Cornelius, thy prayer is heard and thy alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
και φησιν κορνηλιε εισηκουσθη σου η προσευχη και αι ελεημοσυναι σου εμνησθησαν ενωπιον του θεου
4 Church Fathers comment on this verse
So each of us also must pray before God day and night, Ps 87:2, that is, as is pleasing to Him, if we desire our prayer to reach Him and our petitions to succeed. Then we too may hear: "Your prayer has been heard, and your alms have been remembered before God."
While awaiting Peter, Cornelius gathered in his house his relatives and close friends, who were of course like him in piety and faith. He wished them also to hear the word of salvation.
When Peter approached his house on the day after leaving Joppa, Cornelius met him outside the house. With reverence he bowed down at his feet, as before a heavenly messenger.
But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up. I myself am also a man.”
Entering the house of Cornelius, Peter first explained to him and the others present why he had allowed himself to come to them.
As they also knew, according to the law of his people, as it was then understood and interpreted, he should not have entered into communion with Gentiles.
Yet he was now ready to satisfy the need for which they had called him. For this, he said, there had been a special revelation of God, commanding him not to regard any man as common.
After this he asked them about the very need for which he had been called there.
In answer, Cornelius related the story of the revelation he had received from the angel. He concluded by expressing humble readiness to hear with faith what Peter, by God’s command, was to proclaim to him and his household.
In answer to Peter's question, Cornelius simply recounts the vision that had come to him as the motive for inviting Peter. On behalf of all those gathered, he expresses readiness to hear the apostle's preaching. "The fourth day": that is, the present day was the fourth after the day on which the angel appeared to Cornelius, as is clear from the preceding narrative. "I was fasting and praying": these details complete what was said above, vv. 3, 22, about Cornelius's piety. "A man in bright clothing": see the note on Mk 16:5.
Cornelius explains the whole matter for which he had invited the Apostle Peter, and he does so with every circumstance. By informing him of everything, he gives him full opportunity to judge the matter in its whole scope, as it had then become clear.
As an eyewitness, Cornelius recounts the apparition granted to him and indicates certain details omitted by the writer of Acts.
For example, he says that when he was fasting and praying in his house, a man in bright clothing appeared to him. The man spoke of God’s hearing his prayers and remembering his alms.
There, however, in the abbreviated account, prayers and alms are joined into one presentation (cf. 10:4).
Blessed Theophylact observes, among other things, about Cornelius’s account: “At the ninth hour, he says, I was praying. What does this mean?
“It seems to me that, since his life was orderly and exact, his time was apportioned, and on certain days. Therefore he said, ‘four days ago.’
“And he does not say, ‘an angel,’ but ‘a man.’ So far is he from pride. You see how worthy he was of all this.”
Yet Cornelius spoke “not in order to boast, but so as to conceal nothing from the apostle, who wished to see an open heart. He also wished to give him a true understanding of the vision.”
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 15 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS