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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
Do you see that together with the grace of God they also contributed their part? For everywhere it ought to be well observed, that together with the grace of God they do their part likewise. Just as Peter said above, "Silver and gold have I none"; and again, that "they were all together." But in this place, having mentioned that they were heard, the sacred writer proceeds to speak also of them, what virtue they showed. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
"One heart and one soul" — "heart" and "soul" mean one and the same thing.
Oecumenius
Brotherly love, and as a pledge given them by the teacher Christ, by which he said, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another." (Jn. 13:35) Therefore each, regarding the neighbor as himself, possessed nothing among his belongings kept back for himself, but added them to common use. …
Western Saints
Leo the Great
Of this high-souled humility the Apostles first, after the Lord, have given us example, who, leaving all that they had without difference at the voice of the heavenly Master, were turned by a ready change from the catching of fish to be fishers of men, and made many like themselves through the imitation of their faith, when with those first-begotten sons of the Church, "the heart of all was one, and the spirit one, of those that believed": for they, putting away the whole of their things and possessions, enriched themselves with …
Bede
But they had all things in common. In Latin, "common" is said as "communia," which in Greek is called κοινὰ, from which it is understood that the perfect servants of God are called κοινοβίται in Greek, that is, those living in common, and their communal dwellings are called κοινόβια; for in their language, βίον is understood to mean life, not that life which is contrary to death, but the way of life someone leads in their conversation, whether in the military, or in agriculture, or in any honorable or dishonorable art, whether one is …
Bonaventure
It should be noted that the Church was placed in paradise, like the first man, "to till it," in such a way that no one would say "that anything he possessed" was "his own." For it began in a state of great perfection that is observed today in the religious life, for the love of Christ was still recent, and in those days "a large number also of the priests accepted the faith." This Church, meaning the one that began with the Jews, because they were converted at one time by the three thousand, and at another, by the five thousand, …
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