Severus of Antioch

In his own words on Acts

• Acts 2:3

  And there appeared to them separate tongues: So then, the thorns were consumed, that is, the transgression from Adam was consumed.

• Acts 10:41

  Now, certainly, he shared a new food, one not in accord with the prior order in which he had eaten and drunk with them before the resurrection. For at that time, having been made similar to us in everything except for sin, he ate and drank just as we do. Moreover, clothing himself in the flesh, he willingly sought the benefit of nourishment, and so he willingly assimilated himself to the experience of hunger. After the resurrection he did not need to eat or drink anymore, but only as one believed in by and as one giving evidence to his intimate disciples. Another reason [he ate and drank was that] those who later on were to believe in the true nature of the body—that body that suffered voluntarily and arose in a divine way (totally driving away the idea of an accursed apparition and phantasm)—needed these actions. After the resurrection, he named food and drink for himself together with his disciples, not according to his previous practice but something new.

  CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.42

• Acts 10:46

  At the beginning of the preaching, when the apostles announced the gospel, those who received holy baptism both spoke with tongues and prophesied in order to prove that they had received the Holy Spirit. When unbelief was at its climax, then, as was necessary, the miracles flourished. Yet, with the faith spread far and wide, there is no need of signs, for what comes from God is not for show but for the salvation, healing and benefit of those who receive.

  CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 10.44

• Acts 12:5

  This we urge you, by both supplications and tears, to contribute to us—insignificant ones. For the shared sufferings of the church call for shared prayers, just as when Peter, the head of the apostles, was bound in prison by two chains and watched over by guards … "there was made constant prayer by the church to God for him." When this is the case for an apostle, who needs help, and prayers are offered up by the church, how would we, the uninitiated and brood of sin, not all the more beg these prayers to be offered for us by the faithful, those noble limbs of the church and educated to groan with godly and spiritual perception?

  CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 12.5

• Acts 13:30

  Do not be troubled by the fact that Jesus is said to have been raised by God. Indeed, if Jesus is none other than the incarnate Word, he is also the power of the Father through whom everything occurs. This is according to the words, "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." He himself will be considered to have raised himself while he is also said to have been raised by the Father to whom all things are referred as the eternal source and cause. Christ himself, in fact, says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

  CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.30-31

• Acts 13:35

  From [the tomb] Christ was raised for us and rose as the true lord of incorruptibility, so that we also, by rising up from our tombs to the anticipated resurrection, may run toward heaven and to the clouds in which he returns in his divine glory.

  CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.35-36

• Acts 15:36

  If it seemed necessary to the apostles to travel around, and to return often to the same cities where they had preached the gospel, and to visit the believers and to examine closely how they were, what justification will we have before God if we do not fulfill through our writings what they fulfilled by traveling with great toil on their feet and going spontaneously to those who were in need and teaching what is useful for salvation?

  CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 15.36-38

• Acts 16:25

  You see, the holy Scripture clearly states that they sang hymns, not only in their hearts but also in order to be heard, as is written in the Psalms: "With my voice I cried to the Lord, with my voice I was in need before God." After the great fame of their actions it was necessary to offer the sacrifices of praise for everything to God, that is, "the fruit of the lips, which confess his name," as Paul says. David expresses the same saying, "By praising I invoke the Lord, and I will be saved from my enemies."

  CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 16.25

• Acts 21:21

  Thus the apostles and the holy disciples of the Savior, in the beginning, allowed converts from Judaism to the life of the gospel to be circumcised according to the law of Moses in order that they would just believe in the Lord. Later, they themselves on their own, filled with worship in the Spirit and with evangelical perfection, rejected the small shadowy observances of the law.

  CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 21.21-22