But Saul made havock of the church, entering in from house to house: and dragging away men and women, committed them to prison.
σαυλος δε ελυμαινετο την εκκλησιαν κατα τους οικους εισπορευομενος συρων τε ανδρας και γυναικας παρεδιδου εις φυλακην
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
A great frenzy is shown both by the fact that he was acting alone and by the fact that he entered houses. To such an extent had he given his soul for the law. “Dragging off,” he says, “men and women.” See his boldness, bitterness, and frenzy. He subjected all whom he encountered to countless misfortunes, as though he had become more audacious after Stephen’s murder.
“But Saul was ravaging the Church.” This was great madness: to be alone and to break into houses. It was because he had given his soul for the law.
The murder of Saint Stephen did not take place by a judicial decision of the civil Roman authority. It occurred through a popular uprising, stirred up by certain members of the foreign synagogues in Jerusalem.
These, in turn, were secretly guided in this matter by the Sanhedrin (Acts 6:11-12).
Although the Roman authority had not given the Sanhedrin permission to persecute Christians, Stephen’s murder did not remain an isolated act of popular revolt against the Christian society.
It was the beginning of a great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem. Thus all, except the apostles, were scattered through various places in Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1).
“All” should not be understood here literally. Further on, in verse 3, it is said that Saul, being especially zealous in persecuting Christians, went from house to house in Jerusalem.
There he found many Christian men and women and dragged them to prison.
This uprising seems to have occurred on the very day, ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, of Saint Stephen’s martyrdom.
The matter may be pictured thus. While certain devout men, themselves Jews, inwardly sympathized with Christianity and recognized Stephen’s innocence, they took the martyr’s body and buried it with honor (Acts 8:2).
Meanwhile the whole crowd of the people, returning from the place of execution of the Christian protomartyr, turned toward the dwellings of Christians and began to pursue and persecute them.
In this matter a certain Saul was distinguished by especially fierce fanaticism. He evidently acted by commission from the Sanhedrin.
For he entered the houses of Christians and, shamefully dragging away men and women, committed them to prison.
The scattering of the believers after Stephen’s death gave his murderers the idea that intensified persecution would put an end to the “new heresy.” At least Saul, in his blindness, dared to commit new cruelties.
Having received authority from the chief priests to persecute Christians, he went for this purpose “through all the synagogues.” Not content with this, he entered their houses, sparing neither sex nor age.
By tortures he “compelled them to blaspheme” the name of Jesus, “shut them up in prisons,” and “when they were put to death,” he “cast his vote against them” (cf. Acts 26:10-11).
So can a man act with the most religious conscience, when he has not penetrated the true nature of love for God and neighbor.
Certain devout men buried his body, and at the same time “made great lamentation over him.”
He was the first martyr for the name of Christ. In him the great truth was first justified, that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity.”
Among the Cilician Hellenists who disputed with Stephen in the synagogue was a “young man named Saul,” from the city of Tarsus, a disciple of the famous Gamaliel.
For all his learning, he could not stand against Saint Stephen. Like the others, he burned with hatred toward him, a hatred that made him look with malicious joy upon his martyr’s death.
Saul not only approved this vile murder, but also assisted the murderers. They laid their garments at his feet, so that they might cast the first stones, as the law prescribed.
Yet this furious enemy of Christianity first felt, in this terrible event, a painful spark of self-accusation in his heart. Gradually it flared into an all-consuming flame.
At last it brought him to become himself the “chosen vessel” of the persecuted Christ, the greatest apostle and spreader of Christianity.
Meanwhile, the success of Christianity’s enemies in killing Saint Stephen served as the signal for a general persecution of Christians. To save their lives, they were compelled to scatter from Jerusalem.
This involuntary scattering, however, served to spread the Gospel still more widely, beyond the borders of Judea. For “those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”
Saul ravaged the Church, or laid it waste (cf. Gal 1:13). He wished to destroy its very existence as a distinct society, insofar as this lay within his power and means.
He entered houses, or more precisely went from house to house, wherever he hoped to find Christians. When he found them, he dragged away men and women, probably with the help of servants of the Sanhedrin.
That is, he treated them with dishonor and shame, and committed them to prison.
From this it is clear that Saul had the Sanhedrin on his side. Perhaps he was even its instrument in persecuting Christians and was authorized by it to act in this way.
Otherwise he would not have dared to break into citizens’ homes, nor could prisons have been at his disposal.
At the same time, it is also clear that the bitterness of the persecution depended greatly on Saul’s personal character. His fanaticism, in particular, increased the hardship of the Christian community’s condition.
Saul, a Hebrew of the tribe of Benjamin and a native of Tarsus, lived in Jerusalem to study the law under the famous rabbi Gamaliel.
Burning with hatred toward Christians as destroyers of faith according to the law of Moses and the traditions of the elders, he approved Stephen’s killing as the triumph of a righteous cause.
He considered the best means of upholding the law to be the extermination of all Christians, as far as possible.
As a prominent disciple of a famous teacher and member of the Sanhedrin, he could enjoy the attention and support of other members of the Sanhedrin. They could encourage his boundless zeal and even give him certain powers.
And so he began attacking the Christians who remained in Jerusalem. He broke into houses and violently seized Christians hidden there, so that he might shut them up in prisons.
This was like the attack of a wild beast. Therefore the writer says that Saul ravaged the Church.
For individual members of the Church, these torments were undoubtedly very painful. Yet the Church in her fullness, with Christ as her Head, was certainly not placed in extreme danger by them.
For, according to Christ’s promise, even the gates of Hades cannot prevail against her (cf. Mt 16:18).
The visible sign that Saul’s ravaging of the Church was powerless, or weak in power, was this. As she diminished in Jerusalem, she grew elsewhere in still greater measure through the preaching of the scattered Christians.
Thus one may even say that Saul’s persecution of the Church was only a negative means of strengthening her. Later, his apostolic preaching became a positive means for her spread.
“Having permitted the enemies to act against her by persecutions, Providence directs the course of events so that persecution only binds the union of believers more firmly.
It gives them greater courage and, through the scattering of persecuted confessors of the holy faith in Judea, lays the foundation of the Church in lands of other beliefs.
Until this time the teaching of Jesus Christ, one might say, was enclosed within the walls of Jerusalem. Now the very finger of God points to a new field.”
Blessed Theophylact calls Saul’s rage “a great frenzy, which he committed because he had given his soul for the law.”
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 17 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS