ACC ~ Acts 1 v8

IN THE RESURRECTION AND THE ASCENSION. CHRYSOSTOM: He had said earlier, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans.” What he did not say then, he added here, “and to the ends of the earth.” Having said this, which was more fearful than all the rest, he held his peace. “When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” Do you see that they preached and fulfilled the gospel? For great was the gift he had bestowed upon them. In the very place, he says, where you are afraid, that is, in Jerusalem, preach there. And afterwards he added, “and to the ends of the earth.” Then again the proof of his words, “as they were watching, he was lifted up.” Not “as they were watching,” he rose from the dead, but “as they were watching, he was lifted up,” since the sight of their eyes was in no way all sufficient then. For they saw in the resurrection the end but not the beginning, and they saw in the ascension the beginning but not the end. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 2.

GIFTS ARE FROM THE TRINITY. CHRYSOSTOM: And they did become witnesses by their miracles. This is so, for the grace of the Spirit is ineffable, and innumerable are his gifts. Moreover, this took place that you might learn that the gifts and the power of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit are one. What appears to be proper to the Father also belongs in reality to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. “How is it, then,” you will say, “that no one comes to the Son ‘unless the Father draw him’?” But this is shown to be true of the Son also, for he said, “I am the way; no one comes to the Father but through me.”And notice that the same thing is true of the Spirit also. For “No one can say, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit.” And again, we are told that apostles have been given to the church, at one time by the Father, at another by the Son, and at another by the Holy Spirit, so we see that the varieties of gifts belong to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 86.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS DIVINE. AMBROSE: And so, when the Lord appointed his servants the apostles, that we might recognize that the creature was one thing and the grace of the Spirit another, he appointed them to different places, because all could not be everywhere at once. But he gave the Holy Spirit to all, to shed upon the apostles though separated the gift of indivisible grace. The persons, then, were different, but the accomplishment of the working was in all one, because the Holy Spirit is one of whom it is said, “You shall receive power, even the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit, then, is uncircumscribed and infinite, who infused himself into the minds of the disciples throughout the separate divisions of distant regions and the remote bounds of the whole world whom nothing is able to escape or to deceive. And therefore holy David says, “Where shall I go from your Spirit, or where shall I flee from your face?”Of what angel does the Scripture say this, of what dominion, of what power, of what angel do we find the power diffused over many? For angels were sent to few, but the Holy Spirit was poured upon whole peoples. Who, then, can doubt that that is divine which is shed upon many at once and is not seen; but that that is corporeal which is seen and held by individuals? ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 1.7.81-82.

Acts