ACC ~ Acts 18 v6

ACCOUNTABLE FOR THOSE ENTRUSTED TO US. CHRYSOSTOM: “He argued in the synagogue every sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks.” But “when they opposed and reviled him,” he withdrew. By this [Paul] expected to draw them all the more. For why did he leave that house and go to one near the synagogue? Was it not for this? For it was not danger that he saw there. “Testifying to them,” it says. He did not yet teach, but he testified. “When they opposed,” it says, “and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said, ‘Your blood be upon your heads!’” He does this to frighten them not only with words but also with action. And he argues rather vehemently inasmuch as he has already persuaded many of them. “I am innocent,” he says, “from now on I will go to the Gentiles.” So we too are accountable for the blood of those entrusted to us, if we neglect them. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 39.

REJECTION OF THE GOSPEL AS SUICIDE. AMMONIUS: “Your blood be on your own heads.” These words are obscure, but I think they mean this: Whoever does not believe in Christ, who is life, seems to kill himself by passing from life to death and shedding, as it were, his own blood through his self-inflicted death. Therefore he means that when you kill yourselves through disbelief, you receive the punishment of murder, so I am innocent. Following this train of thought it may be also said that he who kills himself is punished by God as a murderer. Similarly if a person is the reason why someone kills himself, he will be guilty in the same way. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18.6.

Acts