis datae, vel tabulas legis secundas esse eo die datas et ita Iudaei hunc diem sollemnem habebant in memoriam legislationis. Quae opinio prinum asseritur in tractatu Pesictha (apud Ugolini t. 16 p. 740) et qua ratione dies festus legis datae celebretur, scribit Buxtorf, de synagoga (Ugolini t. & p. 997). Haec opinio etiam quandoque affertur, ut declaretur, cur Spiritus sanctus eo die effusus sit in discipulos, scil. ut ostendatur Spiritum sanctum et tunc legem tulisse et nunc legem ferre (Theoph.); ei quoque sententiae calculum adiiciunt Severianus (in cat.), Beda, Barh. Lap. Beelen aliique; immo Hieronymus scribit confidenter : « supputemus numerum et inveniemus quinquagesimo die egressionis Israel ex Aegypto in vertice montis Sinai legem datam : unde et Pentecostes celebratur sollemnitas et postea evangelii sacramentum Spiritus sancti descensione completur, ut sicut priori populo quinquagesimo die, vero iubilaeo et vero anno remissionis et veris quinquaginta et quingentis denariis, qui debitoribus remittuntur, lex data est , apostolis quoque et qui cum eis erant, in centum viginti mosaicae aetatis numero constitutis, descenderit Spiritus sanctus » (ep. δὰ Fabiol. de 82 mansionibus; mans. 12; M. 92,707). Eo die legem datam esse, Leo Magnus quoque censet (de Pentec, serm. 1; M. 55,500). Sed nullum est eius rei indicium neque in s. litteris, neque apud Philonem vel Iosephum. Ex v. & videntur iam in domo antequam prodirent םג publicum locuti esse aliis linguis magnalia Dei, nisi malueris putare illud coeperunt quasi per anticipationem dici, quia narratio est satis concisa, quae iam progreditur ad describendam manifestationem Spiritus publice factam
2:5
v. 5 erant autem in Ierusalem habitantes ludaei viri religiosi ez omni natione quae sub coelo est, κατοικοῦντες dicitur de domicilio, de habitatione veri nominis; ea 'quippe notione adhibetur vox aliis in locis (cf. 1,19; 2,9; 7,9.5.48; 9,22; 11,29; 13,21; 17,94; 22,12 etc.) et ita explicant Chr. Oec. Theoph. Salm. Cai. Har. Beel. Felt. Wendt, Bl.; cum addatur viri religiosi, statim quoque innuitur, cur domicilium suum vel perpetuo vel ad longius tempus in urbe constituerint, scil. pietatis causa, ut cultui religioso, sacrificiis interessent, prope domum Dei, templum incolerent, sacris vacarent studiis. Dici ὑπερδολικῶς (Theoph.), populari loquendi modo ex omn: natione etc. patet 1. 6. ex multis nationibus, ex iis quae tum potissimum notae erant, ex omnibus terrae partibus tum nolis. Nam de huiusmodi solent homines quasi de omnibus loqui, idque recte , quia loquentibus revera sunt omnes quas scil. norint. Pauci explicant de iis qui solum ad breve tempus, ad festum celebrandum se iu urbem contulerint (Barh. Lap. Calm. Patr.); sed de huiusmodi legimus in v. 10 ἐπιδημοῦντες. cultatem plane diversam ibi deprehendit 27. : > pessime autem interpolatum in plerisque (praeter (א ᾿Ιουδαῖοι, cum de gentilibus manifesto agatur; ipsi Iudaei sunt ἔθνος (28,19 al.), neque possunt esse Iudaei ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους vel Ἰουδαῖοι Πάρθοι, Μῆδοι, Αἰλαμῖται». Unde vult de solis gentilibus, proin de solis proselytis esse sermonem, qui in urbe sacra sedem collocavisse dicuntur, « quod minime a veri specie abhorret ». Adfuisse proselytos quoque planum est ex v. 11 et ex sermone Petri v. 39; at omnes isti qui ex nationibus recensentur fuisse gentiles certe falsum est. Nam eos ipsos Petrus alloquitur v. 14 viri Iudaei et qui habitatis Ierusalem; dein sicuti nos loquimur et recte loquimur de Iudaeis germanis, hispanis, polonis étc., ita ántiquitus quoque dici potuit. Atque revera eiusmodi locutiones reperiuntur in mischna; v. g. Baba mezia 7,9 ודיע הבבלי laddua Babylonius, et Baba bathra 5,2 נחום המדי Nahum Medus; et quae in textu dicuntur Medae, Arabes, explicantur a Bertenora filiae Israeliticae quae in Media, in Arabia sunt (vide Surenhusius II p. 26; IV p. 142. 178). Quare nihil obstat Parthos, Medos etc. censeri Iudaeos in iis regionibus natos et linguis illarum regionum utentes. Graeci quidem Chr. Oec. Theoph. ita loquuntur, ut illos non ex iudaico genere fuisse videantur indicare. Sonitus ille late per urbem percipiebatur. Unde factum est quod repentino strepitu exorto fieri solet
2:6
v. 6. facta autem hac voce φωνῆς, i. e. ἦχος. ν. 9 (Bl.) convenit multitudo et mente confusa est συνεχύθη i. e. obstupefacti sunt et conturbati prae admiratione rei plane inauditae, quoniam audiebat unusquisque lingua sua illos loquentes; supponitur quod per se ex narratione elucet, discipulos et apostolos in publicum prodiisse, neque uno loco constitisse, sed in multitudinem confertam ita sese insinuasse, ut omnes quotquot convenerunt testes et auditores esse possent. Divinitus autem factum esse censendum erit, ut singulis daretur eloqui illa lingua, quae erat adstantium ; proinde multitudinis concursum ita fere factum esse ut secundum nationes convenirent. Alias cogeris assumere vel insuper miraculum auditus vel magnam quandam audientium circumceursationem, ut tandem unusquisque suam perciperet linguam:
2:7
v. 7 stupebant autem omnes et mirabantur ; quae inter se locuti sunt vario modo, uno schemate effertur : dicentes : nonne ecce omnes isti qui loquuntur. Galilaei sunt ? erant igitur cogniti ut discipuli Iesu qui cum eo e Galilaea ascenderant;
2:8
v. 8 et quomodo nos audivimus ἀκούομεν audimus unusquisque linguam nostram tn qua nati sumus?
2:9
v. 9 Parthi et Medi et Aelamitae, oriundi ex provincia Elymaide, quae meridiem versus ad sinum persicum pertingit (Bee/.) inter flumina Eulaeum et Oroatem; de Persis in universum explicat Patr., quia inter Parthos, Medos et Mesopotamiam incolentes'velut medii locantur, nec probabile in illa gentium enumeratione nobilissimam nationem Persarum | 46 . ACT. 2,9-14. praetermissam esse ; et qui habitant Mesopotamiam, Iudaeam et Cap- | padociam; hoc loco poni Iudaeam, sane non exspectaveris; explicant quidem homines Iudaeam incolentes mirari posse, quod Galilaei loquantur in dialecto hierosolymitana, iudaica (cf. Matth. 26,73) — esto! at estne Iudaea collocanda inter Mesopotamiam et Cappadociam? id quod eo magis mirum est, quia ceteroquin in enumeratione ordo quidam non deest. Pro Iudaea legunt Armeniam Tertullianus (adv. Iud. 7; M. 92 ,610( et semel quoque Augustinus (c. ep. Manich. M. 42,180), quae regio ibi apte nominatur; Syriam eo loco nominat Hieronymus (ad Is. 11,10; M. 24,150), Pontum et Asiam i. e. Asiam provinciam proprie sic dictam, quae complectitur tunc temporis quidquid regionum 8 mari aegaeo patet inter meridianos Bithyniae terminos borealesque Lyciae et montis Tauri usque ad Galatiam et Cappadociam (Patr. ad 16,6); proin complectitur Mysiam, Lydiam, Cariam; cf. Piinius : a Telmeso asiaticum mare et quae proprie vocatur Asia; in duas eam. partes Agrippa divisit : unam inclusit ab oriente Phrygia et Lycaonia, ab occidente 862860 mari, a meridie aegyptio, 8 septentrione Paphlagonia ; alteram determinavit ab oriente Armenia minore, ab occidente Phrygia, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, a septentrione provincia pontica, a meridie mari pamphylio (Nat. Hist. 5,97, al. 98);
2:10
v. 10 Phrygiam et Pamphyliam , Aegyptum et partes Libyae, Africae legunt Tert. Aug. l. c., quae est circa Cyrenen i. e. Libya Cyrenaica, quae pentapolitana regio vocatur et quinque urbibus maxime illustratur teste Plinio (1. c. 5! Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptolomaide, Apollonia ipsaque Cyrene; et advenae Romani , οἱ ἐπιδημοῦντες, qui Roma adveneraní et per illos dies in urbe commorabantur; ita plerique vocem explicant (ef. Salm. Lap. Calm. Beel. Patr. Felt. Bels. Hilg. Bl.); alii intelligunt vocem de iis qui 6 Roma emigrerint et in Ierusalem domicilium collocaverint (Cai. Wendt) proin eodem sensu quo χατοιχοῦντες ; Sed consulto usurpatur alia vox; ef. 17,91 οἱ ἐπιδημοῦν- τες ξένοι advenae hospites;
2:11
v. 11 Judaei quoque et proselyti, ᾿Ιουδαϊοί τε xai zp., cum aliqua emphasi effertur non solum ludaeos, sed etiam proselytos adfuisse; nam « aliquanto gravior coniunctio est, si particulae τὲ-χαὶ inter se respondent; καὶ fortius aliquanto alterum membrum adiungit » ) 70/2, Devar. II p. 740); disceptari potest ad quos spectant hi; utrum scil. dicatur inter illos Romanos fuisse et genere Iudaeos et proselytos, alienigenas (ita Calm. Felt. Bl. Hilg.) an exprimatur, inter omnes qui enumerati sint et Iudaeos genere et alienigenas fuisse (cf. Bed. Lap. Har. Beel. Patr. Bels. Wendt). Atque hoc alterum magis ipsi enumerationi adeo generali congruere videtur. Uti itaque testes illi adventus Spiritus sancti describuntur antea ex regionum diversitate, 168 nunc quoque genere ac natione illos fuisse discretos; proin non solum adstitisse ludaeos ex variis regioni- = bus oriundos, sed etiam gentiles proselytos ex variis nationibus. Ita optime adumbratur indoles universalis Ecclesiae; Cretes et Arabes, audivimus eos loquentes, audimus, nostris linguis magnalia Dei, magna ac praeclara, insignia Dei facta. | esse, ut nemo non intelligeret, perinde ac si suam quisque linguam audis- Sel », id quod « secundum glossam et expositores communiter » evenisse Dionysius carth. indicat. Hanc interpretandi rationem Hilg. quoque sequitur. Aliter Wendt rem concipit; apostolos nova prorsus lingua esse locutos, sed huic novae linguae id divinitus esse inditum, ut omnes variarum linguarum homines eam intelligerent. Variorum varias opiniones referre supersedeo; nam verba narrationis inspiratae v. 4 nimis clara et distincta sunt. Solum adnoto testem doni linguarum esse /renaeum, qui affirmet : multos audivimus fratres in Ecclesia prophetica habentes charismata et per Spiritum sanctum universis linguis loquentes (adv. haer. 5,6,1; M. 7, 4131); quem locum ita Eusebius quoque intellexit, scil. charisma illud in Ecclesia perdurare et Irenaeum esse testem auritum (h. e. 5,7; M. 20,448), atque verba Irenaei graeca ita debere intelligi secundum contextum et grammaticam ostendit Fonck in periodico oenipontano Zeitschrift f. kath. Theologie, Innsbruck 1895 p. 377 seq. Res itaque non ex solo v. 11 est diiudicanda. Neque recurrendum est . cüm aliquibus ad allegoricam interpretationem, qua usus Philo decalogum dicit toti generi humano promulgatum per sonitum quendam ratione praeditum et vocem quae in linguam cuiusque gentis convertebatur (de decem oraculis 9) vel secundum modum rabbinorum, qui docebant vocem Dei promulgantis legem divisam esse in linguas septuaginta, ut ab omnibus 70 nationibus intelligi posset (cf. ZHfilg.). Rei novitas omnes percellit
2:12
v. 19 stupebant autem omnes et mtrabantur ad invicem dicentes : quidnam vult hoc esse? cf. v. 7; uti est stupentium, admirantium eadem saepius proferunt, quia ex abundantia cordis os loquitur (Dton.); διηποροῦντο 1. e. penitus incerti haerebant (cf. Luc. 9,7 haesitare; item Act. 10,7; ambigere Act. 5,94), quid hoc significaret. Neque deerant qui animorum ardorem qui in habitu vultuque loquentium apparebat et inflammatum impulsu divino dicendi genus frivole deridebant
2:13
v. 18 alii autem irridentes dicebant : quia musto pleni sunt isti; eos habent ludibrio tamquam ebrios; ex qua irrisione tamen recte "colligimus discipulos quasi in ecstasin raptos esse locutos; cf. 1 Cor. 18,93 nonne dicent quod insanitis? Verum malitia eorum 1nanifesta est; nam mustum non tribuit scientiam linguarum, immo ne. tempus quidem uvarum mustique erat; nam, ut Oec. dicit, γλεῦχος est vinum ab ipso torculari fluens dulce. Quare pessima eorum perversitas, qua sé obcaecare student et animi frivolam indolem manifestant, stulta illa cavillatione panditur (cf. Chr..Sever. Theoph.): Isti qui adeo manifestam Spiritus sancti operationem ludibrio habent aliosque ea irrisione ab ulteriore inquisitione rei extraordinariae avertere conantur, prorsus similes sunt pharisaeis qui opera 1650 attribuebant daemoni, ut plebem a fide Iesu retinerent et avocarent (cf. Matth. 12,94 seq.). Ex ipso narrandi modo (διαχλευάζειν verbum est grave) et ex frivola locutione illorum patet exhiberi a scriptore malitiam eorum infensissimam, cuius conscii ita irriserint. Quare perperam concludunt quandoque ex eorum verbis : isti ergo non audierunt eos loqui aliis linguis; nam si audivissent, quomodo loqui aliis linguis ad ebrietatem potuissent referre? Sed quid animus odio incensus non negabit aut omittet , si ei commodum videtur? Post exordium v. 15 Petrus brevi calumniam illam non posse consistere ostendit (v. 15), verum iam impleri vaticinium de effusione Spiritus Dei (v. 16-21). Cum vaticinium hoc spectet ad tempus messianum ( « in novissimis diebus » ), iam sermonem 8 v. 22 dirigit ad probandum Iesum esse Messiam; idque demonstrat ex resurrectione; nam David iam de resurrectione Messiae sibi promissi vaticinatus est — Iesus autem resurrexit, uti apostoli testes sunt, ergo Iesus est Messias qui in gloriam assumptus Spiritum sanctum misit; ergo quem ipsi interemerunt , hic a Deo declaratus est dominus et Messias (v. 22-36). Uti 1,15, ita hic quoque Petrus ut primas apostolorum agit; ibi curam et sollicitudinem de collegio apostolorum exhibuit, hic iam id agit ut ad Christi ovile quam plurimos adducat; muneris sui partes egregie ac fortiter obire incipit; v. 1% stans autem Petrus cum undecim, σταθείς cf. 5,90; 17,92; 27,91; ipsa dictione (cum undecim) Petrus corum quasi dux et princeps designatur, Jevaeit vocem suam, magna cum fiducia et fortitadine (Chr. Oec.) et locutus est eis, vox adhibetur sollemnior ἀπεφθέγξατο, cf. v. *, prout eius oratio non sine quadam sollemnitate a Luca inducitur; viri Iudaei et qui habitatis Jerusalem universi ci χατοιχοῦντες cf.
2:14
v. 5, hoc vobis notum stt et auribus percipite verba med , ἐνωτίζειν apud LXX pro האזין ; attentionem excitat et postulat. Loquitur aramaice , quam linguam certe etiam illi ludaei satis intelligebant qui iam diutius incolae urbis erant; eve- . nisse novo miraculo ut omnes exteri quoque diversarum linguarum eum intelligerent, putant aliqui (cf. Est. Patr.); sed de tali re mira nullum indicium reperitur; proin novum prodigium non est asserendum ;
2:15
v. 15 non enim, sicut vos aestimatts , hi ebrii sunt, γὰρ vim explicativam habet : nempe prudenter ac mansuete orditur; vides quam mitis sit defensio? neque dicit : vos subsannatis vel ridetis; neque in irrisores invehitur, benignius tractans eorum sermonem neque ad malitiam, sed ad ignorantiam eum referens et ita viam illis praestruens ad resipiscentiam (cf. Chr. Oec.); et rationem addit, ex usu et consuetudine vitae : cum sit hora diet tertia scil. post solis ortum; nemo autem matutino tempore convivium instituit. Apud rabbinos hora. qua primum liceat quidquam comedere assignatur quarta (cf. LigAtfoot, Horae hebr. ad h. 1. Wetst. Beel. Patr.). Quam apte et prudenter orationem insütuat Petrus, effert Chr. -- « nondum auditur nomen Christi , nec promissio illius est, sed Patris; vide sapientiam ; non statim transit ad ea quae Christum spectabant; alioquin omnia subvertisset » (sim. Oec.); viam sibi parat ostendens id fieri quod per prophetam erat promissum, et prophetiam recitans pios 1008608 sibi conciliat
2:16
v. 16 sed hoc est quod dictum est per prophetam Ioel :
2:17
v. 11 et erit in novissimis diebus (dicit Dominus), Ioel 2,98 seq. (hebr. 3,1) legitur : et erit post haec effundam etc. ; sed ex contextu apud prophetam sensus est : post periodum praeparationis orietur nova' epocha quae insignis futura sit larga effusione Spiritus Dei i. e. epocha messiana (vide Comment. in Proph. min. I. p. 231); quare Petrus necessario periodum messianam designat formula illa apud prophetas usitata (vide ad Is. 2,1. Mich. 4,1); non poterat in oratione hac dicere post haec contextu vaticinii totius omisso ; efundam de Spiritu meo (ἀπὸ, uti LXX) super omnem carnem; verbum effusionis ostendit muneris largitatem (Beda), quae non uni populo, sed omni carni, toti generi humano obtinget (vide Comment. 1. c.) et huius effusionis effectus, qui percipi facile possunt, recensentur aliqui : et prophetabunt filii vestri et filiae vestrae i. e. divino impulsu loquentur salutaria, abscondita et futura, et iuvenes vestri visiones videbunt et sentores vestri somnia somniabunt; iis enim modis Deus se communicare velle iam Num. 12,6 edixit; nullus sexus, aetas nulla excluditur. Ad sermonem concinnum spectat illa singulorum donorum distributio per singulos ordines;
2:18
v. 18 e? quidem xai γε atque etiam, hebr. וגם (sed et, vulg.) super servos meos et süper ancillas meas (uti LXX) in diebus illis effundam de spiritu meo et prophetabunt;
2:19
v. 19 et dabo prodigia tn coelo sursum et signa tn terra deorsum, sanguinem et ignem el vaporem fumi, cum hac effusione mirabiles ait coniunctum iri effectus; uti moris est apud prophetas, uno quasi conspectu tota periodus messiana, eius initium ac consummata perfectio exhibetur; unde hic quoque effusioni Spiritus, qua Ecclesia conditur, conservatur, regitur, statim subiungitur id quod tandem in iudicio universali plenum suum habebit exitum
2:20
v. 20 sol convertetur in tenebras et. luna in. sanguinem, antequam veniat dies Domini magnus et manifestus; cf. Matth. 24,29. Marc. 13,94. 95. Luc. 21,95. Apoc. 6,12. seq. 8,7; 9,2; 16,9 seq. Contendunt aliqui critici, orationem Petri de dono linguarum nihil continere, unde illud in v. &. etc. tamquam interpolationem demon- Strari. Mira hominum ingenia et quandoque satis obtusa! Loquitur apostolus de effusione Spiritus, de prodigiis, de signis in terra! num clamores et gestus qui ebriorum esse censeri possunt veluti illius oraculi impletio proponuntur? nonne eo ipso quod /a/e oraculum nunc dicatur impleri, satis superque locutio illa miraculo effecta declaratur? Porro cum hac divina manifestatione coniungitur et promissio . et norma salutis :
2:21
v. 91 et erit, omnis quicumque invocaverit nomen Domini salvus erit i. e. qui Deum talem esse confitentur, implorant, diligunt ac venerantur, qualem nomine suo i. e. revelatione, promissis, beneficiis 56 manifestaverit. In hebr. nomen lIahve, quod nomen Deus foederi suo praefixit, quo et foederis illius constantiam, immutabilitatem , sublimitatem designaret et ultimum eius terminum, ipsius naturae divinae visionem ac fruitionem innueret; est enim lahve nomen Dei essentiale, 5 ὧν (cf. Ex. 3,15; vide de Hummelauer, Comment. in Exod. p. 50 seq. ; meum Comment. in Proph. min. I p. 55. 157. 233). — 0086 in v. 19. 20 dicuntur aliqui referunt ad stragem et cladem urbi et templo ἃ Romanis illatam, et prodigia cernunt in iis quae Iosephus refert in aere, urbe, templo esse facta (Bell. iud. 7,19), sanguinem, ignem intelligunt caedes, bella intestina et incendia urbis et templi (cf. Chr. Oec. Theoph. Cyr. in cat. Severiàn. Nicolaus in cat. Calm. lieel.); quae tamen acceptio angustior est; spectatur totum tempus messianum et praeprimis ultimum iudicium. Nova compellatione facta iam sermonem ad mentionem Iesu transfert v. 92 viri Israelitae, nomen est honoris ac dignitatis (cf. Gen. 32, 28. Act. 5,10) audite verba haec, « nec dicit; obtemperate, sed audite, quod sane molestum non erat; et adverte quomodo nihil sublime dicat, sed ab humilioribus incipiat » (CAr.), Iesum Nazarenum, virum approbatum a Deo in vobis, apud vos, ei; 06, 8 scientibus et plane cognoscenüibus, virtutibus, prodigiis et. signis quae fecit Deus per illum in medio vestri, sicut et vos scitis; ostensurus Iesum esse Messiam ab iis incipit, quae in omnium conspectu gesta sunt; bene expendit σ΄». prudentem orationis dispositionem : « nec dicit statim eum resurrexisse, sed quod a Deo ad ipsos venerit; hoc autem manifestum est iis quae fecit; neque dicit ipsum fecisse, sed Deum per ipsum, ut modestius loquendo eos pertrahat, ad quam rem ipsos testes vocat »;
2:23
v. 93 hunc definito consilto et praescientia Dei traditum, sic enim Deus dilexit mundum ut Filium suum unigenitum daret (Ioan. 3,16); Deus Pater secundum suum consilium, decretum determinatum Iesum tradidit, permisit potestati inimicorum; tradidit eum in passionem et mortem ; nam calicem quem dedit mihi Pater non bibam illum (Ioan. 18,11) et sicut mandatum mihi dedit Pater, sic facio (loan. 14,31); proin quae Iesu acciderunt, a Deo praescita erant; sua enim praescientia a tota aeternitate sciebat fore ut Iudaei Iesu inferrent necem et a tota aeternitate decreverat, ut Iesus pro hominum salute oppeteret mortem. Nam proprio filio non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum. (Rom. 8,32). Hisce igitur Petrus obviam it tacitae quasi obiectioni, quae iis in mentem venire posset : quomodo potuit legatus Dei morte turpissima plecti? praevidit Deus malitiam Iudaeorum, eam permisit atque ita Iudaei voces prophetarum iudicantes et occidentes Iesum impleverunt (Act. 13,21), per manus iniquorum Pilati, militum praesidis, a/fligentes tnteremistis προσπήξαντες affigentes scil. cruci; nam clamoribus et minis eorum tandem praeses romanus invitus Iesum ,mortis damnavit. In vulg. legitur affligentes; sed recte habet « gigas librorum » uti etiam Lyranus a/figentes. 1008061 Iesum cruci affixerunt et occiderunt gladio linguae, ut ait Aug. (in Ps. 63,2), quia coegerunt iudicem romanum. Iam illud divinae approbationis signum iis proponit quod iis datum iri ipse Iesus saepius asseruit (Matth. 12,39; 16,&. Luc. 11,29. Ioan. 2,19)
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v. 24 quem Deus suscitavit solutis doloribus inferni, i. e. solutis vinculis inferni (scheol cf. 2 Sam. 92,5 funes inferni חבלי שאול ; sed Ps. 18,5 hebr. funes mortis; LXX in Ps. ὠδῖνες, 2 Reg. 92, 'δ συν- τριμμοί; distinguunt ^an funis, han dolores); iuz(a quod καθὲτι secundum id quod, propterea quod impossibile erat teneri illum αὖ eo; fieri nullatenus potuit, ut Iesus captivus teneretur ab inferno, a scheol. Quia Jesus post resurrectionem se non populo manifestavit, Petrus prudenter probat ex vaticinio resurrectionem, priusquam ad testimonium apostolorum provocat. Nam ipso vaticinio animi ad notionem resurrectionis Messiae praeparantur ideoque etiam ad eius fidem, quam testimonio confirmari audient
2:25
v. 25 David enim dicit in eum, verba eius illum spectant, de eo enuntiantur : providebam Dominum in conspectu meo semper, quoniam a dextris est mihi ne commovear, Ps. 15,8 (hebr. 16,8), iugiter mentem meam ad Dominum intendebam; adiutor mihi adstat, ne commovear, titubem;
2:26
v. 26 propter hoc laetatum est cor meum et ezultavit lingua mea (ita LXX; hebr. כבודי gloria mea i. e. animus meus), ?nsuper et caro mea requiescet in spe (hebr. secure, in quiete et securitate; LXX ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι)
2:27
v. 27 quoniam non derelinques animam meam in tnferno nec dabis sanctum tuum! videre corruptionem, LXX διαφθοράν; hebr. שחת , quae vox certe habet notionem putredinis, corruptionis, uti patet Iob 17,1% : putredini dixi : pater meus es; mater mea et soror mea vermibus; ita explicari debet ob membrum parallelum et eo sensu vocem acceperunt non solum LXX, sed etiam Aquila et Theodotion; adverte שחת Iob 17,1& nomen considerari masculinum; ergo vox ea distinguiter ἃ nn? fovea, quod est nomen femininum; vide quae dixi in Comment. in Iob p. 225. Pro corruptione vita et beatitate donatur
2:28
v. 98 notas mihi fecisti vias vitae, hebr. me edoces viam vitae; proin a Deo ad vitam educitur et replebis me iucunditate, cum facie tua μετὰ t. Xp. טסט Cum facie tua, apud faciem tuam, apud te; hebr. abundantia laetitiac apud faciem tuam. Nova compellatione eaque magis familiari jam transit ad vaticinium explicandum
2:29
v. 29 viri fratres, ad corda illorum. loqui vult, suum in eos ostendens amorem, /iceat audenter ἐξὸν μετὰ «agencias fas (est? esto?) cum libertate dicere ad vos de patriarcha David , quoniam defunctus est et sepultus et sepulcrum eius est apud nos usque in hodiernum diem, πατριάρχης, ἄρχων vel auctor πατριᾶς, auctor gentis vel stirpis ex qua Messias oriunÜlus erat; de sepulcro David cf. Neh. 3,16; eius sepulcri mentionem facit Josephus (Antiq. 7,15,3; 13,8 "ἘΣ 16,7,1 et Bell. iud. 1,9,5( ;
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v. 30 propheta igitur cum esset et sciret quia iureiurando turasset illi Deus de fructu lumbi eius sedere super sedem eius, cf. 2 Reg. 7,19. Ps. 131,11; 88,30;
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v. 31 providens locutus est de resurrectione Christi quia neque derelictus est in inferno, 66 dcscensu Christi ad inferos scribit Petrus etiam 1 Petr. 3,19; neque caro eius vidit corruptionem; unde oraculum David in Iesu est impletum; id quod testes oculati confirmant :
2:32
v. 32 hunc Iesum vesuscitavit Deus , cutus omnes nos testes sumus; cf. 1,22; 10,41. lam si iis de resuscitatione Iesu persuasum est, facile credent eius exaltationem; cum primum enim Messias demonstratus est, etiam probatum est impleri vaticinia messiana; unde concluditur
2:33
v. 33 deztera igitur Dei exaltatus; i. e. per Dei. potentiam ; sunt qui ob v. 36 explicent : ad dexteram Dei exaltatus; quae éxplicatio ab indole graecae linguae quidem non abhorret (nam poetae quandoque et scriptores aetatis posterioris verbis quae motum significant adiungunt dativum pro praepositione εἰς, πρός) et Winer-Moulton eam adoptat (A treatise on the Grammar, 1882 p. 269); attamen háec constructio alibi in novo testamento vix occurrit; dein magis videlur spectare ad contextam orationem, ut sicut dictum est Deum resuscitasse, ita exaltatio quoque Christi in coelum ad Dei potentiam referatur, id quod ad Ps. 15 (cf. v. 95-98 modo allatos) quoque congruit. Insuper habetur progressio orationis : enuntiatur exaltatio, quae qualis ac quanta sit, dein pro- | ponitur; e£ promissione Spiritus sancti accepta a Patre effudit hunc quem vos videtis οἱ auditis i. e. Christus accepit.a Patre potestatem promittendi et mittendi Spiritum sanctum ; Spiritus sanctus iam in vaticiniis messianis promissus erat (cf. 1061, Ez. 11 ,19; 86,20. Is. 44,3); unde facile patet fore ut per Messiam detur, quare iam praecursor id annuntiavit (Matth. 3,11) ; τοῦτο omnino potest referri ad τὸ πνεῦμα ἅγιον (cf. Patr. Feit.), vident, audiunt effectus Spiritus; potest etiam verti :d quod! videtis et auditis. Bene notat CÀr. quomodo Petrus progressione quadam dignitatem Christi explicet; iam enim dicit : ipse effudit. Ceterum quae Petrus dicit, doctrina Christi imbutus dicit; cf. Ioan. 15,16; 15,96; 16,7. Qualiter sit exaltatus declaratur
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v. 38 non enim David ascendit in coelum; dixit autem ipse : dizit Dominus Domino meo : sede a deztris meis,
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v. 35. donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum: pedum tuorum, Ps. 109,1; cf. Matth. 22,43; Christus itaque in coelum assumptus factus est σύνθρονος Dei, eodem honore eademque regnandi dignitate praeditus. Sermo fit ad Messiam ; unde significatur Christum secundum humanam naturam esse assumptum ad. consessum dexterae Dei ; proin naturam illam humanam esse elevatam supra omnes creaturas et proximam Deo et iam possidere summam illam dignitatem regni. De sessione ad dexteram cf. 3 Reg. 2,19. Eph. 1,20. 21. Hebr. 1,3. lam vela contrahit Petrus conclusione gravissima quam magna dicendi libertate et fortitudine enuntiat, minime veritus accusationem tremendam, sed veram eorum auribus inferre
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v. 36 certissime sciat ergo omnis domus Israel, tota natio, quia et Dominum eum et Christum fecit Deus, ut talem constituit et proinde ut talem agnosci vult et iubet, Aunc Iesum quem vos crucifizistis! magna vi epexegetice additur hunc Iesum et dein effertur, quanta in oppositione ipsi egerint : Deus eum constituit regem Messiam , vos turpissima morte eum occidistis! « Bene huc desinit illorum animos exagitans; postquam enim ostendit qualis. quantusque sit, tum reliquum erat ut et audax illud facinus declararet palam, ut sic maius ostenderetur eosque timore corriperet ; non enim sic homines beneficiis alliciuntur, ut timore castigantur » (CÀr.) et Lap. : > hic ingens est stimulus quo S..Petrus mira libertate et sinceritate pupugit corda Iudaeorum ». Ex hac Petri oratione et argumentatione simul discimus quam verum sit illud : tunc aperuit illis sensum , ut intelligerent Scripturas (Luc. 24,45). Nam hae interpretationes censendae erunt illae ipsae quas Dominus post resurrectionem loquens de regno Dei suos edocuit apostolos. Unde nobis-quoque norma interpretationis exhibetur. Petrus aramaice loquens eadem dialecto oracula recitasse putandus erit; Lucas graece scribens ea fere ex interpretatione graeca, quae sensu nullatenus differt, transsumpserit. Psalmum 109 sensu litterali esse messianum videtur certum; psalmum 15 typice messianum ita aliqui dicunt, ut totus psalmus significatione litterali ad Davidem, typice ad Christum spectet (cf. Calm. Hoberg); alii aliquam psalmi partem ad David, alteram ad solum Christum pertinere malunt. Qua sententiarum diversitate cum argumentatio Petri non tangatur, non est cur in ea discutienda hoc loco immoremur; est ea interpretis Psalmorum. | | \ Moyses quidem die pentecostes sollemnitatem primitiarum praece- - pit initiari, nunc autem superveniente Spiritu sancto, non manipuli spicarum, sed animarum sunt primitiae Domino consecratae (Beda); nam Spiritu sancto corda movente et vim ac vigorem addente verbis Petri
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v. 37 hts autem auditis compuncti sunt corde χατενύγησαν quasi acri stimulo puncti dolore acerbo perculsi sunt, e£ dixerunt ad Petrum et ad reliquos apostolos : quid faciemus, viri fratres; culpam itaque nationalem quam condemnato Iesu contraxerant agnoscunt et de ea summopere dolent; adfuisse quoque qui clamaverant : crucifige, sane probabile est; illos prae reliquis sollicite.quaerere quid sibi iam praestandum sit planum est. Apparet exauditio illius : Pater, dimitte illis, nesciunt quid faciunt (Luc. 23,35);
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v. 38 Petrus vero ad illos : poenitentiam , inquit, agite, γμετανοήσατε, advertunt imperativo aoristi hanc etiam inesse notionem, ut sine ulla mora, statim aliquid fieri praecipiatur; μετανοεῖν ita dicit mentem mutare ut simul dolor de actione praeterita significetur; respondet itaque verbo poenitere; cf. Matth. 11,21 in sacco et cinere μετανοεῖν, Luc. 10,13,29 Cor. 12,91; atque eo sensu etiam apud profanos adhiberi, certum est; vide exemplain Comment. in Matth. I p. 117. Uti Ioannes baptista et Christus ipse praedicationem inceperunt a poenitentia, ita Petrus quoque docet intrandum esse in regnum Dei, in regnum messianum per poenitentiam; sed simul promulgat praeceptum Christi (cf. Matth. 28,19. Ioan. 3,5) : et baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in nomine Iesu Christi; nomine singuli cognoscuntur et ab aliis distinguuntur; unde nomen Dei, Iesu pro iis omnibus ponitur quae Deus de se revelavit, quibus nobis notus est. Nomen Iesu Christi proinde omnia complectitur, quae de eo credenda et confitenda sunt; ergo baptizari in eius nomine nibil aliud est nisiàmmersionem sacram illam suscipere quae adiunctum habet modum (iv) qui nomine Iesu Christidesignatur ; est itaque baptismus qui fit ex praescripto Christi et qui suscipitur cum fide et confessione Iesu Christi. Alii legunt hoc loco ἐπί, qua particula causa et fundamentum exprimitur cui aliquid innititur; pariter nomen Iesu, id quod de eoscitur et creditur illud est, in quo baptismus nititur, ex quo vim et efficaciam sortitur. Finis autem et terminus ad quem iste baptismus dirigitur est in remissionem peccatorum vestrorum et accipietis donum Spiritus sancti ; ita baptismus Christi discernitur ἃ baptismo Ioannis et declarátur quid sit Iesum baptizare in Spiritu sancto. Fit enim remissio peccatorum per infusionem gratiae sanctificantis et per Spiritum sanctum qui datus 6% nobis (Rom. 5,6). Donum illud est ipse Spiritus sanctus, quatenus simul eum gratia creata novo modo in anima iusti inhabitat (cf. 1 Cor. 6,19). rit baptisma christianum conferre necne. — Sententia S. Thomae hodie derelicta est. Adhortationi et promissioni quam enuntiavit (baptizetur, accipietis) adiungit rationem firmam et ad animos spe ac 800018 imbuendos aptissimam
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v. 39 vobis enim est repromisstio et filiis vestris, illa. scil. promissio v. 33 quam ex Ioele recitavit v. 17, fore effusionem Spiritus " Sancti, quae promissio primo et per se genti ludaeorum fit, verum; uti alia vaticinia messiana, non in una stirpe quasi concluditur et absolvitur, sed ad exteras quoque nationes protenditur : et omnibus qui longe sunt τοῖς εἰς μαχράν (scil. χατοιχοῦσιν, cum εἰς cf. Matth. 29,93; &,13. Act. 7,4; etiam 2,5 apud aliquos testes), quoscumque advocaverit Dominus Deus noster, ex omnibus nationibus Dominus suos sibi vocaturus est ad regnum suum, ad Ecclesiam. Agi hic de gentibus ipsa verba omnino suadent. Nam Iudaei iam designati sunt vobis et filiis vestris; hos enim ad solos incolas urbis referrenon est ulla ratio, nam oraculum Ioel non de solis incolis urbis, sed de natione Iudaeorum agit. Neque οἱ ei; μαχράν Iudaei sunl inter gentes viventes; nam οἱ εἰς μαχράν tales sunt, ex quibus Deus dicitur ad se vocaturus esse quoscamque voluerit προσχαλέσηται; iam ea voce designantur qui eousque alieni sunt a Deo; alieni autem a Deo Iudaei conditione nationis foederisque spectata vocari non possunt. Etiam in evangelio ludaei omnes ratione habita regni messiani appellantur 22-00, χεχλημένοι; cf. Matth. 29,3. &.1& (Comment. II p. 241. 257). Recte itaque plerique de gentibus ea verba accipiunt (Oec. Theoph. Bed. Dion. Salm. Lap. Calm. Patr. Felt. Bl.); ad Iudaeos inter gentes commorantes referunt 2067. Wendt , ea quoque ducti opinione falsa: oraculum 106[ unam stirpem specíare iudaicam. Neque censeri potest vocationem gentium eo tempore fortasse Petro fuisse adhuc incognitam. Nam de ea iam locutus est Christus ante passionem (Ioan. 10,16), post passionem saepius (Matth. 98,19. Marc. 16,15. Luc. 25,47. Act. 1,8) et si Christus apostolis aperuit sensum vaticiniorum messianorum, non potuit non loqui de vocatione gentium. Non obstare Act. 10, vide infra. Quanto studio docuerit et exhortatus sit fratres, narratur
2:40
v. 0 aliis etiam verbis plurimis testificatus est et exhortabatur eos, proin graviter affirmans et testimonium reddens et arguens atque admonens et rogans loquebatur ad eos, dicens : salvamtint a. generatione ista prava σχολιᾶς, perversa et improba, quae scil. non recta graditur via, verum tortuosa et curva sequitur. Dicitur salvari ἀπὸ, scil. ut suam quaerant salutem, ut salutem messianam amplectantur sese separantes ab aequalibus improbis ; ita sese salvabunt a poenis et ab interitu . generationis perversae. Iam clare indicatur fore ut magna Iudaeorum pars repudiet salutem messianam. Sequetur itaque « generatio haec mala et adultera » (Matth. 12,39) pessima constantia viam quam semel ingressa est et a qua noluit revocari (cf. Matth. 8,12; 21,41 seq.), uti oraculis quoque prophetarum iam praedictum erat (cf. Is. 65,9. Rom. 10,21). Quam efficax fuerit Spiritus sancti operatio, collige ex v. h1 qui ergo receperunt sermonem eius baptizati sunt et apposttae sunt in die illa animae circiter tria millia; appositae scil. ad eos qui jam antea in Christum credebant, uti illi centum viginti 1,15 (cf. 5,18; 11,25) ; ψυχαί uti 21 Ex. 1,5. Num. 31,56 etc. Bene dicitur in cat. ; tunc impleta est prophetia 158186 : quis audivit unquam tale aut quis vidit huie simile? numquid parturiet terra in die una aut parietur gens simul, quia parturivit et peperit Sion filios suos; laetare Ierusalem et exsultate omnes qui diligitis eam (Is. 66,8. 10). Quaerunt potuerintne omnes isti eo die baptizari? Varia possunt excogitari. Fortasse omnes illi centum viginti vel plurimi ex illis administrabant. baptismum; num necesse est ut omnes eodem die sint baptizati ? quomodo baptizabantur? probabilissime per immersionem ; sed iam antiquitus etiam aspersione vel potius infusione esse baptizatum , discimus ex Docirina 12 ap.: ἔχχεον εἰς τὴν χεφαλὴν τρὶς ὕδωρ εἰς ἔνομα 0105 etc. (cap. 7). In sequentibus exhibetur nobis vita primorum Christifidelium v. 1.2 erant autem perseverantes 1n doctrina apostolorum et communicatione fractionis panis et orationibus; graece quattuor assignantur : assidue institutioni assistebant quam apostoli tradebant eique operam navabant intentam; pari diligentia studebant τῇ χοινωνίᾳ fraternae inter se societati (Cai.), CÀr. vocem explicat τὸ ἐμοθυμαδόν, animorum unionem ac consensionem ; proin.inter se coniuncti et consuetudine religiosa ac familiari uniti iam incipiebant coetum peculiarem ab aliis distinctum efformare. Tertio assidue intenti erant (προσχαρτεροῦντες) τῇ χλάτε! τοῦ ἄρτου, fractioni panis i. e. celebrationi eucharistiae, uti syriaca versio simplex iam explicite effert. Refertur fractio panis ad panem cucharisticum, uti iam ipso contextu suadetur, cum praecedat institutio salutaris animorumque sacra consensio quae ex ipsa Christi doctrina efficitur, et subsequatur frequens precationum studium. Dictio illa ex ipsa institutione eucharistiae petita est (cf. Matth. 26,96); quare apostolus quoque scribit : panis quem frangimus, nonne participatio corporis Christi est (1 Cor. 10,15) ὃ Demum 'dediti erant assidue ταῖς προσευχαῖς. Notat Beel. :« cum vero certae quaedam preces sacrae (ταῖς πρ. cum articulo) iungantur institutioni in doctrina sacra et participationi corporis Domini, non obscure hic delineatum est incruen- tum illud novae legis sacrificium, sacrificii crucis commemorativum, : quod Deo in Ecclesia catholica ubique terrarum offertur ». Preces sane antiquissimae quae olim fundebantur in perceptione eucharistiae habentur in Doctrina 12 ap. cap. 9, ibique cap. 1^4 eucharistia dicitur illud sacrificium (θυσία) quod propheta praedixit, in omni loco et tempore oblatum iri oblationem mundam. Divinitus quoque factum est , ut coetus fidelium per aliquod tempus servaretur sine ulla ab adversariis molestia, quo scil. recens haec ac tenera plantatio firmiores ageret radices;
2:43
v. 43 fiebat autem omni ani- "ae timor 1. e. omnes iis quae die pentecostes acciderant religioso quodam timore ac sacra verecundia affecti sunt, ita ut ab omni vexatione fidelium longe abessent et potius illos magna quadam reverentia prosequerentur. Ad quam augendam accedebant signa : 6 quoque prodigia et signa per apostolos in lerusalem fiebant ; hac parte turbari narrationem aliqui volunt, quia demum in capite sequenti sanatio claudi tamquam primum miraculum referatur; sed ubi scribitur fuisse primum ? nos remittunt ad 3,11 seq. 8,106.91. Verum nullibi dicitur esse primum ; 1d solum elucet fuisse miraculum maxime notum, quod ratione habita et hominis et multitudinis quae in templo congregata testis erat nemini mirum videri potest. Signis illis crescebat reliquorum reverentia : et metus erat magnus in universis ; quae pars in sat multis deest, et deesse potest, quia in antecedentibus res iam satis est expressa. Fidelium vita porro describitur socialis
2:44
v. && omnes etiam qui credebant erant pariter. & τὸ αὐτὸ; profecto sensus esse nequit quem Wendt vult tn eodem loco; numerus enim fidelium iam maior erat; minorem habet difficultatem quod Beel. proponit, eos fortasse in certa quadam urbis parte domicilium collocasse, ut quantum fieri posset vicini essent inter se. Explicat CÀr. de κοινωνίᾳ ἐν πολιτείᾳ ; communiter accipiunt de continua inter eos concordia et benevolentia (Theoph. Cai. Beel. Calm. Patr.), una erant negato omni discidio (B/.); simul erant, quia statis horis ad synaxin, ad concionem, ad orationem conveniebant (Lap.); proinde iam se ut coetum quendam ab aliis distinctum palam exhibebant (Feit.) et habebant omnia communia; imitabantur itaque fideles eam vitae rationem, quam apostolos et discipulos antea iam amplexos esse sciebant. Quare ditiores v. 45 possessiones «à χτήματα, dieitur vox de fundis, agris etc. e£ substantias τὰς ὑπάρξεις, bona. mobilia (Beel.) vendebant et dividebant illa scil. pecuniam ex venditione acceptam omnibus prout cuique opus erat; eos omnia bona vendidisse non dicitur; sed ita vendebant, ut egenis necessaria tribuere possent, et ex suis opibus et facultatibus liberaliter pàuperibus tribuebant, uti dicitur 4,32 : nec quisquam eorum quae possidebat aliquid suum esse dicebat, sed erant illis omnia communia. Possidebant itaque opes et bona; at ea non ita sua esse dicebant et existimabant, ut non largiter iisdem uti ac frui perniitterent pauperióribus. Ita. esse intelligendum patet ex natura rei; quomodo enim fieri posset ut omnes omnia venderent bona: immobilia et mobilia? unde tandem posteà pecunia mox expensa viverent? patet ex Act. 4,92; patet, quia venditio agri & Barnaba facta singulari mentione digna habetur, quae esset superflua, si omnes idem 'praestitissent, patet denique ex verbis Petri 5,& et ex 12,19. Statis horis quibus populus ad publicam precationem conveniebat ipsi quoque templum adibant
2:46
v. &6 quotidie quoque perdurantes unanimiter ἔπ templo, seduli erant in frequentatione templi exemplum Christi imitati et apostolorum (3,1); neque enim erat e consiliis Dei, ut statim fideles seiungerentur 8 Iudaeis neque ut statim ritus et observantias veteres abiicerent; paulatim transitus ille e synagoga àd Ecclesiam erat faciendus; ea coniunctione quae per tempus aliquod erat retinenda ludaeis via parabatur ad regnum messianum; verum cultui illi in templo alterum substituebant in domibus privatis, quem docuerat Christus : et frangentes circa domos panem xxv'clxcw potest omnino explicari. per domos, domatim; cf. 15,91 χατὰ πόλιν (in singulis civitatibus) et Luc. 8,1 χατὰ πόλιν xal χώμην, eodemque modo hic legitur xa0' ἡμέραν per unumquemque diem (Patr. Felt.). Potest tamen etiam accipi domi i. e. privatim, in oppositione ad ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, in templo orationibus quidem vacabant, sed privatim celebrabant eucharistiam. Ita puto etiam hic verba esse intelligenda cum Saím. Lap. Tir. Feit.; at plerique non de pane eucharistico, sed de cibo communi explicant (οἴ. CAr. Oec. Theoph. Cai. Dion. Beel. Calm. Patr.);, verum est panem frangere etiam de comestione profana et communi adhiberi 90,11; 97,35, neque de eucharistia explicandum censeo Luc. 25,30. Verum hoc loco tamen quaedam reperiuntur, quibus explicatio de cibo communi excludi videatur. Nam illud χατὰ οἶχον opponitur «à ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ; sed eos cibum sumpsisse non in templo, sed domi, certe peculiari mentiohe non indigebat; in templo autem eos orasse, at cultum suum peculiarem privatim vcl per domos exercuisse, apte commemoratur simulque suppletur id quod in v. 42 dictum erat. Dein de cibo communi statim sermo infertur; cur id adderetur, si iam frangentes panem idem indicavit? sumebant cibum cum ezsultatione et. simplicitate cordis omni scil. gaudio spirituali repleti et animorum candore, integritate, ingenuitate conspicui morumque suávitàte; v. &7 collaudantes Deum « non coarctandum videtur ad preces ante et post mensam factas, sed universalius intelligendum : Dei laudes indesinenter praedicabant » (Beel.); quae acceptio magis generalis etiam sequenti membro confirmatur : et habentes gratiam ad omnem plebem ; grati erant omni plebi; omnes illis favebant ob vitae probitatem, modestiam, caritatem quam exhibebant. Eorum vitae sanctitate, institutione et doctrina. apostolorum et potenti Spiritus sancti gratia effectum est, ut numerus fidelium in dies augeretur : Dom:nus autem augebat qui salvi fierent quotidie in idtpsum τοὺς σωζομένους Dominus addebat; cf. v. 40; qui itaque salutem messianam amplexi salvabantur ex generatione ista prava. Dominus eos apponit, addit; nam incrementum dat Deus (1 Cor. 3,7) et Deus vocat ad regnum messianum (of. Ioan. Si me persecuti sunt, et vos persequentur (Ioan. 15,20). Quam vere Christus id suis praedixisset, mox primi Christifideles experti sunt, et primo quidem ipsi apostoli. Eius persecutionis occasio fuit miraculum in nomine Iesu a Petro patratum et intrepida Petri de Iesu resurrectione concio. Synedristae enim, uti Iesum occiderant, ita eius noACT. 3,1-3. 67 minis mentionem plane exstirpare unice in votis habebant. Quare pugnam suscipiunt, quam primum Petrus in ipso templo Iesum Servatorem annuntiat. Quomodo itaque Ecclesia ipsis infestationibus creverit gloriosa et victrix, in sequentibus enarratur. Novae quasi huius periodi initium exstilit a sanatione hominis claudi a nativitate;
2:1
Jesus' promise concerning the sending of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled in two ways: visibly and with particular solemnity at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), and invisibly in all the baptized, who are called by St. Paul "God's temple" (1 Cor 3:16) or "temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your …
PENTECOST. - I. SACRED SCRIPTURE. - A Jewish feast, 7 weeks or 50 days (whence the Greek name "fiftieth" [day]) after Passover, which became a Christian solemnity because on that day the community led by the Apostles was miraculously inaugurated (Acts 2:1-14).
… Perhaps the phenomenon was similar to the glossolalia of which Acts 2:1-21; 10:44 f.; 19:6; I Cor. 14. The exaltation was sometimes communicated to bystanders, through some predisposition or through a particular divine intervention (cf. I Sam. 19:20-24): …
2:2
… (Lc. 1:15, 35, 41, 67; 2:25-27; Mt. 3:16; 4:1; 10:20; 12:28; Lc. 4:1, 14; Io. 14:17; 16:7-15). The Acts of the Apostles constantly highlight the action of the divine Spirit, the supreme messianic gift (Act. 2:17) in the primitive Church (Act. 1:2, 8; 2:2-33; 4:8; 8:17-19; 10:44-47; etc.; I Cor. 12-14).
2:5
… Having examined Gen. 41, 54 ff.; Deut. 2, 25; II Par. 20, 29; Act. 2, 5, one will easily admit that this is a matter of relative geographical universality. …
An idea of the immense diffusion of the Jews in the d. is given by Acts 2:5: "Among the Jews residing in Jerusalem [on the occasion of Pentecost] there were devout men from every nation under heaven." These, hearing the Christians speak in various tongues, …
2:8
… of Asia [proconsular], of Phrygia or of Pamphylia, of Egypt or of the parts of Libya about Cyrene; others visiting Romans, Jews or proselytes; others Cretans and Arabians; and yet we all hear them speak of the mighty works of God in our own tongues" (ibid. 2:8-11). The Sibylline Oracles (around 140 B.C.) write that "the whole earth and the whole sea is full" of Jews (III, 271).
2:9
In the New Testament A. (Acts 2:9; 4:9; 16:6; 19:10, 22, 26; 20:4, 16, 18; 21:27; 24:19; 27:2; Rom. 16:5; I Cor. 16:9; II Cor. 1:8; II Tim. 1:15; I Pt. 1:1; Apoc. 1-3) denotes the Roman province of A. (constituted …
There were Jews of C. among those who heard the first preaching of St. Peter (Acts 2:9), and the same apostle addresses his first letter also to the faithful of C., perhaps evangelized by St. Paul on his journey toward Galatia. …
Acts 2:9 speaks of a Jewish diaspora in Parthia; and one may think of the presence of converts to Christianity returning from the extraordinary Pentecost they had witnessed. …
Both because of its meaning and because of the good season in which it fell, the feast of P. was much frequented also by the Jews of the diaspora (cf. Act. 2, 9-11). Even St. Paul on his third journey, returning from Greece, did not wish to stop at Ephesus because he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem for P. It is also named in I Cor. 16, 8; but …
2:10
The historian Jason (II Mach. 2, 23), and later Simon (Mt. 27, 32; Mk. 15, 21), pressed into carrying the cross of Jesus, were from C. At the first Christian Pentecost Jews from Cyrenaica were present at the speech of Peter (Act. 2, 10); they possessed in Jerusalem a synagogue of their own, whose members took part in the condemnation and martyrdom of St. Stephen (Act. 6, 9). Some converted Hellenistic Jews "Cyprists …
… Jud., I, 6). Among those present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost were also Jews "dwellers in L. near Cyrene" (Acts 2:10). The fortunes of Christianity in L. are closely bound up with those of Egypt, and its most illustrious figure is the bishop Synesius (v.).
2:11
… Ind., II, 7, 1). Witnesses at Jerusalem of the Christian Pentecost carried the Christian message back to their homeland (Act. 2, 11). The ship that was carrying Paul on the voyage from Caesarea to Rome, having rounded Cape Salmone, advanced toward the southern coast to reach the bay of "Fair Havens" (οὐδὼν Αὐκέως, Vulg. …
HELLENISTS ('Ελληνισταί). - This name designated the Jews of the diaspora (Acts 2:11; 6:1) who lived outside Palestine and spoke Greek. …
… He was probably still with St. Paul on the journey from Rome to the East after the latter's release; at this time he was charged with reorganizing the Christian communities of Crete, founded perhaps by those Cretans converted thirty years earlier (Act. 2:11). Then he followed or rejoined the Apostle, a prisoner in Rome in 66, from where he set out, certainly for reasons of apostolate, for Dalmatia, but it seems to Paul's displeasure, …
2:14
I. APOSTOLIC CATECHESIS. - Before the New Testament writings appeared (written catechesis), oral catechesis was already alive and operative, the authentic expression of the Church's magisterium, the primary source of written catechesis, which began with Peter's first discourse (Acts 2:14-36) and developed rapidly as the Christian religion progressed in extent and depth. …
Joel (Heb. Yôʾēl "Yahweh Is God")
… To the latter refers the famous oracle (2:28-32; Heb. 3:1-5) fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21; cf. Rom. 10:12 ff.).
Primacy of Saint Peter and of the Roman Pontiff
… He presided over the selection of a new apostle (Acts 1:15-26); he was the first, as head of the Apostles, to preach (ibid. 2:14) and as such was questioned by his hearers (ibid. 2:37); he performed the first miracle (ibid. 3:6) and afterward others by his shadow alone (ibid. 5:15); it was he who answered the …
2:15
… Tertullian: «Porro cum in eodem commentario Lucae et tertia hora orationis demonstretur...» (De Ieiunio, 2, 10, cf. Act. 2, 15). Clement of Alexandria cites Act. 17, 23, «as Luke in the Acts of the Apostles recalls» (Stromata, 5, 12, 82: PG 9, 124). Origen: «Luke who wrote the Gospel and the Acts» (in Eusebius, Hist. …
I. HISTORY OF THE LITURGICAL HOURS. – 1. The private Hours of the first three centuries. – From Sacred Scripture it appears that the Apostles, for their prayer, followed the times already used in the synagogue, namely the third hour (Acts 2:15), the sixth (Acts 10:9) and the ninth (Acts 3:1), which are therefore also called the "apostolic hours." To these are naturally added the prayer of the morning and that of the evening. …
NONA. - It is that part of the Divine Office which is recited at the ninth hour (= 3 p.m.), according to the Greek-Roman division of the day. This hour of prayer, already used in the Synagogue (cf. Dan. 6:10; Ps. 54:18), passed into Christian use (Acts 3:1; cf. 2:15; 10:9) as a private prayer to sanctify the day (Didache, ch. 8, 3; Tertullian, De oratione, 23; De ieiunio, ch. 10; Apostolic Constitutions, ch. VIII, no. 34, 1); as a canonical hour …
… steps of the apostolic Church and in particular in the discourses of St. Peter, St. Stephen and St. Paul: Judaism and Christianity are the two unique stages in which the divine « dispensation » for the salvation of man was successively realized (cf. Act. 2, 15-36 [discourse of St. Peter at Pentecost]; 7, 2-53 [discourse of St. Stephen to the Pharisees]; 13, 15-41 [discourse of St. Paul at Antioch]). …
… In all probability this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans (v.), mentioned in the letter addressed to nearby Pergamum (ibid. 2:15). Angelo Penna
2:16
first Christians, and the outpouring of his charisms, foretold by Joel (cf. Act. 2:16 ff.), appeared notoriously (ibid. 1:4-8) as the fulfillment of the great promise of Jesus at the Last Supper. …
2:17
… Indeed, on the day of Pentecost St. Peter cited the text of Joel (Acts 2:17), and many Fathers and writers of the first five centuries gladly relied on the authority of the Old Testament (J. Lebreton, Histoire du dogme de la Trinité, I, 6th ed., Paris 1927, …
… foundation and the development of the Kingdom of God (Lc. 1:15, 35, 41, 67; 2:25-27; Mt. 3:16; 4:1; 10:20; 12:28; Lc. 4:1, 14; Io. 14:17; 16:7-15). The Acts of the Apostles constantly highlight the action of the divine Spirit, the supreme messianic gift (Act. 2:17) in the primitive Church (Act. 1:2, 8; 2:2-33; 4:8; 8:17-19; 10:44-47; etc.; I Cor. 12-14).
2:20
… in I-II Thess., besides the p. of the Antichrist in II Thess. 2:9), by Jas. 5:7, 8, by II Pt. 1:16; 3:4, 12, by I Jn. 2:28, and by Mt. 24:3, 27, 37, 39. Equivalent to it are the terms: "day [of the Lord or Christ]" (17 times in St. Paul: Acts 2:20; I Pt. 3:10, 12; Apoc. 16:14), "manifestation" (ἐπιφάνεια: 5 times in the pastoral epistles), "revelation" (ἀποκάλυψις: I Cor. 1:7; II Thess. 1:7; I Pt. 1:7, 13; 4:13). It …
2:22
… whose fabric is rightly traced back to the apostle Peter, both because of the pre-eminent place he held among the first proclaimers of the "good news," and because in his discourses he seems to have traced the broad outlines of catechesis (cf. Acts 1:22; 2:22-40; 10:36-43). And this catechesis was not the product of a creative collectivity, as many rationalists affirm, and recently the proponents of the "form-history method" (formgeschichte …
… Exalted therefore at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured him out as you see and hear" (ibid. 2, 22-33).
… Now the preaching of Peter extended from the Baptism of John up to the ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:21; cf. 10:37-42), and insisted on the miracles worked by Christ (ibid. 2:22; 1:38). Such are precisely the characteristics of the second Gospel.
… Nazaraeus); 26:71; Lk. 18:37; Jn. 18:5, 7; 19:19; Acts 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 22:8; 26:9. In Acts 24:5 ff. Paul is accused as "ringleader of the sect of the Nazoreans." The title is connected with Nazareth (v.), where Jesus dwelt for the greater …
2:23
… redemption for many (Mt. 20, 28); as a fulfillment of prophecies, necessary for J. C. to enter into his glory (Lk. 24, 25-27). The first apostolic catechesis likewise saw in the Passion a fact that happened because and as God had foreseen and decreed it (Acts 2, 23), a rejection by the Jews of the stone, which then became the cornerstone (Acts 4, 11); a joining together of Herod and Pilate, of the gentiles and the Israelites against the holy …
2:24
… prophet David and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins one should sit upon his throne, he spoke prophetically of the Resurrection of Christ that he was not abandoned in fē'ōl, nor did his flesh see corruption" (Act. 2, 24-31). In other passages of the New Testament as well there is an allusion to the dwelling of Christ's soul in limbo (Mt. 22, 40; Rom. 10, 6-7; probably in I Pt. 3, 19-20).
2:25
… The M., finally, as a descendant of David (II Sam. 7:16), is a man; and David describes his sufferings (Ps. 21 [22]) and his Resurrection (Ps. 15 [16]; cf. Acts 2:25-32; 13:35 ff.; A. Vaccari, La Redenzione, Rome 1934, pp. 165-90). Certainly the contemporaries of the great King and, at times, the prophet himself (Sum. …
2:28
… will be propitious to him through the merits of Christ, and thus begins to love Him as the source of all justice and therefore to rebel against his sins with that hatred and detestation which constitutes the penance required before receiving Baptism (Acts 2:28). And therefore the sinner resolves to receive Baptism, to begin a new life and to observe the divine commandments" (sess. …
2:29
… Thus, during a famine, the Church of Jerusalem was assisted by the Christians of Antioch and by other churches of the gentiles (Acts 2:29; Gal. 2:10). The form of assistance particularly in vogue at that time was that of gifts in kind. …
… Also called P. are Abraham (v.), Isaac (v.), Jacob (v.), and other figures in the Septuagint (cf. 1 Chron. 24:31; 27:22; 2 Chron. 9:8; 23:20; 26:12), and in Acts 7:8, 9; 2:29 the sons of Jacob and David. …
2:32
ξ) The manifestations of the new life. - The Apostles in their preaching present themselves as witnesses of the new life of J., and constantly connect their apostolate with the risen J.: cf. Act. 4, 33; 2, 32; 3, 15; 13, 31; I Cor. 9, 1. The Apostles furthermore feel that they owe the gift of the Holy Spirit to the influence of the Risen One, whom they call "life-giving spirit" (I Cor. …
… The testimony (cf. Acts 1:8, 22; 2:32-3:15; 5:32; 10:36-43) of the Twelve insisted on the sayings and deeds of the public life of Jesus in order to draw from them the fundamental teachings and to highlight their polemical …
… His brothers and he have an identical concept of the apostolate: according to the order received from Jesus (Lk. 24:48; Acts 1:8), they present themselves as the "witnesses" of facts that did not occur in angulo, in secret (Acts 26:26; 1:21-22; 2:32; 3:15; 4:19-20; 5:32; 10:39), not as purveyors of ingeniously invented fables, doctas fabulas secuti (II Pt. 1:16; I Pt. 5:1-4; I Io. 1:1-3, etc.). …
2:33
… One also customarily cites the texts where the temporal mission of the Holy Spirit is spoken of (Jn. 14:16; 14:26; 15:26; 16:7; Lk. 24:49; Acts 2:33; Tit. 3:6), which presupposes the dependence, as regards origin, of the Person sent upon the one who sends him. A compendium of the whole doctrine of the New Testament on the procession …
… their apostolate with the risen J.: cf. Act. 4, 33; 2, 32; 3, 15; 13, 31; I Cor. 9, 1. The Apostles furthermore feel that they owe the gift of the Holy Spirit to the influence of the Risen One, whom they call "life-giving spirit" (I Cor. 15, 45; cf. Act. 2, 33). The christology of the first apostolic preaching calls J. the C. and Son of God (Act. 2, 36; 13, 33; for its whole content in relation to the Resur-
2:36
… The central theme of apostolic preaching is that Jesus is the Ch., from Peter (Act. 2:36) and Paul (Act. 9:22; 17:3; 18:5, 28) to John (Io. 20:31; I Io. 2:22; 5:1; II Io. 7, 9). The polemic on this point burns against the Jews, who awaited the Ch. (Io. 1:20, …
… Apostles furthermore feel that they owe the gift of the Holy Spirit to the influence of the Risen One, whom they call "life-giving spirit" (I Cor. 15, 45; cf. Act. 2, 33). The christology of the first apostolic preaching calls J. the C. and Son of God (Act. 2, 36; 13, 33; for its whole content in relation to the Resur-
2:37
Compunction (Lat. Compunctio, Unknown to the Classics; Gr. Biblical Κατάνυξις)
… The word is already found in Sacred Scripture, used metaphorically to signify repentance and keen sorrow for the offense of God and for sins committed (Acts 2:37; Rom. 11:8, "spirit of compunction" is equivalent to "stupefaction"). …
Primacy of Saint Peter and of the Roman Pontiff
… He presided over the selection of a new apostle (Acts 1:15-26); he was the first, as head of the Apostles, to preach (ibid. 2:14) and as such was questioned by his hearers (ibid. 2:37); he performed the first miracle (ibid. 3:6) and afterward others by his shadow alone (ibid. 5:15); it was he who answered the Sanhedrin (ibid. 4:8) and who, as head of the movement, …
2:38
… Samaria, and, along the road to Gaza, to a high official of Ethiopia (Acts 36-38). Peter, to the question of his hearers, "What must we do?", answers: "Do penance and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). B. is also given to persons sent by God in a miraculous manner, for example, to the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:47) and to Paul (Acts 9:15). Now the Apostles could not have administered …
… For their part the Apostles, from the very first moment of their preaching, considered the baptism of John as nonexistent and baptized "in the name of Jesus" all who presented themselves, even those who had already previously been baptized by the precursor (Acts 2:38; 19:1-7); because Jesus' peremptory command was directed to all without exception (Mt. 18:19). Therefore the Church, once the errors of the so-called reform had arisen, defined at …
… in the soul, there are others that rather indicate either its coming to be (the Holy Spirit sent to us: ibid. 14:26; Gal. 4:6; given to us: Io. 7:39; 14:16; Act. 5:32; 8:18; Rom. 5:5; I Thess. 4:8; I Io. 3:24; 4:13; received as a gift: Act. 2:38; I Cor. 2:12), or our transformation, soul and body, into a temple of God (ibid. 3:16 ff.; 6:19; II Cor. 6:16).
… The Lord's final command ("... praedicari in nomine eius paenitentiam in remissionem peccatorum": ibid. 24:47) was faithfully carried out in the apostolic preaching (cf. Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; 17:30). If in the Pauline epistles faith is proposed as the way of life, the death of St. Paul includes "metanoia," of which St. Paul himself is a shining example.
… From the exhortation of St. Peter addressed to the first converts: "Do penance and let each of you be baptized for the remission of sins" (Acts 2, 38, 41), down to the warm exhortations of the Fathers to catechumens and penitents, the sources of Revelation insistently inculcate the necessity of faith and repentance, also indicating …
2:41
For this reason the Apostles administered B. from the very day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41). The deacon Philip administers it to the converts of Samaria, and, along the road to Gaza, to a high official of Ethiopia (Acts 36-38). Peter, to the question of his hearers, "What …
2:42
Agape (Ἀγάπη "love, charity" in the New Testament)
… The "breaking (v.) of bread" (Acts 2:42; 20:7, 11) was the eucharistic celebration; even if in Acts 2:46 common meals were meant, it does not appear that they were united to the Eucharist, and still less so for the charitable …
… Likewise the Didaché or "Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles" (which is not to be identified with the "doctrine of the Apostles," Acts 2:42; cf. Tit. 1:9), a precious document of the sub-apostolic age, is a vestige of the moral catechesis of the Apostles, especially in its first part (chaps. 1-6), which under the form …
In the fraternal agape meals that, on the morrow of Jesus' death, the faithful celebrated (Acts 2:42 and 46) the memory of the Master was alive, who had sat at table with his disciples on the eve of the Passion; they willingly repeated his words and his gestures. …
… This is gathered for Jerusalem from Act. 2, 42, 46; for Corinth from I Cor. 11, 17-22; for Smyrna from the letter of St. Ignatius (ad Smyrnenses, 8: PG 5, 714). But the practice changed quite early, and by the 4th century the …
… Jesus (Acts 1:14): the words do not note an occasional presence, but present M. at the center of the life of the Church, the natural source and witness of the history of her Son, the natural president of the charitable and eucharistic assemblies (cf. ibid. 2:42, 46).
b) Tradition. - The Church, obedient to the Lord's command: "Do this in memory of me" (Lk. 22:19; I Cor. 11:24), immediately celebrated the Eucharist in Jerusalem (Act. 2:42), at Troas (ibid. 20:7-11), at Corinth (I Cor. 10-11) and in all the places of its conquests. …
… Apostles and the first Christians, although for some time they gathered together with the Jews on the Sabbath day for the praise of God (Acts 2, 46; 3, 1; 5, 12; 21, 26), soon held their own assemblies for prayer and for the celebration of the Eucharist (Acts 2, 42), so as to introduce the custom of sanctifying the day following the Sabbath, on which Christ rose in the morning after the Sabbath. …
2:44
In Jerusalem there is found from the very beginning the voluntary community of the use of goods, destined to succor the Apostles intent on preaching the good news and the poor of the nascent Church (Acts 2:44 ff.; 4:32 ff.).
… In the first centuries, the clergy (for example, at Jerusalem: Acts 2:44; 4:32) lived with the bishop, supported by the offerings of the faithful, administered under the bishop's authority (v. CANONICI REGOLARI DI S. AGOSTINO). …
… Already in the Christian community of Jerusalem, alongside the group that lived in common (Acts 2:44), there were others who remained outside it. This must have led to two distinct forms of life, with possible ideological consequences. …
2:46
Agape (Ἀγάπη "love, charity" in the New Testament)
… The "breaking (v.) of bread" (Acts 2:42; 20:7, 11) was the eucharistic celebration; even if in Acts 2:46 common meals were meant, it does not appear that they were united to the Eucharist, and still less so for the charitable meals of Acts 6:1-6. In Jude 12 and II Pt. 2:13 (in codex …
… However scanty the information about Christian worship in the earliest times of the Church, it is nevertheless known that the Apostles did not entirely abandon Jewish usages, which they only completed with specifically Christian worship: the Eucharist (Lk. 24:52 ff.; Acts 2:46; 3:1). It is not excluded, indeed it is probable, that the formal part of apostolic worship, including the Eucharistic worship, which was not held in the Temple, used the Old Testament …
… Its classic example is that given in the gatherings of the primitive community of Jerusalem (Acts 2:46-47), free from every favoritism (James 2:1-4), from every egoistic contrast (1 Cor. 11:20-22), from every hidden calculation (Luke 14:11-14), indeed from every bustling about (Luke 10:41-42). …
… and warns the Colossians that the obligation to observe new moons and sabbaths no longer holds (Col. 2, 16). The Apostles and the first Christians, although for some time they gathered together with the Jews on the Sabbath day for the praise of God (Acts 2, 46; 3, 1; 5, 12; 21, 26), soon held their own assemblies for prayer and for the celebration of the Eucharist (Acts 2, 42), so as to introduce the custom of sanctifying the day following …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.