Acts 27:44Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The ship breaks apart by day, so that they would not die of fear, and so that you also might see the fulfillment of the prophecy. [...] Do you see how even for this they owed gratitude to Paul? For his sake the centurion did not allow them to kill the prisoners. It seems to me that there were notorious criminals here, if the soldiers intended to kill them. But since they were restrained from carrying out their intention, this did not happen. Some swam, while others were carried on boards. Thus all were saved, and the prophecy was fulfilled, though it was not extraordinary in point of time. [...] When no hope remained, then, after receiving deliverance, they learned who Paul was.

Saint John Chrysostom exclaims concerning this: “Again the devil attempts to hinder the fulfillment of the prophecy. The soldiers wished to kill some of the prisoners, but the centurion restrained them in order to save Paul. So he was already attached to him. If the prisoners were saved through Paul from a ship that was in danger and suffered shipwreck, consider what it means to have a holy man in one’s house. Many storms befall us also, and far harsher than those. Yet God can save us also, if only we obey the saints and do what they command. For those men were not saved simply as such, but when they showed their faith. A saint, even if he is a prisoner, can accomplish more than those who are not prisoners. So it happened here. The unbound centurion needed the bound Paul. The skilled pilot received help from one who was not a pilot, or rather, from the true pilot. For Paul governed no such little boat, but the Church of the whole world. He had been taught by the Master of the sea Himself, not human skill, but spiritual wisdom. Many shipwrecks also happen to this ship. Look at our whole life. Is it not like this? At one time we enjoy the mercy of God, and at another we undergo a storm.”