ACC ~ Acts 21 v11

BEING GIRDED FOR ACTION. CHRYSOSTOM: But why did [Agabus] use a belt with his cloak? This was the custom among people of ancient times, before men went on to dress in this soft and loose fashion. For instance, Peter appears to have been so “belted,” and Paul as well, for he says, “the man who owns this belt.” And Elijah too was dressed thus, and every one of the saints, since they were always in action, either traveling or working earnestly for some other necessity. But this was not the only reason: they did this also to trample on all display and observe every austerity. Indeed this is what Christ called the greatest praise of virtue, when he said, “What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 10.4.

THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. BEDE: Agabus is imitating the ancient prophets who were accustomed to say, “The Lord God says this,” because the Holy Spirit is Lord and God in the same way as the Father and the Son are, and it is impossible to separate the operation of those whose nature and will are one. Hence too we read above, “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work for which I have called them,’” namely, the office of apostle. And Paul himself writes, “Paul, an apostle, sent not from people or by people but by Jesus Christ and God the Father.” We have said these things so that no one might believe, following Macedonius,that the Holy Spirit is a creature or of less authority than the Father or the Son. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 21.11.

PAUL THE IMITATOR OF CHRIST. ORIGEN: “When he was about to go up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve aside and spoke to them on the road, ’Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall sentence him to death, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and beaten and crucified, and on the third day he shall rise.” Paul both contemplated Christ, in the face of manifest dangers, proceeding and eagerly going up to Jerusalem with the foreknowledge that he would be handed over to the chief priests and scribes and sentenced to death, and he exhorted us to imitate him as he imitated Christ, as he says, “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” And he did something similar to what Christ did when he took his disciples aside. For Agabus, taking his belt and girding himself about the hands and feet, said, “These things the Holy Spirit says: they will bind in this way the man who owns this belt” when he goes off to Jerusalem. When Paul learned of this, in imitation of his teacher, he went up eagerly to Jerusalem. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 16.1.

Acts