ACC ~ Acts 13 v11

BLINDNESS MEANT FOR HIS CONVERSION. CHRYSOSTOM: “And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind.” It was the sign by which [Paul] was himself converted, and by this he wished to convert this man. And the words “for a season” were spoken by one who seeks not to punish but to convert. For if he had wanted to punish, he would have made him blind forever. This is not what happens here, but only “for a season,” so that he may gain the proconsul. For the man was prepossessed by sorcery, and he had to teach him a lesson by this punishment, just as the magicians [in Egypt] were taught by the boils. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 28.

BLINDED SO THAT HE MIGHT SEE. ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM: Be reasonable now. What happened to the magician through the intervention of the apostle is not contrary to the divine commandment that commands us to love our enemies. But since that man distorted the ways of preaching and drove the proconsul away from the faith through which the entire multitude could easily have been admitted to salvation, Paul punished that blasphemer on the basis of his own way of working things out. After he was warned by being blinded he was then led to knowledge. Indeed he was taught through Paul to cure his infidelity with a remedy, just as Paul cured the contradictions of the law. After he set the limit “until the right time” for judgment so that it might cause in itself the recuperation of the man, he changed his ways for the better. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.10.