Acts 6:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"And the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem." The number of believers grew in Jerusalem. It is astonishing that where Christ had been put to death, there the preaching about Him spread. The disciples were not scandalized when they saw the apostles being scourged. Some threatened them, others tempted the Spirit, and still others murmured. Yet the number of believers multiplied all the more. So they were instructed by the event concerning Ananias, and great fear was among them. Notice, I ask you, how the number of believers increased. It increased after the temptations, not before them. See how great is the love of God for mankind. From those very chief priests who stirred up the people to kill Jesus Christ, from those who cried out, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save" (Mt 27:42), from those very men, he says, "a great many were obedient to the faith." Let us also imitate Him. He received them and did not reject them. So let us also repay our enemies, even if they have caused us countless evils. Let us repay them with every good thing we have. Let us not fail to do good even to them. If, by suffering evil, one can satisfy their rage, then much more can this be done by benefiting them. The former is less than the latter. It is not the same thing to benefit an enemy as to wish, or to be ready, to suffer greater evil from him. From the latter let us pass to the former. This is the advantage of Christ's disciples. They crucified Him, though He had come to benefit them. They scourged His disciples. After all this, He counted them worthy of the same honor as His own disciples, sharing His good things with them equally. I exhort you, let us imitate Christ. In this we must imitate Him. This makes a person equal to God. This is a work above man. Let us love mercy. It is the guide and teacher of wisdom. The one who has learned to be merciful to the unfortunate will also learn not to bear malice. Having learned this, he will be able to benefit his enemies. Let us learn to sympathize with the misfortunes of our neighbors. Then we shall learn to endure evil from them as well. Let us ask the very person who is hostile to us whether he does not condemn himself. Does he not wish that he too were wise? Will he not say that all this comes from anger, faintheartedness, or annoyance? Would he not rather be among those who are insulted and bear injuries in silence, than among those who insult and rage? Does he not depart in admiration of the one who bears injuries patiently? Do not think this makes people contemptible. Nothing makes a person so contemptible as inflicting injuries. Nothing makes a person so honorable as enduring injuries. The first, the one who causes injury, is a villain. The latter, the one who endures injuries, is a wise man. The former is beneath man. The latter is equal to the angels. Even if the one insulted were less than the one insulting him, he too could take revenge if he wished. Since he does not do this, all sympathize with him and hate the other. What then? Is he not much better than the former? Everyone will look at the first as mad, and at the second as prudent. Therefore, if someone urges you to condemn anyone, say to him: I cannot say anything evil about him. I fear that perhaps he is not such a man. Never speak evil of another, even in your mind, and still less before others. Do not murmur against him even before God. If you learn that he is being spoken of badly, defend him. Say: these are words of passion, not of the man. They are words of anger, not of a friend, of frenzy, not of the soul. Let us reason this way about every transgression. Do not wait until the fire blazes up, but extinguish it beforehand. Do not irritate the wild beast, but restrain it before it is provoked. You will no longer be able to extinguish it once the flame has caught. And what was said about him? That he is mad and foolish? To whom do these words apply more: to the one about whom they are spoken, or to the one who speaks them? The latter deserves to be called foolish, even if he is very wise. The former, even if he is not intelligent, deserves to be called prudent and wise. Tell me, who is foolish? Is it the one who ascribes to another what is not truly there? Or is it the one who, even on such an occasion, is not disturbed? If remaining calm when troubled is a mark of wisdom, is it not great madness to be irritated without any provocation? I do not yet speak of what place of punishment is prepared for those who insult and slander their neighbor (Mt 5:22). But what else did they say about him? That he is dishonorable among the dishonorable, and low among the low? Again, the one who says this turns the insult against himself. The other will prove honorable and worthy of respect, while he will prove truly low. To make such things a reproach, such as obscurity of birth, truly belongs to a low soul. The other will be great and worthy of admiration if he thinks nothing of it. He remains as though they had said that he has something excellent above others. Will they say that he is an adulterer, or something of the kind? In that case one may even laugh. When conscience does not accuse, there is no place for anger. Once you understand what evil and disgusting expressions he utters, you should not grieve even at this. He has already revealed what everyone might have learned later in time. Through this he has made himself unworthy of trust before all. He has shown himself a man unable to hide his neighbor's faults. Thus he has shamed himself more than the other. He has closed every harbor for himself and subjected himself to fearful accountability at the future judgment. Everyone will turn away not so much from the other man as from him. He revealed what should not have been revealed. And you, do not say everything you know. Be silent about some things, if you wish to gain a good reputation. By this you will not only refute what others have said and cover your neighbor's faults. You will also do another good deed: you will not allow judgment to be pronounced against yourself. Does someone speak badly of you? Then say: if he knew everything, he would not have said only this about me. Are you amazed and astonished at what has been said? Yet this is how one must act. Everything we have said to you we borrow from outside, not because there are not countless proofs for this in the Scriptures, but because this can more quickly shame you. Scripture too sometimes aims to shame, as when it says, "Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" (Mt 5:47). The prophet Jeremiah set forth as an example the sons of Rechab, who would not agree to violate their father's commandment (Jer 35). Miriam and others with her murmured against Moses. Yet by his prayer he immediately freed them from punishment. He did not allow anyone to know that they had been punished on his account (Num 12). With us it is not so. On the contrary, this is what we especially want: that everyone know the injury remained unavenged. How long shall we live an earthly life? There can be no fight when only one side resists. If you arm both sides of those who rage, you will irritate them still more. But if you arm only the right or the left, you will tame its rage. A person striking blows becomes still more enraged when he has before him someone resisting him. When he has someone yielding, he calms down more quickly, and the blows turn back upon himself. A person skilled in wrestling does not tame an enemy's force so much as one who is insulted and does not answer in kind. The enemy at last withdraws from him, ashamed and condemned. First he is condemned by his own conscience. Second, he is condemned by all who saw. There is a proverb: the one who honors others honors himself. Therefore the one who shames others shames himself. Again I say, no one can injure us except ourselves. No one will make me poor except myself. Let us explain this. Suppose I have a low soul and everyone gives me money. What of it? As long as the soul is not changed, all is in vain. Suppose I have a great soul and everyone takes money from me. What of it? As long as you do not make it low, there is no harm. Suppose my life is impure, and everyone says the opposite about me. What of it? Though they speak so, in their soul they do not judge me so. Or suppose my life is pure, and everyone says the opposite about me. What of it? They will condemn themselves in their own conscience, because they do not speak from conviction. We must not take either praises or censures to heart. What am I saying? No one will be able to harm us by slander or any reproach, if we do not wish it. Let us explain this. Let someone drag us to court. Let him slander us. Let him even, if you wish, seek to deprive us of life. What does it mean to suffer this innocently for a little time? But this very thing, they say, is evil. On the contrary, to suffer innocently is good. What? Should one suffer not innocently? Accordingly, one philosopher among the outsiders, the pagans, heard that someone had been put to death. When one of his disciples said, "It is a pity, since it was unjust," he turned to him and said, "What then? Would you have wished it to be just?" This is Socrates in Xenophon. Was not John the Baptist put to death unjustly? Whom do you pity more: the one put to death unjustly, or the opposite? Do you not consider the latter wretched? Do you not admire the former? What injustice did a man suffer when he gained great benefit from death itself, and not only suffered no harm? If innocent death made an immortal mortal, then there truly would be harm. But if someone hastened to put to death with glory a mortal man, whom death was by nature going to overtake after a short time, what harm is there? Therefore let our soul be well ordered, and then there will be no harm to us from outside. But you are not in glory? What of it? What we said about wealth applies also to glory. If I am great, I shall be in need of nothing. If I am vainglorious, the more I acquire, the more I shall desire. I shall be especially distinguished and attain greater glory when I despise glory. Therefore, having understood this, let us give thanks to Christ our God, who has granted us such a life. Let us spend it for His glory. For to Him belongs glory, with the Father without beginning and His Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Many of the priests, or in general those serving at the temple in Jerusalem, believed in Jesus Christ. This showed the triumph of apostolic preaching even over those who, more than others, could have resisted the Gospel teaching.

This could also have helped increase the number of believers among the common people. The example of the Old Testament priests, and of those serving at the temple generally, could powerfully affect the common people and dispose them to receive the Gospel teaching.

The power of apostolic preaching was so great that even a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. That is, they believed in the Lord Jesus as the Messiah.

The expression "became obedient to the faith" indicates that they were, as it were, forcibly brought to faith in Christ. The power of the apostolic speech conquered their stubbornness in their prejudices concerning Jesus of Nazareth.

The writer of Acts notes this conversion of priests to the faith as a characteristic feature of precisely this period of apostolic activity. Before this we truly do not see examples of their conversion.

On the contrary, we see them among the direct persecutors of the Apostles (Acts 4:1). This was one of the decisive moral victories of Christianity over Judaism.

The very members of the ancient hierarchy finally saw its fall and fell at the feet of the One High Priest, crucified on the cross, confessing their faith in Him as the Messiah.

The conversion of the priests could act favorably upon the people, and therefore the number of believers greatly increased. The writer of Acts no longer gives a definite number.

As he expressively says, this number grew and multiplied greatly like a living tree. Therefore an exact count could not be made, despite the writer's inclination toward thoroughness and precision (see Lk 1:2).

"The few but eloquent features in which the writer of Acts depicts the inner condition of the first Christian community sufficiently explain why the simple people followed the Apostles in great numbers, constantly surrounded them, and rewarded them with sympathy.

This inner condition was joined to the wonder-working power poured out abundantly upon the community through the Apostles. The piety of the first Christians, their fiery religious disposition, rare unanimity, and close communal life, which reached complete brotherhood, all drew the simple people to the Christian community.

Signs and wonders also drew them. Without openly destroying the bond with Judaism, the new Christian spirit entered into all human relations. Without destroying the outward side of the accepted common life, it renewed everything inwardly.

This explains the popular movement in favor of Christianity and the conversion of even a great many priests."