And now send men to Joppe: and call hither one Simon, who is surnamed Peter.
και νυν πεμψον εις ιοππην ανδρας και μεταπεμψαι σιμωνα τον επικαλουμενον πετρον ος επικαλειται πετρος
10 Church Fathers comment on this verse
So that they would not come to another man, he indicates not only the surname but also the man's dwelling place. "And call for Simon, who is called Peter." He revealed only that Cornelius should invite Peter for a good work. What good work this was, he did not yet reveal. So also Peter does not say everything. Everywhere their sayings are only partly clear, in order to awaken the listeners' attention. In the same way, the angel only sends Philip into the desert.
The vision stirred fear in Cornelius, yet a moderate fear, only such as was needed to awaken his attention. Then the angel's words destroyed the fear. "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God." See where prayer goes: to the highest heaven, where it stands before the very royal throne. Notice the angel as well. First he raises and lifts Cornelius's thoughts on high. Only then does he say, "Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner."
Let us beware of such harsh and most dangerous temptations. Let us rather reflect that even the apostle Paul, though he was cast down and instructed by the divine voice from heaven, was nevertheless sent to a man.
He was sent so that he might receive the mysteries and be joined to the Church. Likewise, although the angel told the centurion Cornelius that his prayers had been heard and his mercies valued, he was nevertheless handed over to Peter for instruction.
From Peter he received not only the mysteries. He also heard how one must believe, what one must hope for, and what one must love.
Although everything could have happened through an angel, the human calling would have been diminished if God had appeared unwilling for His Word to serve men through men.
For how would the words be true: "The temple of God is holy, and this temple you are" (1 Cor 3:17), if God did not give answers from a human temple?
How would they be true if He uttered from heaven, and through angels, everything He wished to communicate for the instruction of men? Then love itself, which binds men together in the bonds of unity, would have no opportunity.
It could not pour itself forth and, as it were, mingle souls with itself, if men learned nothing from men.
[...] Let us consider what Holy Scripture intends to reveal through the interpretation of the name "Joppa," the city in which the all-holy Peter, the great foundation of the Church, beheld [...] the vision.
"Joppa" is interpreted as "watchfulness," signifying the vigilance proper to those who struggle in practical philosophy. Since it was set on a high seacoast, the waves would have overwhelmed it if the city's position had not been so elevated.
For this reason, Joppa seems to me to reveal virtue built like a city on the height of knowledge. It is not far from involuntary temptations.
It has near it, like a sea, an attachment to the senses not yet wholly torn out. Therefore it needs watchfulness, lest impure demons, hiding under the guise of involuntary temptations, cause an assault of voluntary passions.
Since Joppa belongs to the portion of the tribe of Issachar, and "Issachar" is interpreted as "reward" and "toil," it is also permissible to think something further. Joppa is the protective habit of practical philosophy, guarding the soul from the invisible assaults of evil spirits.
And the great Apostle probably urges the one who has arisen from this habit to transfer his mind to the knowledge of heavenly things. See Acts 10:11.
"Send," he says, "to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is called Peter." Behold a wondrous gift! Behold a marvelous benefaction! "He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea." Do you see how the angel revealed to him not only the guide's name, but also the name of the one who received him as a guest, and even the location of the house where he had found shelter? The angel did this so that Cornelius would not be mistaken and call someone else instead of Peter, and so fall upon a wolf instead of a shepherd.
There are other sources for understanding the will of God in any doubtful case. Besides the commandments of God and the ordinances of the Church mentioned above, these include those lawfully chosen interpreters of God's will who truly live in a Christian manner.
They explain His will to us in our perplexities about it, such as spiritual fathers and pastors. These are the spiritual and civil judges of our conscience. Among the laity they include parents, school instructors, educators, and all lawfully appointed true governors of human societies.
Let us offer historical cases as examples. When Saul, having given himself wholly to the will of God, asked, "Lord, what do You command me to do?" the Lord did not burden him with direct commands in every detail.
Nor did He immediately send him the Spirit of wisdom. Rather, He sent him as a disciple to Ananias, saying, "Rise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do" (Acts 9:6).
Ananias was a trustworthy interpreter of God's will to Paul, just as Saint Peter was to Cornelius the centurion (Acts ch. 10). From this God's good pleasure is revealed: He explains and discloses His will to one man through another man.
Therefore we should not despise the good instructions of others. "Ask counsel of every prudent man, and do not despise useful counsel" (Tob 4:18). If you follow this, you will not repent of it.
"A man's soul sometimes tells him more than seven watchmen sitting high on a watchtower. But in all this pray to the Most High, that He may direct your way in truth" (Sir 37:18-19).
"Always associate only with a pious man, whom you know to keep the Lord's commandments, whose soul is according to your soul, and who, if you fall, will grieve with you. Hold to the counsel of your heart, for there is no one more faithful to you than it" (Sir 37:15-17).
To resolve your doubts about how to act according to God's will in this or that matter, ask counsel and understanding from your spiritual fathers and from our superiors. To them we have entrusted our conscience and the whole moral activity of our life.
Generally speaking, turn for the resolution of your perplexities to all governing authorities. Their will, except in matters of sin, is the will of God. Everything they advise, apart from sin, we must receive as handed to us through them by God Himself, and we must fulfill it.
Saint Paul the Apostle serves as our example in all this. Describing to the Galatians what he did after his conversion to Christianity, he says, among other things, "After fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas," by divine revelation (Gal ch. 2).
What reason did Paul have for postponing his journey to Jerusalem for so long? Saint Paul answers: there I set before those especially eminent, that is, the chief Apostles, the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles.
I did this in order to be assured whether I was running, or had run, in vain. Thus the universal preacher, who had proclaimed the Gospel to the Gentiles for fourteen years, as though he were the least of the apostles, submitted his teaching to the foremost Apostles for examination.
He invited them to be, as it were, judges or censors of his preaching. Whatever in his teaching the elder apostles approved, accepted by common counsel, and harmonized with their own gospel, whether adding something or removing something, he himself would believe and teach the Gentiles.
Most remarkable of all, Paul says of himself, "I went up by revelation." If by revelation he undertook the journey to Jerusalem, then by revelation everything decreed by the Apostolic Council could also have been communicated to him.
But this latter revelation was not given, in order to show that God wills to instruct man not only by revelation, but also that man be instructed through man. Nor did Paul submit his teaching to apostolic judgment because he himself doubted the Orthodoxy of his teaching.
Its conciliar confirmation was needed more for others, both for believers and still more for those who doubted. Those who wished and strove to follow God's will without error always kept this order in resolving perplexities.
They questioned the elders and received their good and useful counsels. "Stand on your ways," that is, direct all your attention to your deeds, says the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah, "and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls" (Jer 6:16).
The piety and religious devotion of Cornelius drew the mercy of God upon him. Once, when he was praying about the ninth hour, or about three o'clock in the afternoon by our reckoning, an angel of God entered his house in the form of a man in bright clothing (Acts 10:30).
The angel announced God's favor toward him for his fervent prayers and acts of charity. He commanded him to summon Simon Peter from Joppa to his house. He promised that from this man he would hear words by which he and all his household would be saved.
After the angel departed, Cornelius called two of his most trusted servants. The word οἰκέτης is a more honorable name than δοῦλος. Since they belonged to his household, which was pious in all its members (Acts 10:2), they were no doubt marked by the same religious devotion and piety as their master.
He also called one of the soldiers who personally attended him. Having summoned them, he told them everything. No doubt he did this so that they would understand the full greatness of their mission.
He also wished them to report accurately to Peter what had happened. In this way they would persuade him to fulfill their request and go with them to Caesarea. Then he sent them to Joppa.
Chapter 10 recounts the conversion of the centurion Cornelius to Christ. It says that even before his conversion he "feared God with all his household," "gave many alms," and "prayed to God always" (v. 2).
It says that "God had cleansed" him (v. 15; cf. v. 28). It also says that, as one who acted righteously, he was "acceptable" to God (v. 35). Yet in order to be saved, Cornelius had to hear the words, or preaching, of the apostle Peter (v. 6).
Here is instruction for those who rely self-confidently on the works of their supposed piety and on their righteous life. They neglect illumination by the light of true doctrine and their enrollment in the chosen flock, the Church of God.
If Cornelius was acceptable to God, and if he was cleansed, this means only that God had forechosen and prepared him to enter the Church and receive the Gospel. Without this, salvation is impossible.
"Summon Simon," more precisely, "a certain Simon." This expression indicates that Simon Peter had not previously been known personally to Cornelius, nor even by report.
For this reason the angel also gives the exact house in Joppa where Peter was then staying as a guest.
"He will tell you," and so forth. That is, he will give you the teaching. By believing it, you and your household will receive salvation.
As a reward for the prayers and alms of Cornelius, the highest spiritual good is promised to him: conversion to Christ for eternal salvation in Him.
He was a Gentile, and his alms and prayers would not have saved him by themselves, although they were good works. They had to be sanctified by Christian faith. Then they would become saving.
The command given to Cornelius to send for the apostle Peter in Joppa, with a detailed indication of his place of residence, shows that Cornelius knew neither Peter nor Simon the tanner.
It is generally significant that the charge is given to send for the apostle Peter. This movement was to proceed along its own path, like a distinct stream of pure water. Little of such water existed outside the wells dug by Abraham, Jacob, and the other forefathers of Israel.
The end of verse 6 in the received Greek text reads thus: οΰτος λαλήσει σοϊ τί σε δεϊ ποχεϊν, that is, "He will tell you what you must do."
Bishop Amphilochius, in the edition of the Karpinsky Apostle of the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries, says that the words "who will tell..." through "your" are copied from Apostle manuscript No. 1 of the fifteenth century.
They are not found here in St. Alexius, though they are present in Reineccius's variant readings. This other example of the special fullness of the commonly received Slavonic text shows that its original was a Greek text.
It was the fullest Greek text and, for that reason, supposedly the most perfect. Yet the fuller reading in verse 39 of chapter 8 was accepted by St. Alexius, while this one was not.
Therefore it may be said that the fullness of this text does not equal in dignity the fullness found in verse 39 of chapter 8. There that fullness introduces essential content into the circumstances of the narrative.
Here, evidently, a correction was made under the guidance of the apostle Peter's speech; see Acts 11:14.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 13 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS