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1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so? 2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. 4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. 5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. 6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. 7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. 9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, 10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. 14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. 15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, 16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem. 17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. 19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. 20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months: 21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. 23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: 25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. 26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? 27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? 29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. 30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, 32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abrham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. 33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. 34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. 35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. 37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: 39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? 43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. 44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. 45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built him an house. 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50 Hath not my hand made all these things? 51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. 54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:1
Then the high priest said. In the Greek text, it is added to Stephen; and then it is appended: "Are these things so?"

Source: Retractions on Acts
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Acts 7:2
And after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. And He gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so

Source: Against Heresies Book III
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:2
The exuberance of the Scythians fertilizes the Persians; the Phoenicians gush out into Africa; the Phrygians give birth to the Romans; the seed of the Chaldeans is led out into Egypt; subsequently, when transferred thence, it becomes the Jewish race. So, too, the posterity of Hercules, in like wise, proceed to occupy the Peloponnesus for the behoof of Temenus.

Source: On the Pallium
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:2
The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, etc. It should be noted, according to the words of Stephen, that it was not as it appears in Genesis, that God spoke to Abraham after the death of his father, who certainly died in Haran, where the son also lived with him; but before he dwelt in the same city, even then when he was in the region of Mesopotamia, of which it is a city.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:2
Brothers and fathers, hear: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. Because the blessed Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemy against Moses and God, at the very beginning of his speech he very vigilantly addressed their slander by saying that the same God who spoke to the fathers and prophets was the God of majesty and glory. Even when he reached the times of Moses in his speech, he praised him with fitting words, but proved that those people had always been rebellious and disobedient to his words. It is also noteworthy how skillfully he spoke; thus, he began to speak to his persecutors as if he were afraid of them: Brothers and fathers, hear. What could be gentler, what could be more gracious in winning over his audience, than to commend the Savior? He began gently so that he would be listened to for a long time. And since he had been accused here of speaking against God and the law, just as he showed that he was preaching the true God at the beginning of his speech, he also explained their law to them in such a way that he was seen as a proclaimer of that law of which he was accused of being a destroyer. Indeed, as his speech progressed, when he refuted both their new and old errors, he clearly showed how great was the authority of his spirit, and how free his soul was from the fear of the enemy.

Source: Retractions on Acts
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:3
He shows that these were types, as was Abraham’s leaving of his home country, at God’s command, not against the law (for home and country is where God shall lead): “Then he departed,” he says, “from the land of the Chaldeans.” He shows that the Jews, if one looks closely into the matter, are of Persian origin and that, even without miracles, one must do as God says, whatever hardships may result. For even the patriarch left the grave of his father and all that he had in obedience to God’s command. If Abraham’s father had no part in the migration because he was unworthy, much more unworthy were the children, even though they came much of the way.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 15
[AD 435] John Cassian on Acts 7:3
[Paphnutius said,] “We read that the Lord commanded Abraham to do these three things all at once when he said to him, ‘Leave your country and your kinsfolk and your father’s house.’ ” First he spoke of “your country,” namely, of the resources of this world and of earthly wealth; second, of “your kinsfolk,” namely, of the former way of life and behavior and vices that have been related to us from our birth by a connection as it were of a certain affinity or consanguinity; third, of “your father’s house,” namely, of every vestige of this world which the eyes gaze upon.

Source: CONFERENCE 3.6.2
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:3
"Leave your country and your kindred and come into the land I will show you." Then he left the land, etc. The land and kindred of Abraham refers to the homeland and race of the Chaldeans, from where he had long since left, who now lived in Mesopotamia, but because he left with hope of returning and longing, he hears from the Lord: "Leave your country." Not to physically move himself, which he had already done, but to remove the love of it from his mind. Therefore, what follows: Then he left the land of the Chaldeans, does not signify a physical departure, but a departure of the mind, by which he separated himself forever from the conversation and people of the Chaldeans. Because according to the belief of the Chroniclers, in the same year he left Chaldea, entered Mesopotamia, stayed in Haran, and was led into the promised land.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Acts 7:5
Thus did [Abraham] await patiently the promise of God and was unwilling to appear to receive from people what God had promised to give him, when he said again to him as follows, “I will give this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.” If, then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his sojourn there, it must be, that together with his seed, that is, those who fear God and believe in him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For his seed is the church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as John the Baptist said, “For God is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

Source: AGAINST HERESIES 5.32.2
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:5
He shows here that the promise had been made before the place, before the circumcision, before sacrifice and before the temple. He also shows that it was not by merit that these people received either circumcision or law, but that obedience alone secured the land as its reward. And even though the circumcision has been given, the promise is not yet fulfilled.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 15
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:5
Do you see how what occurred contradicted the promise? Again he said, “In Isaac will your seed be named,” and Abraham believed. Then he says, “Offer to me as sacrifice this,” while this was the one who was to fill all the world from his seed. Did you notice the contradiction between the commands and the promise? He commanded what was in opposition to the promises. Yet not even so did the just man lose his head or say that he had been deceived.

Source: ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 25.1
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:6
For whence was Noah "found righteous," if in his case the righteousness of a natural law had not preceded? Whence was Abraham accounted "a friend of God," if not on the ground of equity and righteousness, (in the observance) of a natural law? Whence was Melchizedek named "priest of the most high God," if, before the priesthood of the Levitical law, there were not levites who were wont to offer sacrifices to God? For thus, after the above-mentioned patriarchs, was the Law given to Moses, at that (well-known) time after their exode from Egypt, after the interval and spaces of four hundred years. In fact, it was after Abraham's "four hundred and thirty years" that the Law was given.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:6
Notice how many years ago was the promise made and the way in which it was made, and no mention of sacrifice anywhere, or of circumcision. Here he shows how God himself allowed them to suffer terribly, and yet he had no complaint against them. Nevertheless their enemies did act with impunity. “ ‘But I will judge the nation which they serve,’ said God.” For it was to prevent them from judging people as pious according to the saying, “He puts his trust in God; now let God rescue him” that he, who promised and who gave the land, first permits the sufferings. Likewise also now, even though he had promised a kingdom, he allows us to practice obedience through trial. It was only after four hundred years that the freedom came, so is it any wonder that one has to wait in the case of the kingdom? Nonetheless he did what he promised, and time did not prevail to cast into falsehood his word.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 16
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:6-34
"And God spoke on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve Me in this place."

See, what a number of years the Promise has been given, and the manner of the Promise, and nowhere sacrifice, nowhere circumcision! He here shows, how God Himself suffered them to be afflicted, not that He had anything to lay to their charge. "And they shall bring them into bondage," etc. But nevertheless, they did not these things with impunity. "And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage I will judge, said God." For, "Seest thou?" So Edd.}--> to show that they are not to go by this, in estimating who are pious (by reason of their saying, "He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him,") [Matthew 27:43].— He, the Same that promised, He that gave the land, first permits the evils. So also now, though He has promised a Kingdom, yet He suffers us to be exercised in temptations. If here the freedom was not to be till after four hundred years, what wonder, with regard to the Kingdom? Yet he performed it, and lapse of time availed not to falsify His word. Moreover, it was no ordinary bondage they underwent. And the matter does not terminate solely in the punishment of those (their oppressors); but they themselves also, He says, shall enjoy a mighty salvation. Here he reminds them too of the benefit which they enjoyed. "And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so he begot Isaac." Here he lets himself down to lower matters. "And circumcised him on the eighth day: and Isaac (begot) Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs." [Acts 7:8].— Here he seems to hint now at the type. "And the patriarchs moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt." [Acts 7:9] Here again, the type of Christ. Though they had no fault to find with him, and though he came on purpose to bring them their food, they thus ill-treated him. Still here again the promise, though it is a long while first, receives its fulfillment. "And God was with him"— this also is for them — "and delivered him out of all his afflictions." [Acts 7:10]. He shows that unknowingly they helped to fulfil the prophecy, and that they were themselves the cause, and that the evils recoiled on their own selves. "And gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, Gave him favor," in the eyes of a barbarian, to him, the slave, the captive: his brethren sold him, this (barbarian) honored him. "Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren." [Acts 7:11-13]. They came down to buy, and had to depend upon him for everything. What then did he? ["He made himself known to his brethren:"] not to this point only did he carry his friendliness; he also made them known to Pharaoh, and brought them down into the land. "And Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose, which knew not Joseph." [Acts 7:13-18]. Then again, fresh disappointment (ἀ νελπιστία): first, famine, but they came through that: secondly, the falling into the hands of their enemy: thirdly, the being destroyed by the king. Then (to show) God's fullness of ways and means (εὐμήχανον), "In which time," it says, "Moses was born, and was exceeding fair." [Acts 7:20] If the former circumstance was wonderful, that Joseph was sold by his brethren, here again is another circumstance more wonderful still, that the king "nourished" the very person who was to overthrow his dominion, being himself the person that was to perish. Do you observe all along a figurative enacting, so to say, of the resurrection of the dead? But it is not the same thing for God himself to do a thing, and for a thing to come to pass in connection with man's purpose (προαίρεσις). For these things indeed were in connection with man's purpose [but the Resurrection by itself, independently.]— "And he was mighty," it says, "in word and in deed" [Acts 7:22]: he that was to have died. Then again he shows how ungrateful they were to their benefactor. For, just as in the former instance, they were saved by the injured Joseph, so here again they were saved by another injured person, I mean, Moses. "And when he was full forty years old," etc. For what though they killed him not actually? In intention they did kill, as did the others in the former case. There, they sold out of their own into a strange land: here, they drive from one strange land into another strange land: in the former case, one in the act of bringing them food; in this, one in the act of giving them good counsel; one to whom, under God, the man was indebted for his life! Mark how it shows (the truth of) that saying of Gamaliel's, "If it be of God, you cannot overthrow it." [Acts 5:39] See the plotted-against eventually becoming the authors of salvation to those plotting against them: the people, plotting against itself, and itself plotted against by others; and for all this, saved! A famine, and it did not consume them: nor was this all: but they were saved by means of the very person, whom they had expected to be destroyed (by their means). A royal edict, and it did not consume them: nay then most did their number increase, when he was dead "who knew" them. Their own Saviour they wished to kill, but for all that, they had not power to do it. Do you observe, that by the means whereby the devil tried to bring to naught the promise of God, by those very means it was advanced?

"And God spoke on this wise," etc. (Recapitulation, v. 6, 7.) This is suitable to be said here also: that God is rich in ways and means to bring us up from hence. For this above all showed the riches of God's resources, that in its very reverses (ἀ ποστροφῇ) the nation increased, while enslaved, while evil-entreated, and sought to be exterminated. And this is the greatness of the Promise. For had it increased in its own land, it had not been so wonderful. And besides, it was not for a short time, either, that they were in the strange land: but for four hundred years. Hence we learn a (great lesson) of philosophic endurance (φιλοσοφίαν):— they did not treat them as masters use slaves, but as enemies and tyrants — and he foretold that they should be set in great liberty: for this is the meaning of that expression, "They shall serve (Me): and they shall come up hither again" (ἐ νταὕθα ἐπανελεύσονται); and with impunity. — And observe, how, while he seems to concede something to circumcision, he in fact allows it nothing [Acts 7:8]; since the Promise was before it, and it followed after.— "And the patriarchs," he says, "moved with envy." [Acts 7:9] Where it does no harm, he humors (χαρίζεται) them: for they prided themselves much on these also.— And he shows, that the saints were not exempt from tribulation, but that in their very tribulations they obtained help. And that these persons did themselves help to bring about the results, who wished to cut short these same (afflictions): just as these made Joseph the more glorious: just as the king did Moses, by ordering the children to be killed: since had he not ordered, this would not have been: just as also that (Hebrew) drives Moses into exile, that there he may have the Vision, having become worthy. Thus also him who was sold for a slave, makes He to reign as king there, where he was thought to be a slave. Thus also does Christ in His death give proof of His power: thus also does He there reign as king where they sold Him. "And gave him favor and wisdom," etc. [Acts 7:10] This was not only by way of honor, but that he should have confidence in his own power. "And he made him governor over Egypt and all his house." "Now there came a dearth," etc. On account of famine — such preparations is he making — "with threescore and fifteen souls," he says, "Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem." [Acts 7:11-16]. It shows, that they were not masters even to the extent of a burying-place. "But when the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose, which knew not Joseph" (v. 17, 18). Observe, that it is not during the four hundred years that He multiplies them, but (only) when the end was about to draw near. And yet already four hundred years were passed, nay more, in Egypt. But this is the wonder of it. "The same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil-entreated our fathers, that they should cast out their young children, to the end they might not live." [Acts 7:19] "Dealt subtly:" he hints at their not liking to exterminate them openly: "that they should cast out their young children," it says. "In which time Moses was born and was exceeding fair." [Acts 7:20] This is the wonder, that he who is to be their champion, is born, neither after nor before, these things, but in the very midst of the storm (θυμῷ). "And was nourished up in his father's house three months." But when man's help was despaired of, and they cast him forth, then did God's benefit shine forth conspicuous. "And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son." [Acts 7:21] Not a word of Temple, not a word of Sacrifice, while all these Providences are taking place. And he was nourished in a barbarian house. "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." [Acts 7:22] "Was trained," both in discipline and in letters. "And when he was full forty years old." [Acts 7:23] Forty years he was there, and was not found out from his being circumcised. Observe, how, being in safety, they overlook their own interests, both he and Joseph, in order that they may save others: "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not." [Acts 7:23-25]— See how up to this point he is not yet offensive to them; how they listened to him while he said all this. And "his face," we read, "was as the face of an angel" [Acts 6:15].— "For he supposed," etc. And yet it was by deeds that his championship was shown; what intelligence was there need of here? But still for all this "they understood not. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, you are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?" [Acts 7:26-28] Do you mark with what mildness he addresses them? He who had shown his wrath in the case of the other, shows his gentleness in his own case. "But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Will you kill me, as you did the Egyptian yesterday?" Mark; the very words which they said to Christ: "Who made You ruler and judge over us?" So habitual a thing was it for Jews to wrong (their benefactors) when in the act of receiving benefits! And again, mark the atrocious baseness: (μιαρίαν al. μοχθηρίαν, Sav. marg.) "As you did the Egyptian yesterday! Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons." [Acts 7:29] But neither did flight extinguish the plan of Providence, as neither did death (i.e. the death of Christ).

"And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush." [Acts 7:30] Do you mark that it is not hindered by lapse of time? For when he was an exile, when a stranger, when he had now passed much time in a foreign land, so as to have two sons, when he no longer expected to return, then does the Angel appear to him. The Son of God he calls an Angel, as also he calls Him man. (Appears) in the desert, not in a temple. See how many miracles are taking place, and no word of Temple, no word of Sacrifice. And here also not simply in the desert, but in the bush. "When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him." [Acts 7:31] Lo! He was deemed worthy of the Voice also. "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." (v. 32, 33.) Lo! how He shows that He is none other than "the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" — He, "the Angel of the Great Counsel." (Isaiah 9:6. LXX. "Wonderful, Counsellor," E.V.) Here he shows what great loving-kindness God herein exhibits. "Then Moses trembled, and dared not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off your shoes from your feet; for the place where you stand is holy ground." Not a word of Temple, and the place is holy through the appearance and operation of Christ. Far more wonderful this than the place which is in the Holy of Holies: for there God is nowhere said to have appeared in this manner, nor Moses to have thus trembled. And then the greatness of His tender care. "I have seen, I have seen the affliction of My people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you into Egypt." [Acts 7:34] See, how he shows, that both by kindnesses, and by chastisements, and by miracles, God was drawing them to Him: but they were still the same. That God is everywhere present, they learned.

Hearing these things, let us in our afflictions flee to Him. "And their groaning," says He, "I have heard:" not simply, "because of their calamities." But if any should ask, Why then did He suffer them to be evil entreated there? Why, in the first place, to every just man his sufferings are the causes of his rewards. And in the next place, as to why He afflicted them: it was to show His power, that He can (do all), and not only so, but that He may also train them. Observe in fact; when they were in the desert, then they "waxed fat, they grew thick, they spread out in breadth, they kicked" [Deuteronomy 32:15]: and ever and always ease was an evil. Therefore also from the beginning He said to Adam: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread." [Genesis 3:19] Also (it was) in order that having come out of much suffering into rest, they might give thanks to God. For affliction is a great good. For hear the Prophet saying, "It is good for me, that You have humbled me." [Psalm 119:71] But if to great and wonderful men affliction be a great (good), much more to us. And, if you will, let us examine into the nature of affliction as it is in itself. Let there be some person rejoicing exceedingly, and gay, and giving a loose to jollity: what more unseemly, what more senseless than this? Let there be one sorrowing and dejected: what more truly philosophic than this? For, "It is better," we read, "to go into the house of mourning, than into the house of laughter." [Ecclesiastes 7:2] But, likely enough, you do not like the saying, and want to evade it. Let us however see, what sort of man Adam was in Paradise, and what he was afterwards: what sort of man Cain was before, and what he was afterwards. The soul does not stand fast in its proper place, but, like as by a running tide, (ῥ εύματος, Edd. πνεύματος, "wind") is raised and buoyed up by pleasure, having no steadfastness; facile in making professions, prompt at promising; the thoughts all in restless commotion: laughter ill-timed, causeless hilarity, idle clatter of unmeaning talk. And why speak of others? Let us take in hand some one of the saints, and let us see what he was while in pleasure, what again, when in distress. Shall we look at David himself? When he was in pleasure and rejoicing, from his many trophies, from his victory, from his crowns, from his luxurious living, from his confidence, see what sort of things he said and did: "But I said in my prosperity," says he, "I shall never be moved." [Psalm 30:6] But when he has come to be in affliction, hear what he says: "And if He say to me, I have no mind for you; lo! Here am I, let Him do that which is pleasing in His sight." [2 Samuel 15:26] What can be more truly philosophic than these words? "Whatsoever may be pleasing to God," says he, "so let it be." And again he said to Saul: "If the Lord stirs you up against me, may your sacrifice be acceptable." [1 Samuel 26:19] And then too, being in affliction, he spared even his enemies: but afterwards, not friends even, nor those who had done him no injury. Again, Jacob when he was in affliction, said: "If the Lord will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on." [Genesis 28:20] As also the son of Noah did nothing of the kind erewhile; but when he was no longer afraid for his safety, you hear how wanton he became. [Genesis 9:22] Hezekiah too, when he was in affliction, see what things he did in order to his deliverance; he put on sackcloth, and such like; but when he was in pleasure, he fell through the haughtiness of his heart. [2 Kings 19:20] For, says the Scripture, "When you have eaten, and drunk, and art filled, take heed to yourself." [Deuteronomy 6:11-12] For perilous, as on a precipice's brink, is the post of affluence. "Take heed," says he, "to yourself." When the Israelites were afflicted, they became all the more increased in number: but when He left them to themselves, then they all went to ruin. And why speak of examples from the ancients? In our own times, let us see, if you please, is it not the case, that when the most are in good case, they become puffed up, hostile to everybody, passionate, while the power is with them: but if it be taken away, they are gentle, lowly (and as) human beings, are brought to a consciousness of their own natural condition. Therefore the Scripture says, "Pride has holden them unto the end: their iniquity shall go forth as from fatness." [Psalm 73:6, Septuagint]

Now these things I have spoken, that we should not make enjoyment every way our object. How then does Paul say, "Rejoice always?" He does not say simply, "Rejoice," but he adds, "in the Lord." [Philippians 4:4] This is the greatest joy, such as the Apostles rejoiced withal; the joy of which prisons, and scourges, and persecutions, and evil report, and all painful things, are the source, and the root, and the occasion; whence also it comes to a happy issue. But that of the world, on the contrary, begins with sweets and ends in bitters. Neither do I forbid to rejoice in the Lord, nay, I earnestly exhort to this. The Apostles were scourged, and they rejoiced: were bound, and they gave thanks: were stoned, and they preached. This is the joy I also would have: from nothing bodily has it its origin, but from spiritual things. It is not possible for him who joys after the fashion of the world, to rejoice also after a godly sort: for every one who joys after the world's fashion, has his joy in riches, in luxury, in honor, in power, in arrogance: but he who rejoices after the mind of God, has his joy in dishonor for God's sake, in poverty, in want, in fasting, in humbleness of mind. Do you see, how opposite are the grounds (of joy)? To go without joy here, is to be without grief also: and to be without grief here, is to go without pleasure too. And in truth these are the things which produce real joy, since the others have the name only of joy, but they altogether consist of pain. What misery the arrogant man endures! How is he cut short (διακόπτεται) in the midst of his arrogance, bespeaking for himself numberless insults, much hatred, great enmity, exceeding spite, and many an evil eye! Whether it be that he is insulted by greater men, he grieves: or that he cannot make his stand against everybody, he is mortified. Whereas the humble man lives in much enjoyment: expecting honor from none, if he receive honor, he is pleased, but if not, he is not grieved. He takes it contentedly that he is honored; but above all, none dishonors him. Now not to seek honor, and yet to be honored— great must be the enjoyment of this. But in the other, it is just the reverse: he seeks honor, and is not honored. And the pleasure that the honor gives is not the same to him who seeks it, as it is to him who seeks it not. The one, however much he receives, thinks he has received nothing: the other, though you give him ever so little, takes it as though he had received all. Then again, he who lives in affluence and luxury has numberless affairs of business, and let his revenues flow in to him ever so easily, and, as it were, from full fountains, yet he fears the evils arising from luxurious living, and the uncertainty of the future: but the other is always in a state of security and enjoyment, having accustomed himself to scantiness of diet. For he does not so bemoan himself at not partaking of a sumptuous board, as he luxuriates in not fearing the uncertainty of the future. But the evils arising from luxurious living, how many and great they are, none can be ignorant: it is necessary, however, to mention them now. Twofold the war, in the body, and in the soul: twofold the storm: twofold the diseases; not only in this respect, but because they are both incurable, and bring with them great calamities. Not so, frugality: but here is twofold health, twofold the benefits. "Sleep of health," we read, "is in moderate eating." [Sirach 31:20] For everywhere, that which keeps measure is pleasant, that which is beyond measure, ceases to please. For say now: on a little spark put a great pile of fagots, and you will no longer see the fire shining, but much disagreeable smoke. On a very strong and large man lay a burden which exceeds his strength, and you will see him with his burden lying prostrate on the ground. Embark too large a freight in your vessel, and you have ensured a grievous shipwreck. Just so it is here. For just as in overladen ships, great is the tumult of the sailors, the pilot, the man at the prow, and the passengers, while they cast into the sea the things above deck, and things below; so here too, with their vomitings upwards, and their purgings downwards, they mar their constitutions, and destroy themselves. And what is the most shameful of all, the mouth is made to do the office of the nether parts, and that becomes the more shameful member. But if to the mouth the disgrace be such, think what must it be in the soul! For indeed there it is all mist, all storm, all darkness, great the uproar of the thoughts, at being so thronged and crushed, the soul itself crying out at the abuse done to it: all (the parts and faculties) complaining of one another, beseeching, entreating, that the filth may be discharged somewhere. And after it is flung out, still the turmoil is not at an end; but then comes fever and diseases. "And how comes it," say you, "that one may see these luxurious livers, in goodly plight, riding on horseback? What idle talk is this," say you, "to tell us of diseases? It is I that am diseased, I that am racked, I that am disgusting, while I have nothing to eat." Ah me! For one may well lament at such words. But the sufferers with the gout, the men that are carried on litters, the men that are swathed with bandages, from what class of people, I ask you, shall we see these? And indeed, were it not that they would deem it an insult, and think my words opprobrious, I would before now have addressed them even by name. "But there are some of them, who are in good health as well." Because they give themselves not merely to luxurious living, but also to labors. Else show me a man, who does nothing whatever but fatten himself, free from pain as he lies there, without an anxious thought. For though a host of physicians without number came together, they would not be able to rescue him from his diseases. It is not in the nature of things. For I will hold you a medical discourse. Of the matters sent down into the belly, not all becomes nourishment; since even in the food itself, not all is nutritive, but part of it in the process of digestion passes into stool, part is turned into nourishment. If then in the process of digestion the operation is perfect, this is the result, and each finds its proper place; the wholesome and useful part betakes itself to its appropriate place, while that which is superfluous and useless, withdraws itself, and passes off. But if it be in too great quantity, then even the nutritive part of it becomes hurtful. And, to speak by way of example, in order that my meaning may be clearer to you: in wheat part is fine flour, part meal, part bran: now if the mill be able to grind (what is put in), it separates all these: but if you put in too much, all becomes mixed up together. Wine again, if it go through its proper process of formation, and under due influence of the seasons, then, whereas at first all is mixed together, anon part settles into lees, part rises into scum, part remains for enjoyment to those that use it, and this is the good part, and will not readily undergo any change. But what they call "nourishment," is neither wine, nor lees, while all are mixed up together.— The same may be seen in the river, when its waters make a whirling flood. As at such time we see the fishes floating at top, dead, their eyes first blinded by the muddy slime: so is it with us. For when gormandizing, like a flood of rain, has drenched the inward parts, it puts all in a whirl, and makes that the faculties (λογισμοὶ), healthy till then and living in a pure element, drift lifeless on the surface. Since then by all these examples we have shown how great the mischief is, let us cease to count these men happy for that, for which we ought to think them wretched, and to bemoan ourselves for that, for which we ought to count ourselves happy, and let us welcome sufficiency with a contented mind. Or do you not hear even what physicians tell you, that "want is the mother of health?" But what I say is, that want is mother, not of bodily health, but also of that of the soul. These things Paul also, that physician indeed, cries aloud; when he says, "Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content." [1 Timothy 6:8] Let us therefore do as he bids us, that so, being in sound health, we may perform the work that we ought to do, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost together be glory, dominion, honor, now and ever, world without end. Amen.

Source: Homily 16 on the Acts of the Apostles
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:6
For his seed shall be a stranger in a foreign land, and they shall subject them to slavery and mistreat them for four hundred years. It should not be understood as if he said that this seed would be mistreated or subjected to slavery for those four hundred years, but by a hyperbaton it should be read that his seed would be strangers for four hundred years, during part of which time slavery also occurred. For it is written: "In Isaac shall your seed be called" (Gen. XXI), and from the year of Isaac's birth to the year of the exodus from Egypt four hundred and five years are counted, which Scripture, in its manner, calls four hundred years, during which that seed would be strangers, either in the land of Canaan or in Egypt. It can also be understood that from Isaac's fifth year, when through the son of the bondwoman, affliction began, the labor of four hundred years is counted.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:7
It is fitting to say here that God is rich in ways to lift us up, since the resourcefulness of God was especially clear here. For even as it suffered reverses—enslavement, maltreatment, slaughter—the nation increased.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 16
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:8
since the Promise was before it, and it followed after.— And the patriarchs, he says, moved with envy.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:9
Where it does no harm, he humors (χαρίζεται) them: for they prided themselves much on these also.— And he shows, that the saints were not exempt from tribulation, but that in their very tribulations they obtained help. And that these persons did themselves help to bring about the results, who wished to cut short these same (afflictions): just as these made Joseph the more glorious: just as the king did Moses, by ordering the children to be killed: since had he not ordered, this would not have been: just as also that (Hebrew) drives Moses into exile, that there he may have the Vision, having become worthy. Thus also him who was sold for a slave, makes He to reign as king there, where he was thought to be a slave. Thus also does Christ in His death give proof of His power: thus also does He there reign as king where they sold Him. And gave him favor and wisdom, etc.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:10
See how it demonstrates what Gamaliel said, “If it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy it.” See how the victims of plots became the authors of salvation to those plotting against them; how the word, plotting against itself and itself plotted against by others, was saved for all this. The famine did not destroy them. And not only that, but they were saved through him who was expected to perish. The royal edict did not destroy them. Their number at that time rather increased, because he died, the one who knew them. Their savior they wished to kill, but for all that, they had not the power to do it. Do you see how by the very means the devil tries to break the promise of God, the promise is increased?

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 16
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:10
Thus even the one who was sold as slave, he makes him reign as a king in the place where he was considered a slave. Just as Christ also in death shows his power, so he reigns there, where they sold him.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 16
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:14
Joseph called his father Jacob and all his kin, seventy-five souls. He follows the Septuagint in saying this, but in the Hebrew truth, only seventy souls are found. And if you wish to count the series of souls in Genesis, adding Jacob himself and Joseph with his two sons who were in Egypt, you will find only seventy souls.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:16
And he died and our fathers, and they were carried over to Shechem. Concerning Joseph alone, Scripture relates that his bones were transferred from Egypt and buried in Shechem. But from these blessed Stephen’s words and from the writings of Saint Jerome, who lived in those places, it should be noted that the other patriarchs were also buried there, although the memory of Joseph is deservedly more celebrated, since he himself commanded that this be done with his bones, and the city itself belonged to his tribe. Indeed, Jerome in the history of blessed Paula relates thus: "He passed (he says) through Shechem, not as many mistakenly read Sichar, which is now called Neapolis, and around Jacob’s well, built on the side of Mount Garizim, over which the Lord sat, he entered the church." And soon after: "And from there (he says) turning, he saw the tombs of the twelve patriarchs." Likewise in the book about the best kind of translation: "The twelve patriarchs are not buried in Arbes, but in Shechem." But understandably, what follows troubles:

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:16
And they were placed in the tomb which Abraham bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. For Genesis teaches that Abraham bought the place of the tomb from Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, in Cariatharba, for four hundred silver shekels, in which Abraham himself, Isaac, Jacob, and Adam the first man were buried. And also Jacob, returning from Mesopotamia, received a portion of the field near the city of Shechem, where he pitched his tents, from Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred lambs given. Therefore, Abraham did not buy the sepulcher from Hamor the Shechemite but from Ephron the Hittite, in which the twelve patriarchs were not buried, but in Shechem, as we have said. However, blessed Stephen, speaking commonly, follows the common opinion more in his speech. For combining two narratives together, he aims not so much at the proper order of the surrounding history as at the cause in question, which was being discussed. For he who was accused of teaching against the holy place and the law proceeds to show how Jesus Christ is shown from the law to be promised, and that they did not choose to serve Moses then, nor the Lord now. These things I have said as I could, not prejudicing a better judgment, if one be present. Moreover, where it is said: From the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem, it is written in the Greek example: From the sons of Hamor, who was in Shechem, which seems to agree more with the history of Genesis, though it may have happened that the same Hamor had a father and son named Shechem.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:16
And they were placed in the sepulcher that Abraham had purchased for a sum of silver. In the Greek it is written: Our father Abraham, which the blessed Stephen added while speaking gently to his listeners so he would be heard longer and more willingly.

Source: Retractions on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:17
But when the time of the promise which God had confessed to Abraham was drawing near, namely that which was said: And after these things, they will go out and serve me in this place.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:17
But when the time of the promise which God had confessed to Abraham approached, it is better written in Greek: Which God had promised to Abraham.

Source: Retractions on Acts
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:18
Then again, fresh disappointment (ἀ νελπιστία): first, famine, but they came through that: secondly, the falling into the hands of their enemy: thirdly, the being destroyed by the king.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:18
Then again, fresh disappointment (ἀ νελπιστία): first, famine, but they came through that: secondly, the falling into the hands of their enemy: thirdly, the being destroyed by the king. Then (to show) God's fullness of ways and means (εὐμήχανον), In which time, it says, Moses was born, and was exceeding fair.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:20
Then (to show) God's fullness of ways and means (εὐμήχανον), In which time, it says, Moses was born, and was exceeding fair. Acts 7:20 If the former circumstance was wonderful, that Joseph was sold by his brethren, here again is another circumstance more wonderful still, that the king nourished the very person who was to overthrow his dominion, being himself the person that was to perish. Do you observe all along a figurative enacting, so to say, of the resurrection of the dead? But it is not the same thing for God himself to do a thing, and for a thing to come to pass in connection with man's purpose (προαίρεσις). For these things indeed were in connection with man's purpose [but the Resurrection by itself, independently.]
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:21
If it was astonishing that Joseph was sold by his brothers, here is something even more astonishing. The king who was to perish nourished the one who was to overthrow his rule. Do you see in all this a figurative enacting, so to speak, of the resurrection of the dead? Yet it is not the same for God himself to do something and for it to come to pass as an act by human choice. For these things indeed came to pass by human choice.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 16
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Acts 7:22
Josephus says, that when Moses had been brought up in the royal palaces, he was chosen as general against the Ethiopians; and having proved victorious, obtained in marriage the daughter of that king, since indeed, out of her affection for him, she delivered the city up to him.

Source: Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on Acts 7:22
He learned, besides, the literature of the Egyptians, and the knowledge of the heavenly bodies from the Chaldeans and the Egyptians; whence in the Acts

Source: Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book I
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Acts 7:22
During the time Moses was in Egypt and “was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” he was not “feeble in speech” or “slow in tongue,” nor did he profess to be ineloquent. For, so far as concerned the Egyptians, his speech was sonorous and his eloquence incomparable. But when he began to hear the voice of God and recognize divine communications, then he perceived his own voice to be meager and feeble, and he understands his own tongue to be slow and impeded. When he began to recognize that true Word which “was in the beginning with God,” then he announces that he is mute. But let us use an analogy that what we are saying may be more easily understood. If a rational person is compared with the dumb animals, although he may be ignorant and unlearned, he will appear eloquent in comparison with those who are devoid of both reason and speech. But if he is compared with learned and eloquent people who are most excellent in all wisdom, he will appear ineloquent and dumb. But if someone should contemplate the divine Word himself and look at the divine wisdom itself, however learned and wise he be, he will confess that he is a dumb animal in comparison with God to a much greater extent than the cattle are in comparison with us.

Source: HOMILIES ON EXODUS 3.1
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on Acts 7:22
Thus Moses led the people out of Egypt, and everyone who follows in the steps of Moses in this way sets free from the Egyptian tyrant all those guided by his word. Those who follow the leader to virtue must, I think, not lack the wealth of Egypt or be deprived of the treasures of the foreigners, but having acquired all the property of their enemies, they must have it for their own use. This is exactly what Moses then commanded the people to do.… It commands those participating through virtue in the free life also to equip themselves with the wealth of pagan learning by which foreigners to the faith beautify themselves. Our guide in virtue commands someone who “borrows” from wealthy Egyptians to receive such things as moral and natural philosophy, geometry, astronomy, dialectic, and whatever else is sought by those outside the church, since these things will be useful when in time the divine sanctuary of mystery must be beautified with the riches of reason.Those who treasured up for themselves such wealth handed it over to Moses as he was working on the tent of mystery, each one making his personal contribution to the construction of the holy places. It is possible to see this happening even now. For many bring to the church of God their profane learning as a kind of gift: Such a man was the great Basil, who acquired the Egyptian wealth in every respect during his youth and dedicated this wealth to God for the adornment of the church, the true tabernacle.

Source: LIFE OF MOSES 2.112, 115-16
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:27
Who made you a ruler and judge over us? In his entire speech, he convicted them, already then being contrary to the law and Moses.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:31-32
And as he came near to observe, the voice of the Lord came: I am the God of your fathers. In the Greek it is written thus: A voice came from heaven saying to him: I am the God of your brothers, remove the sandals from your feet. For the place where you stand is holy ground. This place, according to moral sense, admonishes us that while standing in the Church, which is rightly called holy ground, we should renounce dead works.

Source: Retractions on Acts
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on Acts 7:33
It is upon us who continue in this quiet and peaceful course of life that the truth will shine, illuminating the eyes of our soul with its own rays. This truth, which was then manifested by the ineffable and mysterious illumination that came to Moses, is God. And if the flame by which the soul of the prophet was illuminated was kindled from a thorny bush, even this fact will not be useless for our inquiry. For if truth is God and truth is light … such guidance of virtue leads us to know that light that has reached down even to human nature.… From this we learn also the mystery of the Virgin: The light of divinity which through birth shone from her into human life did not consume the burning bush, even as the flower of her virginity was not withered by giving birth. That light teaches us what we must do to stand within the rays of the true light: Sandaled feet cannot ascend that height where the light of truth is seen, but the dead and earthly covering skins, which was placed around our nature at the beginning when we were found naked because of disobedience to the divine will, must be removed from the feet of the soul. When we do this, the knowledge of the truth will result and manifest itself. The full knowledge of being comes about by purifying our opinion concerning nonbeing.

Source: LIFE OF MOSES 2.19-22
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:34
Hearing these things, let us in our afflictions flee to him. “And their groans,” says he, “I have heard,” and not simply, “because of their calamities.” But if someone should ask, “Why did he allow them to be mistreated there?” we would answer: above all it was because sufferings are justly the cause of rewards. Then “why did he mistreat them?” To show his power, that he is able; and not only this but also to educate them. Notice, in fact, that when they were in the desert, they “became fat, grew thick, spread out in girth and kicked.” As always, ease was an evil. Therefore in the very beginning he said to Adam, “With sweat on your brow shall you eat your bread.” And also that they might give thanks to God after they have come out of much suffering into respite. For affliction is a great good. Listen to what the prophet says: “It is good for me, O Lord, that you have humbled me.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 16
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:34
Prayer is a mighty weapon if offered with suitable mind. Learn its strength from the following examples! Continued entreaty has overcome shamelessness, injustice, savagery and effrontery, as when he says, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.” On another occasion, continued entreaty also overcame hesitation and accomplished what friendship did not. “Even though he will not give to him because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give to him.” Tireless persistence also made her worthy who was unworthy. “It is not fair,” he said, “to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Let us then devote ourselves to prayer. It is a mighty weapon if offered with earnestness, without vainglory and with a sincere mind. Prayer routed enemies and benefited an entire nation, undeserving though it was. “I have heard their groaning,” he said, “and I have come down to rescue them.” Prayer is a saving medicine and has power to prevent sins and heal misdeeds. It was to prayer that the widow, left all alone, turned her mind.

Source: ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 27.9
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:35-52
"This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel which appeared to him in the bush."

This is very suitable to the matter in hand. "This Moses," he says. "This," the man who had been in danger of losing his life; the man who had been set at naught by them; "this" the man whom they had declined: "this" same, God having raised up, sent unto them. "Whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler?" just as they themselves (the hearers) said, "We have no king, but Cæsar." [John 19:15] He here shows also, that what was then done, was done by Christ. "The same did God send by the hand of the Angel," who said to him, "I am the God of Abraham." "This" same Moses, he says — and observe how he points to his renown — "this" same Moses, he says, "brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses, which said to the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like me" (v. 36, 37): set at naught like me. Him, likewise, Herod wished to kill, and in Egypt He found preservation just as it was with the former, even when He was a babe, He was aimed at for destruction. "This is he, that was in the Church in the wilderness with the Angel which spoke to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us." [Acts 7:38] Again no mention of temple, none of sacrifice. "With the Angel," it says, "he received the lively oracles to give unto the fathers." It shows, that he not only wrought miracles, but also gave a law, as Christ did. Just as Christ first works miracles, and then legislates: so did Moses. But they did not hear him, keeping their disobedience, even after the miracles: "To whom," he says, "our fathers would not obey:" [Acts 7:39] after the wonders done in those forty years. And not only so, but just the contrary: "but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt. Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us; for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the Prophets, O you house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which you made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon." (v. 40, 43.) The expression, "gave them up," means, He suffered. "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion he had seen." [Acts 7:44] Even when there was a Tabernacle, yet there were no sacrifices. "Did ye offer unto Me slain beasts and sacrifices?" [Amos 5:25] There was "the tabernacle of witness," and yet it profited them nothing, but they were consumed. But neither before, nor afterwards, did the miracles profit them anything. "Which also, our fathers that came after brought in." Do you see, how the holy place is there wherever God may be? For to this end also he says, "in the wilderness," to compare place with place. Then the benefit (conferred upon them): And our fathers that came after brought it in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. (v. 45, 46.) David "desired to find favor:" and he built not, he, the wonderful, the great; but the castaway, Solomon. "But Solomon," it says, "built Him a house. Howbeit the Most High dwells not in (places) made with hands." [Acts 7:47-50] This was shown indeed already by what had been before said: but it is shown also by the voice of a prophet; "What house will you build for Me? Says the Lord God. As says the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will you build for me? Says the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?" [Isaiah 66:1-2]

Marvel not, he says, if they on whom Christ confers His benefits refuse His kingdom, seeing in the case of Moses it was just the same. (Recapitulation). "He brought them out;" and rescued them not in a general way, but also while they were in the wilderness. "Wonders and signs," etc. [Acts 7:35-50] Do you mark that they themselves (Stephen's hearers) are concerned in those old miracles also? "This is that Moses:" [Acts 7:37] he, that conversed with God; he, that had been saved out of situations so strange and wonderful; he, that wrought so great works, and had so great power. ["Which said to the children of Israel, A prophet," etc.] He shows, that the prophecy must by all means be fulfilled, and that Moses is not opposed to Him. "This is he that was in the Church in the wilderness, and, that said to the children of Israel." [Acts 7:38] Do you mark that thence comes the root, and that "salvation is from the Jews?" [John 4:22] "With the Angel," it says, "which spoke unto him." [Romans 11:16] Lo, again he affirms that it was He (Christ) that gave the Law, seeing Moses was with "Him" in the Church in the wilderness. And here he puts them in mind of a great marvel, of the things done in the Mount: "Who received living oracles to give unto us." On all occasions Moses is wonderful, and (so) when need was to legislate. What means the expression, "Living oracles" (λόγια)? Those, whereof the end was shown by words (διὰ λόγων): in other words, he means the prophecies. Then follows the charge, in the first instance, against the patriarchs [after], the "signs and wonders," after the receiving of the "lively oracles: To whom," he says, "our fathers would not obey." [Acts 7:39] But concerning those, Ezekiel says that they are not "living;" as when he says, "And I gave you statutes that are not good." [Ezekiel 20:25] It is with reference to those that he says, "Living. But thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt"— the place where they groaned, where they cried, whence they called upon God. "And said to Aaron, Make us gods which shall go before us." [Acts 7:40] O the folly! "Make," say they; "that they may go before us." Whither? "Into Egypt." See how hard they were to tear away from the customs of Egypt! What do you say? What, not wait for him that brought you out, but flee the benefit, and deny the Benefactor? And mark how insulting they are: "For as for this Moses," they say:— "which brought us out of the land of Egypt" nowhere the name of God: instead of that, they ascribed all to Moses. Where they ought to give thanks (to God), they bring Moses forward: where it was, to do as the Law bade them, they no longer make account of Moses. "We know not what has become of him." And yet he told them that he was going up to receive the Law: and they had not patience to wait forty days. "Make us gods" — they did not say, "a God." — And yet one may well wonder at this, that they do not even know.— "And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands" [Acts 7:41]: for which they ought to have hid their faces. What wonder that you know not Christ, seeing ye knew not Moses, and God Who was manifested by such wonders? But they not only knew Him not: they also insulted in another way, by their idol making. "Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven" [Acts 7:42] Hence these same "customs" date their origin, hence the sacrifices: they were themselves the first that made sacrifices to their idols! For that is why it is marked, "They made a calf in Horeb, and offered sacrifices to the idol:" seeing that, before this the name of sacrifice is nowhere mentioned, but only lively ordinances, and "lively oracles. And rejoiced" — that is the reason for the feasts. [Exodus 32:5-6] "As it is written in the Book of the Prophets" — and observe, he does not cite the text without a purpose, but shows by it that there is no need of sacrifices; saying: "Did ye offer slain beasts and sacrifice to Me?"— He lays an emphasis on this word (to Me?). You cannot say that it was from sacrificing to Me, that you proceeded to sacrifice to them:— "by the space of forty years:" and this too, "in the wilderness," where He had most signally shown Himself their Protector. "Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan: images which you made to worship them." The cause of sacrifices! "And I will carry you away beyond Babylon." [Acts 7:43] Even the captivity, an impeachment of their wickedness! "But a Tabernacle," say you, "there was (the Tabernacle) 'of Witness.'" [Acts 7:44] (Yes,) this is why it was: that they should have God for Witness: this was all. "According to the fashion," it says, "that was shown you on the mount:" so that on the mount was the Original. And this Tabernacle, moreover, "in the wilderness," was carried about, and not locally fixed. And he calls it, "Tabernacle of witness:" i.e. (for witness) of the miracles, of the statutes. This is the reason why both it and those (the fathers) had no Temple. "As He had appointed, that spoke unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen." Again, it was none other than He (Christ) that gave the fashion itself. "Until the days of David" [Acts 7:45]: and there was no temple! And yet the Gentiles also had been driven out: for that is why he mentions this: "Whom God drove out," he says, "before the face of our fathers. Whom He drove out," he says: and even then, no Temple! And so many wonders, and no mention of a Temple! So that, although first there is a Tabernacle, yet nowhere a Temple. "Until the days of David," he says: even David, and no Temple! "And he sought to find favor before God" [Acts 7:46]: and built not:— so far was the Temple from being a great matter! "But Solomon built Him a house." [Acts 7:47] They thought Solomon was great: but that he was not better than his father, nay not even equal to him, is manifest. "Howbeit the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands; as says the prophet, Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool." (v. 48, 49.) Nay, not even these are worthy of God, forasmuch as they are made, seeing they are creatures, the works of His hand. See how he leads them on little by little (showing) that not even these are to be mentioned. And again the prophecy says openly, "What house will you build Me?" etc. [Acts 7:50]

What is the reason that at this point he speaks in the tone of invective (καταφορικὥς)? Great was his boldness of speech, when at the point to die: for in fact I think he knew that this was the case. "You stiffnecked," he says, "and uncircumcised in heart and ears." This also is from the prophets: nothing is of himself. "You do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." [Acts 7:51] When it was not His will that sacrifices should be, you sacrifice: when it is His will, then again ye do not sacrifice: when He would not give you commandments, you drew them to you: when you got them, you neglected them. Again, when the Temple stood, you worshipped idols: when it is His will to be worshipped without a Temple, you do the opposite. Observe, he says not, "You resist God," but, "the Spirit:" so far was he from knowing any difference between Them. And, what is greater: "As your fathers did," he says, "so do ye." Thus also did Christ (reproach them), forasmuch as they were always boasting much of their fathers. "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One:" he still says, "the Just One," wishing to check them: "of Whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers" — two charges he lays against them — "who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels, and have not kept it." [Acts 7:52] How, "By the disposition of Angels?" Some say (The Law), disposed by Angels; or, put into his hand by the Angel Who appeared to him in the bush; for was He man? No wonder that He who wrought those works, should also have wrought these. "You slew them who preached of Him," much more Himself. He shows them disobedient both to God, and to Angels, and the Prophets, and the Spirit, and to all: as also Scripture says elsewhere: "Lord, they have slain Your Prophets, and thrown down Your altars." [1 Kings 19:10] They, then, stand up for the Law, and say, "He blasphemes against Moses:" he shows, therefore, that it is they who blaspheme, and that (their blasphemy is not only against Moses, but) against God; shows that "they" from the very beginning have been doing this: that "they" have themselves destroyed their "customs," that there is no need of these: that while accusing him, and saying that he opposed Moses, they themselves were opposing the Spirit: and not merely opposing, but with murder added to it: and that they had their enmity all along from the very beginning. Do you see, that he shows them to be acting in opposition both to Moses and to all others, and not keeping the Law? And yet Moses had said, A Prophet shall the Lord raise up unto you: and the rest also told of this (Christ) that He would come: and the prophet again said, "What house will you build Me?" and again, "Did ye offer to Me slain beasts and sacrifices" those "forty years?" [Deuteronomy 18:18]

Such is the boldness of speech of a man bearing the Cross. Let us then also imitate this: though it be not a time of war, yet it is always the time for boldness of speech. For, "I spoke," says one, "in Your testimonies before kings, and was not ashamed." [Psalm 119:46] If we chance to be among heathens, let us thus stop their mouths. without wrath, without harshness. (Comp. Hom. in 1 Cor. iv. §6; xxxiii. §4, 5; Col. xi. §2.) For if we do it with wrath, it no longer seems to be the boldness (of one who is confident of his cause,) but passion: but if with gentleness, this is boldness indeed. For in one and the same thing success and failure cannot possibly go together. The boldness is a success: the anger is a failure. Therefore, if we are to have boldness, we must be clean from wrath that none may impute our words to that. No matter how just your words may be, when you speak with anger, you ruin all: no matter how boldly you speak, how fairly reprove, or what not. See this man, how free from passion as he discourses to them! For he did not abuse them: he did but remind them of the words of the Prophets. For, to show you that it was not anger, at the very moment he was suffering evil at their hands, he prayed, saying, "Lay not to their charge this sin." So far was he from speaking these words in anger; no, he spoke in grief and sorrow for their sakes. As indeed this is why it speaks of his appearance, that "they saw his face as it had been the face of an angel," on purpose that they might believe. Let us then be clean from wrath. The Holy Spirit dwells not where wrath is: cursed is the wrathful. It cannot be that anything wholesome should approach, where wrath goes forth. For as in a storm at sea, great is the tumult, loud the clamor, and then would be no time for lessons of wisdom (φιλοσοφεἵν): so neither in wrath. If the soul is to be in a condition either to say, or to be disciplined to, anything of philosophy, it must first be in the haven. Do you see not how, when we wish to converse on matters of serious import, we look out for places free from noise, where all is stillness, all calm, that we may not be put out and discomposed? But if noise from without discomposes, much more disturbance from within. Whether one pray, to no purpose does he pray "with wrath and disputings:" [1 Timothy 2:8] whether he speak, he will only make himself ridiculous: whether he hold his peace, so again it will be even then: whether he eat, he is hurt even then: whether he drink, or whether he drink not; whether he sit, or stand, or walk; whether he sleep: for even in their dreams such fancies haunt them. For what is there in such men that is not disagreeable? Eyes unsightly, mouth distorted, limbs agitated and swollen, tongue foul and sparing no man, mind distraught, gestures uncomely: much to disgust. Mark the eyes of demoniacs, and those of drunkards and madmen; in what do they differ from each other? Is not the whole madness? For what though it be but for the moment? The madman too is possessed for the moment: but what is worse than this? And they are not ashamed at that excuse; "I knew not (says one) what I said." And how came it that thou did not know this, thou the rational man, you that hast the gift of reason, on purpose that you may not act the part of the creatures without reason, just like a wild horse, hurried away by rage and passion? In truth, the very excuse is criminal. For you ought to have known what you said. "It was the passion," say you, "that spoke the words, not I." How should it be that? For passion has no power, except it get it from you. You might as well say, "It was my hand that inflicted the wounds, not I." What occasion, think you, most needs wrath? Would you not say, war and battle? But even then, if anything is done with wrath, the whole is spoiled and undone. For of all men, those who fight had best not be enraged: of all men, those had best not be enraged, who want to hurt (τοὺς ὑβρίζοντας). And how is it possible to fight then? You will ask. With reason, with self-command (ἐ πιεικεί& 139·): since fighting is, to stand in opposition. Do you see not that even these (common) wars are regulated by definite law, and order, and times? For wrath is nothing but an irrational impulse: and an irrational creature cannot possibly perform anything rational. For instance, the man here spoke such words, and did it without passion. And Elias said, How long will you halt on both your knees? [1 Kings 18:21] and spoke it not in passion. And Phinees slew, and did it without passion. For passion suffers not a man to see, but, just as in a night-battle, it leads him, with eyes blindfolded and ears stopped up, where it will. Then let us rid ourselves of this demon, at its first beginning let us quell it, let us put the sign of the Cross on our breast, as it were a curb. Wrath is a shameless dog: but let it learn to hear the law. If there be in a sheep-fold a dog so savage as not to obey the command of the shepherd, nor to know his voice, all is lost and ruined. He is kept along with the sheep: but if he makes a meal on the sheep, he is useless, and is put to death. If he has learned to obey you, feed your dog: he is useful when it is against the wolves, against robbers, and against the captain of the robbers that he barks, not against the sheep, not against friends. If he does not obey he ruins all: if he learns not to mind you, he destroys all. The mildness in you let not wrath consume, but let it guard it, and feed it up. And it will guard it, that it may feed in much security, if it destroy wicked and evil thoughts, if it chase away the devil from every side. So is gentleness preserved, when evil works are nowhere admitted: so we become worthy of respect, when we learn not to be shameless. For nothing renders a man so shameless, as an evil conscience. Why are harlots without shame? Why are virgins shamefaced? Is it not from their sin that the former, from their chastity that the latter, are such? For nothing makes a person so shameless, as sin. "And yet on the contrary," say you, "it puts to shame." Yes; him who condemns himself: but him that is past blushing, it renders even more reckless: for desperation makes daring. For "the wicked," says the Scripture, "when he has come into the depths of evils, despises." [Proverbs 18:3] But he that is shameless, will also be reckless, and he that is reckless, will be daring.

See in what way gentleness is destroyed, when evil thoughts gnaw at it. This is why there is such a dog, barking mightily: we have also sling and stone (ye know what I mean): we have also spear and enclosure and cattle-fold: let us guard our thoughts unhurt. If the dog be gentle (σαίνῃ) with the sheep, but savage against those without, and keep vigilant watch, this is the excellence of a dog: and, be he ever so famished, not to devour the sheep; be he ever so full, not to spare the wolves. Such too is anger meant to be: however provoked, not to forsake gentleness; however at quiet, to be on the alert against evil thoughts: to acknowledge the friend, and not for any beating forsake him, and for all his caressing, to fly at the intruder. The devil uses caressing full oft: let the dog know at sight that he is an intruder. So also let us caress (σαίνωμεν) Virtue, though she put us to pain, and show our aversion to Vice, though she give us pleasure. Let us not be worse than the dogs, which, even when whipped and throttled, do not desert their master: but if the stranger also feed them, even so they do hurt. There are times when anger is useful; but this is when it barks against strangers. What means it, "Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause?" [Matthew 5:22] It means, Stand not up in your own quarrel, neither avenge yourself: if you see another suffering deadly wrong, stretch out your hand to help him. This is no longer passion, when you are clear of all feeling for yourself alone. David had gotten Saul into his power, and was not moved by passion, did not thrust the spear into him, the enemy he had in his power; but took his revenge upon the Devil. [1 Samuel 26:7] Moses, when he saw a stranger doing an injury, even slew him [Exodus 2:22]: but when one of his own people, he did not so: them that were brethren he would have reconciled; the others not so. That "most meek" [Numbers 12:3] Moses, as Scripture witnesses of him, see how he was roused! But not so, we: on the contrary, where we ought to show meekness, no wild beast so fierce as we: but where we ought to be roused, none so dull and sluggish. (Hom. vi. de laud. Pauli, ad fin.) On no occasion do we use our faculties to the purpose they were meant for: and therefore it is that our life is spent to no purpose. For even in the case of implements; if one use them, one instead of other, all is spoilt: if one take his sword, and then, where he should use it and cut with it, uses only his hand, he does no good: again, where he should use his hand, by taking the sword in hand he spoils all. In like manner also the physician, if where he ought to cut, he cuts not, and where he ought not, he does cut, mars all. Wherefore, I beseech you, let us use the thing (τᾥ πράγματι) at its proper time. The proper time for anger is never, where we move in our own quarrel: but if it is our duty to correct others, then is the time to use it, that we may by force deliver others. (Hom. in Matt. xvi. §7.) So shall we both be like God, always keeping a spirit free from wrath, and shall attain unto the good things that are to come, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father and the Holy Ghost together, be glory, dominion, and honor, now and evermore, world without end. Amen.

Source: Homily 17 on the Acts of the Apostles
[AD 400] Pseudo-Clement on Acts 7:37
"But also a witnessing voice was heard from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him.' And in addition to this, willing to convict more fully of error the prophets from whom they asserted that they had learned, He proclaimed that they died desiring the truth, but not having learned it, saying, 'Many prophets and kings desired to see what ye see, and to hear what you hear; and verily I say to you, they neither saw nor heard.' Still further He said, 'I am he concerning whom Moses prophesied, saying, A Prophet shall the Lord our God raise unto you of your brethren, like unto me: Him hear in all things; and whosoever will not hear that Prophet shall die.' "

Source: Clementine Homilies, Homily 3
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:37
This is Moses who said to the sons of Israel: God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me. Like me, visible in the flesh, but more wonderful in majesty and more terrible in majesty than I. He says, lest the doctrine of Christ be thought new and foreign, it is Moses himself, whom your fathers did not wish to obey, who preaches and says that he will come in the form of a man and will give the precepts of life to all souls.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Acts 7:38
Figures which ye made to worship them; "
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:38
" And when the gold out of the necklaces of the women and the rings of the men had been wholly smelted by fire, and there had come forth a calf-like head, to this figment Israel with one consent (abandoning God) gave honour, saying, "These are the gods who brought us from the land of Egypt." For thus, in the later times in which kings were governing them, did they again, in conjunction with Jeroboam, worship golden kine, and groves, and enslave themselves to Baal.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:38
" This was, indeed, the Creator's customary region. It was proper that the Word should there appear in body, where He had aforetime, wrought in a cloud.

Source: Against Marcion Book IV
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:38
Do not be astonished, he says, if Christ confers benefits on those who decline his kingdom, since it was just the same in the case of Moses. And not only did he deliver them from Egypt, but also he saved them in the wilderness.… He shows that the prophecy must by all means be fulfilled and that Moses is not opposed to him. This is the man, he says, “who was in the assembly in the wilderness” and “who spoke to the children of Israel.” Do you see that this is where the root4 comes from and that “salvation is from the Jews”? “With the angel,” it says, “who had spoken to him.” Look, again he affirms that it was he [Christ] who gave the law, since Moses was with him “in the assembly in the wilderness.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:39
For, withal, according to the memorial records of the divine Scriptures, the people of the Jews-that is, the more ancient-quite forsook God, and did degrading service to idols, and, abandoning the Divinity, was surrendered to images; while "the people" said to Aaron, "Make us gods to go before us." And when the gold out of the necklaces of the women and the rings of the men had been wholly smelted by fire, and there had come forth a calf-like head, to this figment Israel with one consent (abandoning God) gave honour, saying, "These are the gods who brought us from the land of Egypt.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:39
How, therefore, can such a hydra of delinquencies fail to offend the Lord, the Disapprover of evils? Is it not manifest that it was through impatience that Israel himself also always failed in his duty toward God, from that time when, forgetful of the heavenly arm whereby he had been drawn out of his Egyptian affliction, he demands from Aaron "gods as his guides; "when he pours down for an idol the contributions of his gold: for the so necessary delays of Moses, while he met with God, he had borne with impatience.

Source: Of Patience
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:42
“But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven.” From here come these customs and from here the sacrifices. They themselves were the first to offer sacrifices to the idols. For it is noted that they made a bull calf in Horeb and “offered sacrifices to the idol,” since previously “sacrifices” is nowhere mentioned, only “statutes of life” and “words of life.” “And they rejoiced,” it says, and so the reason for the feasts. “As it is written in the book of the prophets.” Notice he does not cite the text without a purpose but shows that there is no need of sacrifices. “Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices?…” He speaks emphatically. “You cannot say,” he says, “that it was from sacrificing to me that you proceeded to sacrifice to them.” And this in the desert, where he had especially shown himself their champion.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:42
Did you offer to me victims and sacrifices for forty years in the desert? Although they offered libations to the Lord out of necessity, they are said to have truly served idols with their hearts turned away, from the time when they transformed gold into the head of a calf. For afterwards, we read that they offered certain things to the Lord, not out of will, but as we learn from this place, out of the fear of punishments and the destruction of those who fell because of idols. However, the Lord regards not what is offered, but the will of the one offering. Therefore, wherever there was an occasion, they always turned back to Egypt in their hearts.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:42
And he handed them over to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. He says this in the singular because among the Hebrews there is one book of the twelve prophets, and not twelve books, according to the number of those same prophets. The host of heaven, however, is sometimes referred to as the army of angels: but in this place, it seems more consistent that he called the host of heaven the stars, since he immediately adds the testimony of the prophet, in which the star of their god is taken in place of God; they are convicted of having accepted the tabernacle of Moloch instead of the tabernacle of the true God.

Source: Retractions on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:43
And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch. Although, he says, you appeared to bring victims and sacrifices to the tabernacle of the Lord, yet in your whole intention of heart, you embraced the shrine of Moloch. But Moloch, or Melchom, as it is often read, is the idol of the Ammonites, which is interpreted as your king.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:43
And the star of your god Remphan. You have forsaken (he says) the true and living God, and you have taken the star of Remphan, that is, your own creation, as God. But it signifies Lucifer, to whose worship the Saracen people were enslaved in honor of Venus. And because Remphan (as I said) means either your creation or your rest, the prophet subsequently added, and said:

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:43
The figures which you have made to worship them. It is understood, you have adopted them conjointly.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:43
And I will carry you beyond Babylon. Because of these (he says) sacrileges, you will be taken captive not only into Babylon but also beyond Babylon. Nor is the first martyr to be thought erring because he said beyond Babylon instead of beyond Damascus, as written in the prophet (Amos V). He considered the understanding more than the word, because they were led into Babylon beyond Damascus, just as beyond Babylon.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:44
But “there was,” he says, “a tent of witness.” Yes, it was there so that they might have God as witness. This was all. “According to the pattern,” he says, “that was shown to you on the mount.” Thus on the mount was the original. And this, while in the wilderness, was carried about and not fixed in place. He calls it a tent of witness, that is, a witness of the wonders and of the statutes. That is why both it and they had no temple. Again it was he himself, the angel, who gave the type.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:44
The tabernacle of testimony was with our fathers in the desert. Because they said he was acting against the holy place, here he shows that the Lord does not greatly esteem decorated stone but desires the splendor of heavenly souls. Where he wants it to be understood that just as the tabernacle was in the wilderness before the construction of the temple, so they should understand the temple itself to be destroyed when a better state succeeds. As Jeremiah once foretold, saying: Do not trust in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord (Jerem. VII). And after some time: I will do to this house, in which my name is called, and in which you have trust, as I did to Shiloh, where my name dwelled at the beginning, and I will cast you away from my face (Ibid.).

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Acts 7:45
Jesus: That is Josue, so called in Greek.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:46
And built not:— so far was the Temple from being a great matter!
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:46
and built not:— so far was the Temple from being a great matter! But Solomon built Him an house.
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Acts 7:48
Dwelleth not in houses: That is, so as to stand in need of earthly dwellings, or to be contained, or circumscribed by them. Though, otherwise by his immense divinity, he is in our houses; and every where else; and Christ in his humanity dwelt in houses; and is now on our altars.
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:49
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. This is not to be understood carnally, as if God has members placed in heaven and on earth, as we do when we sit, but to indicate that he is within and above all, he claimed that heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool. To show that he encompasses everything, elsewhere he declares that he measures the heavens with his palm, and the earth he encloses with a handful. Spiritually, however, heaven suggests the saints, and the earth the sinners, because God inhabits and presides over the former while condemning and casting down the latter.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:49
Or what is the place of my rest? Not a golden or marble earthly dwelling place, but as the Prophet follows: Upon whom does my Spirit rest, if not upon the humble and quiet one, who trembles at my words (Isaiah LXVI)?

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:51
What is more manifest than the mystery of this "wood,"-that the obduracy of this world had been sunk in the profundity of error, and is freed in baptism by the "wood" of Christ, that is, of His passion; in order that what had formerly perished through the "tree" in Adam, should be restored through the "tree" in Christ? while we, of course, who have succeeded to, and occupy, the room of the prophets, at the present day sustain in the world that treatment which the prophets always suffered on account of divine religion: for some they stoned, some they banished; more, however, they delivered to mortal slaughter, -a fact which they cannot deny.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:51
“You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” When it was not his will that there should be sacrifices, you sacrificed; and when it is his will, you do not sacrifice. When he would not give you the commandments, you dragged them toward you; when you received them, you neglected them. Again, when the temple stood, you worshiped idols; and when it is his will to be worshiped without a temple, you do the opposite.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Acts 7:51
Therefore when he sent the Holy Spirit, he manifested him visibly in two ways, as a dove and as fire; as a dove upon the baptized Lord, as fire upon the assembled disciples.… Here we saw a dove upon the Lord; there parted tongues upon the assembled disciples; in the one, simplicity is shown, in the other, fervor. For there are those who are said to be simple, and they are indolent; they are called simple, but they are lazy. Not such a one was Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit. He was simple, because he harmed no one; he was fervent, because he reproached the impious. For he did not keep silence before the Jews; his are those fiery words, “Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you have always resisted the Holy Spirit.” Great vehemence! He rages, but as a dove without bile. For, in order that you may know that he raged without bile, they who were ravens, when they heard these words, immediately ran for stones [to use] against the dove. Stephen began to be stoned; and he, who but a little before was raging and boiling spirit, as if he had attacked his enemies, and as if he had assailed them with violence by those fiery and blazing words as you have heard, “Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,” so that he who heard these words might think that Stephen, if he were allowed, wished them immediately annihilated—when the rocks were coming on him from their hands, on his knees he said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” He adhered to the unity of the dove. For earlier his master, on whom the dove descended, had done that; hanging on the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Source: TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.3.1-4
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:51
Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. He shows them that the circumcision of the foreskin, in which they gloried against the grace of the Gospel, is of no avail for salvation, who were proven to have unclean thoughts and hearing. And at the same time, by speaking these things as if interpreting, he explains to them what the Angel signified when he appeared to Moses in the flame of fire from the bush, so that the bush burned but was not consumed. For the fire indeed signifies the Holy Spirit; the bush, which is a kind of thorn, figuratively denounced the sins of that people. Therefore, the Lord appeared to Moses in the bush having fire, but not consumed, to indicate that He Himself indeed came with the enlightenment and fervor of the Holy Spirit to instruct the people, but He would not consume the sins of that same people, although He would always oppose them with His pious benefits amidst the thickest thorns of their wickedness.

Source: Retractions on Acts
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:53
For he, too, says that the world was originated by those angels; and sets forth Christ as born of the seed of Joseph, contending that He was merely human, without divinity; affirming also that the Law was given by angels; representing the God of the Jews as not the Lord, but an angel.

Source: Pseudo-Tertullian Against All Heresies
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:53
You who received the law as ordained by angels. The law is indeed ordained by angels, in the hand of a mediator.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:54-60
When they heard these things, they were cut to "the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth."

See, once more, the wrong-doers in trouble. Just as the Jews are perplexed, saying, "What are we to do with these men?" so these also are "cut to the heart." [Acts 4:16] And yet it was he that had good right to be incensed, who, having done no wrong, was treated like a criminal, and was spitefully calumniated. But the calumniators had the worst of it in the end. So true is that saying, which I am ever repeating, "Ill to do, is ill to fare." And yet he (in his charges against them) resorted to no calumny, but proved (what he said). So sure are we, when we are shamefully borne down in a matter wherein we have a clear conscience, to be none the worse for it.— "If they desired," say you, "to kill him, how was it that they did not take occasion, out of what he said, that they might kill him?" They would fain have a fair-seeming plea to put upon their outrage. "Well then, was not the insulting them a fair plea?" It was not his doing, if they were insulted: it was the Prophet's accusation of them. And besides, they did not wish it to look as if they killed him because of what he had said against them — just as they acted in the case of Christ; no, but for impiety: now this word of his was the expression of piety. Wherefore, as they attempted, besides killing him, to hurt his reputation also, "they were cut to the heart." For they were afraid lest he should on the contrary become an object of even greater reverence. Therefore, just what they did in Christ's case, the same they do here also. For as He said, "You shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of God" [Matthew 26:64], and they, calling it blasphemy, "ran upon Him;" just so was it here. There, they "rent their garments;" here, they "stopped their ears. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him." [Acts 7:55-58] And yet, if he lied, they ought to have thought him beside himself, and to have let him go.— But he wished to bring them over, "and said, Behold," etc., for, since he had spoken of Christ's death, and had said nothing of His resurrection, he would fain add this doctrine also. "Standing at the right hand of God." And in this manner He appeared to him: that, were it but so, the Jews might receive Him: for since the (idea of His) sitting (at the right hand of God) was offensive to them, for the present he brings forward only what relates to His Resurrection. This is the reason also why his face was glorified. For God, being merciful, desired to make their machinations the means of recalling them unto Himself. And see, how many signs are wrought! "And cast him out of the city, and stoned him." Here again, "without the city," and even in death, Confession and Preaching. [Hebrews 13:21] "And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." [Acts 7:59] This is meant to show them that he is not perishing, and to teach them. "And he knelt down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." [Acts 7:60] To clear himself, and show that neither were his former words prompted by passion, he says, "Lord" "lay not this sin to their charge": wishing also even in this way to win them over. For to show that he forgave their wrath and rage in murdering him, and that his own soul was free from all passion, was the way to make his saying to be favorably received.

Source: Homily 18 on the Acts of the Apostles
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Acts 7:54
"Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth. "The unbelieving, unable to tolerate Stephen's preaching, were hastening unanimously to effect his death. Stephen, raising his eyes to heaven, saw the Son standing on the right hand of the Father. When he said this in pure truth, the crowd of madmen ran violently upon him and, having cast him out of the city, pelted him with stones. But Stephen, dying, prayed for them that this crime might not weigh down his persecutors. Paul too consented to his death, and he raised a great persecution against the church established in Jerusalem; for, after Stephen's body was buried with pious lamentation, this Paul made a havoc of the church with a hatred as great as the affection with which he would later defend it. Meanwhile Philip the deacon, another one of the seven, going down to the city of Samaria, earnestly preached the word of the Lord and performed by the power of Christ many miracles on the people who desired it, and the city was filled with great joy as a result.

Source: Complexiones on the Acts of the Apostles
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:55
He is seen by Stephen, at his martyrdom by stoning, still sitting at the right hand of God [Acts 7:55] where He will continue to sit, until the Father shall make His enemies His footstool. [Hebrews 10:12-13] He will come again on the clouds of heaven, just as He appeared when He ascended into heaven. [Acts 1:11]

Source: Against Praxeas, Chapter 30
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:55
"He sitteth at the Father's right hand " -not the Father at His own. He is seen by Stephen, at his martyrdom by stoning, still sitting at the right hand of God where He will continue to sit, until the Father shall make His enemies His footstool.

Source: Against Praxeas
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Acts 7:55
The divine nature is invisible, but the thrice blessed Stephen said that he saw the Lord, so even after the resurrection the Lord’s body is a body, and it was seen by the victorious Stephen, since the divine nature cannot be seen.

Source: DIALOGUE (DEMONSTRATIONS BY SYLLOGISMS) 11
[AD 180] Hegesippus on Acts 7:56
The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him and said: 'You just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.'

And he answered with a loud voice, 'Why do you ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sits in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven.'

Source: Memoirs (Book V), as quoted in Church History (Book II), Chapter 23, Section 13
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Acts 7:56
But that both the apostles and their disciples thus taught as the Church preaches, and thus teaching were perfected, wherefore also they were called away to that which is perfect-Stephen, teaching these truths, when he was yet on earth, saw the glory of God, and Jesus on His right hand, and exclaimed, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."

Source: Against Heresies Book III
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Acts 7:56
These words [Stephen] said, and he was stoned. In this way he fulfilled the perfect doctrine, copying in every respect the Leader of martyrdom and praying for those who were slaying him, in these words, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Thus were they perfected who knew one and the same God, who from beginning to end was present with humankind in the various dispensations, as the prophet Hosea declares: “I have filled up visions and used similitudes by the hands of the prophets.”

Source: AGAINST HERESIES 3.12.13
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Acts 7:56
Jesus stood as a helpmate; he stood as if anxious to help Stephen, his athlete, in the struggle. He stood as though ready to crown his martyr. Let him then stand for you that you may not fear him sitting, for he sits when he judges.… He sits to judge, he stands to give judgment, and he judges the imperfect but gives judgment among the gods.

Source: LETTER 59 (63)
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Acts 7:56
He now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. We ought to give careful consideration to this fact with the eyes of faith to prevent the impression that he is immovably fixed in any spot so as not be permitted to stand or to walk. For, the fact that St. Stephen said that he saw him standing does not mean that St. Stephen’s vision was distorted or that his statement is at variance with the words of the creed. Far be such a thought, far be such a statement from us! The Lord’s dwelling in lofty and ineffable blessedness has merely been expressed in this way to indicate that he dwells there.

Source: SERMON 214.8
[AD 544] Arator on Acts 7:56
Having the light of his heart he sees the opened heavens, so that what Christ does may not be hidden. [Christ] rises before the martyr. [Stephen] then sees him standing, though our faith is prone rather to honor him as seated. The very Flesh joined to the Thunderer does honor to itself in Stephen. The General in his foreknowledge arms those whom he summons to gifts. Lest anyone here should fight uncertainly, the body is revealed in the citadel of God as a reward to its witness.

Source: ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:56
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Since the Lord Christ is the perfect Son of both God and man, why did the blessed martyr prefer to call Him the Son of man rather than the Son of God, when it would seem to bring more glory to call Him the Son of God rather than the Son of man, except that by this testimony the unbelief of the Jews would be confounded, as they remembered that they crucified a man and did not wish to believe Him to be God? Therefore, to strengthen the patience of the blessed martyr, the gate of the heavenly kingdom is opened, and lest the innocent man being stoned waver on earth, the crucified God-man appears crowned in heaven. Hence, because standing is the posture of one fighting or assisting, he rightly saw Him standing at the right hand of God, whom he had as a helper among the persecuting men. Nor does it seem discordant that Mark describes Him as sitting at the right hand of God, which is the position of one judging, because even now He invisibly judges all things, and in the end He will come as the visible judge of all.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:56
Behold, I see the heavens opened. What we say in Latin as "I see," in Greek is called θεωρῶ, from which is derived the name of the theoretical, that is, contemplative life. Through this, some of the elect, still retained in this life, with the eye of the heart more diligently cleansed, have deserved to behold divinely elevated the joys of the future life, as at present saint Stephen, as Paul, when he was caught up to the third heaven, and many others at other times. Hence also God is called Θεὸς in Greek, because He sees all things, and all things are naked and open to His eyes.

Source: Retractions on Acts
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:58
Notice with what accuracy he narrates all that concerns Paul, to show you that the action was divine. After all this, not only did Paul not believe, but he even sought him with a thousand hands. This is why it says, “And Saul approved of his killing.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18
[AD 544] Arator on Acts 7:58
Insane, rebellious Judea, you hurl stones against Stephen, you who will always be stony because of your hard crime.

Source: ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1
[AD 544] Arator on Acts 7:58
The savage men lay down their garments at the feet of Saul, what the Hebrew calls hell. Both sides now decide to declare what they deserve from this [martyrdom] when the martyr seeks heaven, the executioners “hell.” The first circumstance [of martyrdom] reveals and makes as an example what flows from this fountain to one engaged in such a struggle; thus Tartarus quickly comes upon those who commit murder, while heaven lies open for the dying.

Source: ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:58
And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the Lord suffered outside the gate, who chose us from the world into His heavenly kingdom and glory, and Stephen, as if a stranger to the world, is stoned outside the city. For he did not have a lasting city here, but sought the one to come with his whole mind. And by just change of things, the martyr directs his gaze from the world’s heart to the heavens, the persecutor of hard neck sends his hands to the stones. Hence Arator says: “Rebellious Judea, you deliriously seize stones against Stephen, you who [will] always be stony in your harsh crime.”

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:59
So also Stephen had already put on the appearance of an angel, although they were none other than his human knees which bent beneath the stoning.

Source: On the Resurrection of the Flesh
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:59
Now, then, the epistles of the apostles also are well known. And do we, (you say), in all respects guileless souls and doves merely, love to go astray? I should think from eagerness to live. But let it be so, that meaning departs from their epistles. And yet, that the apostles endured such sufferings, we know: the teaching is clear. This only I perceive in running through the Acts. I am not at all on the search. The prisons there, and the bonds, and the scourges, and the big stones, and the swords, and the onsets by the Jews, and the assemblies of the heathen, and the indictments by tribunes, and the hearing of causes by kings, and the judgment-seats of proconsuls and the name of Caesar, do not need an interpreter. That Peter is struck, that Stephen is overwhelmed by stones, that James is slain as is a victim at the altar, that Paul is beheaded has been written in their own blood. And if a heretic wishes his confidence to rest upon a public record, the archives of the empire will speak, as would the stones of Jerusalem. We read the lives of the Caesars: At Rome Nero was the first who stained with blood the rising faith.

Source: Scorpiace
[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 7:59
With this strength of patience, Esaias is cut asunder, and ceases not to speak concerning the Lord; Stephen is stoned, and prays for pardon to his foes. Oh, happy also he who met all the violence of the devil by the exertion of every species of patience! -whom neither the driving away of his cattle nor those riches of his in sheep, nor the sweeping away of his children in one swoop of ruin, nor, finally, the agony of his own body in (one universal) wound, estranged from the patience and the faith which he had plighted to the Lord; whom the devil smote with all his might in vain.

Source: Of Patience
[AD 311] Peter of Alexandria on Acts 7:59
Thus first Stephen, pressing on His footsteps, suffered martyrdom, being apprehended in Jerusalem by the transgressors, and being brought before the council, he was stoned, and glorified for the name of Christ, praying with the words, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."

Source: Peter of Alexandria Canonical Epistle
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:59
This is the reason why his face was also glorified. For God who is merciful wished to make their plots the means of recalling them to himself. And look how many signs there came to be. “Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him,” again outside the city, as in the case of Christ. And in death itself, confession and preaching. “And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ ” He did this to show them that he is not perishing and also to teach them.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 18
[AD 544] Arator on Acts 7:59
O martyr, embark on struggles which will cause happy deaths, where punishment is glory and to fall is a rising, and by slaughter is born immortality embracing the rewards of everlasting life. Lo, to have merited thus to die was the beginning of a blessed life without end.

Source: ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1
[AD 258] Cyprian on Acts 7:60
What beyond;-that you should not swear nor curse; that you should not seek again your goods when taken from you; that, when you receive a buffet, you should give your other cheek to the smiter; that you should forgive a brother who sins against you, not only seven times, but seventy times seven times, but, moreover, all his sins altogether; that you should love your enemies; that you should offer prayer for your adversaries and persecutors? Can you accomplish these things unless you maintain the stedfastness of patience and endurance? And this we see done in the case of Stephen, who, when he was slain by the Jews with violence and stoning, did not ask for vengeance for himself, but for pardon for his murderers, saying, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." It behoved the first martyr of Christ thus to be, who, fore-running the martyrs that should follow him in a glorious death, was not only the preacher of the Lord's passion, but also the imitator of His most patient gentleness. What shall I say of anger, of discord, of strife, which things ought not to be found in a Christian? Let there be patience in the breast, and these things cannot have place there; or should they try to enter, they are quickly excluded and depart, that a peaceful abode may continue in the heart, where it delights the God of peace to dwell. Finally, the apostle warns us, and teaches, saying: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and anger, and wrath, and clamour, and blasphemy, be put away from you." For if the Christian have departed from rage and carnal contention as if from the hurricanes of the sea, and have already begun to be tranquil and meek in the harbour of Christ, he ought to admit neither anger nor discord within his breast, since he must neither return evil for evil, nor bear hatred.

Source: Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews
[AD 400] Pseudo-Clement on Acts 7:60
Wherefore, in short, the Master Himself, when He was being led to the cross by those who knew Him not, prayed the Father for His murderers, and said, 'Father, forgive their sin, for they know not what they do!' [Luke 23:34] The disciples also, in imitation of the Master, even when themselves were suffering, in like manner prayed for their murderers. [Acts 7:60] But if we are taught to pray even for our murderers and persecutors, how ought we not to bear the persecutions of parents and relations, and to pray for their conversion?

Source: Recognitions (Book VI)
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 7:60
This is the boldness of speech that belongs to a man who is carrying the cross. Let us then also imitate this. For although it is not a time for war, it is always the time for boldness. “For I spoke,” he says, “in your testimonies before kings, and I was not ashamed.” If we happen to be among Gentiles, let us silence them likewise, without anger and without harshness. For if we do this with anger, it is no longer boldness but appears rather as raw passion. If, however, it is done with gentleness, that is true boldness. For in one and the same thing success and failure cannot possibly go together. Boldness of speech is success; anger is failure. Therefore, if we should aspire to boldness, we must be free from anger, in case anyone should attribute our words to the latter. For no matter how just your words may be, when you speak with anger, you ruin everything. This is true no matter how boldly you speak or how fairly you admonish—in short, no matter what you do. See how free from anger this man was when he spoke to them. He did not treat them with any harshness but reminded them of the words of the prophets. Notice that there was no anger, for in his terrible suffering he prayed for them, saying, “Do not hold this sin against them.” Thus it was not in anger that he spoke these words but in grief and sorrow for their sakes. As indeed it says of his appearance, “they saw his face that it was the face of an angel,” so that they might believe. Let us then be free from anger. The Holy Spirit does not dwell where anger is and cursed is the wrathful. Nothing wholesome can proceed from where anger issued forth.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Acts 7:60
And in the Acts of the Apostles, blessed Stephen prays for those by whom he is being stoned, because they had not as yet believed in Christ and were not contending against that universal grace.

Source: SERMON ON THE MOUNT 1.22.73
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Acts 7:60
He showed his love for his murderers, in that he died for them.… That is the perfection of love. Love is perfect in him whom it makes ready to die for his brothers; but it is never perfect as soon as it is born. It is born that it may be perfected. Born, it is nourished: nourished, it is strengthened: strengthened, it is made perfect. And when it has reached perfection, how does it speak? “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. My desire was to be set free and to be with Christ; for that is by far the best. But to abide in the flesh is needful for your sake.” He was willing to live for their sakes, for whom he was ready to die.

Source: HOMILIES ON 1 JOHN 5.4
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:60
But kneeling down, he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” For himself indeed he prayed standing, for his enemies he knelt, because their greater iniquity demanded the greater remedy of supplication. And the wondrous virtue of the blessed martyr, who was so fervent with zeal that he openly reproached the guilt of their disbelief to those he was held by, so burned with love that even in death he prayed for those by whom he was killed.

Source: Commentary on Acts
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 7:60
Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And having said this, he fell asleep. Beautifully he says "fell asleep," and did not say "died." For he offered the sacrifice of love and fell asleep in the hope of resurrection.

Source: Retractions on Acts