ACC ~ Acts 9 v17

THE ACTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: The Holy Spirit worked immediately and not only changed Paul’s blindness to sight but also imparted the seal to his soul, making him a vessel of election to carry the name of the Lord who had appeared to him before kings and the children of Israel; and he fashioned his former persecutor into a herald and a good servant who “from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum completed the gospel of Christ.”CATECHETICAL LECTURE 17.26.

SAUL TAUGHT TO THINK MODESTLY OF HIMSELF. CHRYSOSTOM: It seems to me that both Paul and Cornelius, as soon as the words were spoken, received the Spirit. And yet he who gave it was not great. Thus there was nothing of man [humankind] in what was done, nor was anything done by man, but God was present, the worker of these things. At the same time [the Lord] both teaches him to think modestly of himself, in that he does not bring him to the apostles who were so admired, and shows that there is nothing of man here. He was not filled, however, with the Spirit that works signs, so that in this way as well his faith might be shown. For he worked no wonders. “And immediately,” it says, “in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’” Not that he is risen or that he lives, but immediately and precisely, he expounded the doctrine that he is the Son of God. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 20.

THE SHEEP SUBDUES THE WOLF. ARATOR: How much [this] darkness earns! After the loss of his eyesight he sees greater things; fostering faith gives a marvelous example to the ages. Ananias casts out his fury—O strange victory! He whom the Hebrew called Sheep [Ananias] subdues a rapacious wolf. God will be proclaimed to the world by this herald, and pulled from the shadows of the law, under which he was blind, he will bring light into all lands singing about the everlasting Sun. Do not cease, O Saul, to make this day known, in order that the night which is given to you may be filled with the light of many, and you carry your darkness here [in your body] in order that you may be able to purge [the darkness] of the world. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THE RIGHT ORDER OF TEACHING. JOHN CASSIAN: He sent him then to an old man and determined that he must be instructed by his teaching rather than by his own. Otherwise what might have been rightly done with regard to Paul would have given a bad example of presumption to those who came after him, since each individual would conclude that he too should be trained in similar fashion under the guidance and by the teaching of God alone rather than by the instruction of his elders. CONFERENCE 2.15.1.

Acts