Acts 12:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see? Peter sleeps and gives himself over neither to despondency nor to fear. On the very night when they intended to lead him to death, he slept, having entrusted everything to God.

He did not simply sleep, but slept among soldiers and in chains. “Between two soldiers,” it says, “bound with two chains.” Do you see how carefully they guarded him?

Thus those free from bonds remained in prayer, while the one bound was asleep. If he had taken what was happening as reality, he would have been frightened and would not have remembered what happened.

But now, as though seeing a dream, he remained undisturbed.

“Peter was sleeping.” He was neither troubled nor afraid. On the very night when they intended to bring him out of prison, he slept, leaving everything to the will of the Lord.

Notice also how careful the guard was: the guards were sleeping with him.

In the year 44 a new persecution arose in Jerusalem against the Church, this time from the ruler of Judea, Herod Agrippa. Wishing to please the people, he had already put to death one of the first apostles, James the son of Zebedee, brother of John. He wished also to put Peter to death, and had already imprisoned him. But on the very night after which death awaited him, God freed him from prison through His angel. Soon afterward He also struck the persecutor. Perhaps from this very time we must date the activity outside Palestine, among Jews and Gentiles, of the apostles themselves. They were twelve, or more precisely, after the death of James, eleven. Their number was soon supplemented by their most zealous fellow-laborer, Paul.

But the time had not yet come for Peter to glorify the Lord by his martyr’s death. The Lord therefore freed him from prison miraculously. While he was there, one night an angel of the Lord stood before him, and light shone in the prison. Peter, entrusting his life to the will of God, was sleeping peacefully. Then the angel struck him on the side, woke him, and commanded him to dress and follow him. The chains fell miraculously from his hands, and he followed the angel. The suddenness and extraordinary character of the event brought Peter into such a state of soul that, although he did everything the angel commanded, he did not think it was an actual event rather than a vision. Meanwhile, following the angel, he first passed calmly by the first guard.

Yet everything seemed to have been in vain. The last night of the feast had come. The dawn of the following morning was to announce to Peter the tortures awaiting him at trial and his terrible death. It seemed that the day had already come when, as the Savior had foretold him, another would gird him and lead him where he did not wish to go. But in this final extremity God did not abandon His apostle or His Church. On the very last night an angel appeared in the prison and freed him from his chains. This deliverance was so sudden, mysterious, and striking that even to Peter, when he became fully assured of his rescue, it seemed like a vision.

“On that night”: the night before the day when the king intended publicly to pronounce the death sentence over Peter. “Peter was sleeping,” and so forth. Under strict military imprisonment, according to Roman custom, the prisoner was chained to his guard (cf. Josephus, Antt. 18, 6. 7; Pliny, Ep. 10, 65). Peter was bound with two chains, that is, fastened to two guards. He was bound to one by one hand, and to the other by the other hand. Thus his guarding was strengthened, and stronger measures were taken against the prisoner. Accordingly, in each night watch the soldiers relieved one another by fours. Two of the four were with Peter inside the prison, and two were at its doors (cf. v. 10).

The Apostle Peter was guarded in prison with the greatest care. He was in chains, one of which fastened him to one soldier and the other to another. Two soldiers stood at the doors, and twelve were in reserve. But “the more careful the guard was, the more wondrous was the manifestation of God’s power.” In the Christian Church fervent prayer was being offered for Peter’s salvation. It was grievous to lose James, and still harder to lose two apostles. Peter had been so zealous in preaching the faith and so successful in ordering the Churches. The writer of Acts notes that they prayed earnestly. “This prayer is a sign of love,” says Saint John Chrysostom. All prayed for their father. They did not revolt or make disturbances, but turned to prayer and took refuge in this invincible champion.

In order to show you clearly, without difficult arguments, the beneficent action of prayer for one another, I shall cite the example of another apostle. “Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer was made by the Church to God for him. And when Herod was about to bring him out,” for trial and probably for killing, “that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two iron chains; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison” (Acts 12:5-6). The danger was extreme. Deliverance seemed impossible. Moreover, Peter himself was not praying for deliverance: “Peter was sleeping.”