Fathers

Loading…

What the Fathers say

Acts 22:17

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"And when I was come again to Jerusalem," etc. How was it, that being a Jew, and there brought up and taught, he did not stay there? Nor did he abide there, unless he had a mind to furnish numberless occasions against him: everywhere just like an exile, fleeing about from place to place. "While I prayed in the temple," he says, "it came to pass that I was in a trance." To show that it was not simply a phantom of the imagination, therefore "while he prayed" the Lord stood by him. …

Homily on Acts 48 ↗

Western Saints

Bede

But it happened that when I was returning to Jerusalem and praying in the temple, I fell into a trance, and saw him. For the trance of the mind, some Codices have a mental ecstasy, others a fear, others an alienation. For what is called ecstasis in Greek is variously interpreted in Latin. This word was also used in the vision of Peter above, where he was being called forth to teach Cornelius. For an ecstasy fell upon him, and he saw the heavens opened. …

Retractions on Acts ↗