Acts 12:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See, He delivered him on that very night. “And a light shone in the prison,” so that he would not think it was an apparition. Yet no one saw the light except him. If even with this he thought he saw an apparition, because of the unexpectedness, how much more would he have thought so if this had not occurred. So ready was he for death. This happened because he had remained there many days without receiving deliverance. Why, someone will say, did God not permit him to fall into Herod’s hands and then deliver him? Because that would have terrified them. This too was done for their sake. They would have thought the apostles were not men, if He had done everything divinely. What did He not do with Stephen? Did He not show them his face “as the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15)?

But why did the light shine? So that Peter could both see and hear the angel, and so that he would not think this was an imagination.

It says, “quickly,” so that he would not delay. The angel even struck him, so deeply was he sleeping.

As for the expression “striking him on the side,” it indicates not the angel’s disturbance, but the impulse not to prolong the time.

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.

“A light shone in the prison”: the Greek word indicates a separate room of the prison in which Peter was confined. Thus the light from the angel’s appearance did not illumine the whole prison, but only this section. “Striking Peter”: “You see that Peter is sleeping and gives himself over neither to despondency nor to fear. On that very night when they intended to lead him out to death, he slept, having entrusted everything to God” (Chrysostom). “The chains fell from his hands”: thus he was released from the guards who were sleeping with him. Both these guards, as is evident, were asleep and did not hear how Peter departed from them.

The appearance of the Angel to Peter in prison was completely unexpected to him. Therefore the Angel had to use some force to wake him. The extraordinary light that shone in the prison could have made Peter understand who had appeared. This was all the more so because, when he began to rise, the chains fell from him. Then Peter was calmly commanded to gird himself, put on his sandals, put on his outer garment, and follow the Angel. The soldiers were as though dead. The writer of Acts does not even mention what happened to them. It seems that even Peter himself could not have said this. From Peter’s words the writer of Acts recorded all this with his characteristic detail and precision.

But what an unexpected thing! “Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him” (Acts 12:7). He woke Peter. The chains fell from him by themselves. The Angel led him through locked doors, between the guards standing by them, and left him free. How, then, did Peter gain deliverance, not by praying it forth, but while resting in sleep? In this way: “earnest prayer was made by the Church to God for him.” It accomplished Peter’s deliverance without his effort and without his knowledge.