Acts 20:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"When he had gone up," it says, "and had broken bread and eaten." This interrupted the discourse, but did it no harm. Do you see how free their supper was from luxury? "And having eaten," it says, "he conversed a long while, even until daybreak, and then departed." Do you see how they kept vigil through the whole night? Such were their meals, that even after them they remained alert listeners and ready to hear. But in what do we differ from dogs? Do you see what a difference there is between us and them?

This should not be understood as though the Apostles had the custom of solemnly fasting on the Lord’s Day.

For the first day of the week was then the name of the day now called Sunday, as is stated plainly in the Gospels. The day of the Lord’s Resurrection is called by Matthew prima sabbati, and by the other three Evangelists una sabbati (see Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1).

It is clear that this day was later called Sunday. This may mean that, after the first day of the week had ended, they assembled at the beginning of the night that already belonged to Sunday, that is, to the first day of the week.

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.

“And when he had gone up and had broken bread,” and so forth. The breaking and partaking of bread during the public liturgical assembly on the day of Resurrection had not yet taken place, because Paul’s discourse had continued so long.

This discourse was interrupted by the fall of the young man Eutychus. So Paul, having returned to the upper room after raising the young man, proceeded to the very act of breaking and partaking of the bread.

The other faithful, of course, partook with him, although only Paul is mentioned, since the writer of Acts is speaking chiefly about him.

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).