Acts 20:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Do not be troubled," he says, "for his soul is in him." He did not say, "He will rise; I will raise him." What did he say? "Do not be troubled." Do you see how free he was from vanity, and how ready to bring consolation?

"His soul is in him." He did not say, "He will rise; I will raise him." Notice his humility and his desire to console.

Paul’s going down, falling upon him, and embracing him signifies what he himself says: “My little children, for whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you” (Gal 4:19).

The resurrection of those who sin through negligence, rather than through weakness, is joined with great effort. The former is shown in Eutychus, the latter in Tabitha, whom Peter raised (see Acts 9:36-42).

Therefore she dies by day, deprived of strength, while he falls in the middle of the night and dies. She, after death, was washed and laid in an upper room. He, after falling from the third floor, is mourned as dead.

He dies in the presence of the teacher who was preaching, but she dies in his absence. Paul went down to him, while Peter went up to her to raise her.

Then she, seeing Peter, sat up. He died in the middle of the night, yet arose in the morning. Once raised, he is brought forth at sunrise.

In the spring, about Pascha of the year 58 or 59, Paul left Corinth. Some of his companions had crossed over before him to Troas (Acts 20:4-5). Paul kept Pascha in Philippi and there took Luke, who had been left there earlier.

He spent a week in Troas to make up for the brevity of his previous stay there. That earlier brevity had been caused by his desire to learn quickly about the state of the Corinthian Church (2 Cor 2:12).

Here, on the first day of the week, he was present at the Church’s worship and spoke with the brethren in a house. Providence saw the need to confirm the faithful in the teaching they had received and to spread it among the Gentiles.

This stay of the Apostle Paul in Troas was marked by one of the greatest works of the grace of God that accompanied Paul in his apostolic labor. This was the resurrection of a young man named Eutychus, who had fallen from the window of a house.

From Troas the Apostle Paul continued his journey in haste, directing his way toward Jerusalem, where he wished to be on the day of Pentecost.

Therefore, desirable as it was for him to visit the Christians in Ephesus on the way to Jerusalem, he passed that city by so as not to be delayed there. He came instead to Miletus, a coastal city south of Ephesus.

A cry of terror broke from those around him. But “Paul went down, fell upon him, and embracing him with his arms, said, ‘Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.’”

By this word he calmed their agitation. He left the young man under the beneficial influence of rest and quiet, and perhaps also under the good care of the deaconesses and other women who were present.

For the narrative simply adds that the Apostle went up again. After “the breaking of bread,” as the Eucharistic sacred action was called, and after the meal, later called the agape, he continued speaking with the assembly until daybreak, and then departed.

“He fell upon him and embraced him.” In this way the son of the widow of Zarephath was once raised by the Prophet Elijah (3 Kgs 17:21), and the son of the Shunammite woman by the Prophet Elisha (4 Kgs 4:34).

“His soul is in him.” The expression does not mean that his soul was still in him, or that the youth had not yet died. It means that his soul was again in him, and that the dead youth was alive again, that is, raised.

Only the humble Apostle does not speak so directly, lest people exalt him for the very great miracle he had performed (cf. Chrysostom).

The resurrection of Eutychus by the Apostle Paul was as wondrous as it was consoling. Eutychus’s death during the preaching surely disturbed many and greatly darkened the festal joy.

Saint John Chrysostom is even ready to ascribe Eutychus’s death to the devil’s involvement. He says: “The devil troubled this feast, though unsuccessfully, by plunging one hearer into sleep and casting him down.

Therefore they were greatly comforted, both because they received the youth alive and because there was a sign.”

The manner of Eutychus’s resurrection was like that by which the Prophet Elijah once raised the son of the widow of Zarephath (see 3 Kgs 17:21), and the Prophet Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman (see 4 Kgs 4:34).