Atos 1

Arator

Atos 1:3

Now, by manifest miracles during forty days in their sight, the Lord confirmed the faith of those whom he bade to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth in its wide boundary. The wonders of creation could not conceal God. What proof [of his real humanity] could the Risen One give so surely as the fact of eating? Human bodies show that they live by this means. About to go to heaven, he went forth to walk round the grove of olive because by its sacred bud it is a place of light and peace. He wished to return [to heaven] from that place, from which the divine fragrance makes agreeable a gleaming person with signed forehead. Since chrism, from the name of Christ, cleanses inwardly those anointed from above, he who will return as victor was raised to the starry firmament and had with him what he had taken on. — ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1

Atos 1:9

[And] let us commend the manner of his rule through the powers that are subject to him: born of a virgin mother, rising again by treading upon death, seeking the scepter of heaven. He announces [such] deeds by these [angelic] servants. Nor do the elements cease to serve their thunderer. In his honor as he is coming, a star does service as a soldier, going before the magi. A cloud waits upon him in obedience as he goes. — ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1

Atos 1:14

They sought by a swift path, with which it was possible to go a mile on their sabbath, the well-known walls where Mary, the gateway of God, the virgin mother of her Creator, formed by her own son, was sitting at a religious gathering. The second virgin put to flight the woes of Eve's crime; there is no harm done to the sex; she restored what the first took away. Let grief not raise up complaints or vex mourning hearts with groaning over the old law; these very forms of wickedness and crime rather cause delight at this bargain, and a better lot comes to the redeemed world from the fall. The person, not the nature [of a woman], caused ruin; in those days [of Eve] a pregnant woman [brought forth] peril. In these [of Mary] one grew great to bring forth God, the one begetting mortal things and the other bearing divine—she through whom the Mediator came forth into the world and carried actual flesh to the heavens. — ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1

Atos 1:15

Foremost among the band of apostles, Peter had been called from his small boat; the scaly throng were wont to be caught by this fisher; suddenly, seen from the shore as he drew [his nets], he himself deserved to be drawn; Christ's fishing deigned to seize a disciple who must stretch the nets which are to catch the human race. To the hand that had borne the fishhook was transferred the key. He who had been eager to shift the dripping booty from the depths of the sea to the shore and to fill the craft with spoils, now in another area draws from the better waves [of baptism]; no longer pursuing his profits through the waters, he forsakes his profession. To him the Lamb entrusted the sheep which he saved by his passion; and he enlarges his flock throughout the whole world under this shepherd. — ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1

Atos 1:16

Twelve constellations of the [stellar] choir shine and cast the brilliance of Olympus on the earth. Note what realization this light reveals: The world is divided by the regions of its four sides; a triune faith calls this [world to belief], in whose name [the world] is washed in the font. Therefore, four taken together three times makes up the whole figure which the twelvefold order possesses, and to the devout disciples, to whom this baptism is commanded, a mystic reason gave cause for making up again the former number. — ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1

Atos 1:19

This revenge on Judas is not empty. It denies funeral rites and comes thus as acceptable punishment for an unjust income. He had lately bought fields with the price of his death. He had purchased ground with the name of Blood, reusing tombs for foreign ashes, [appearing to] make the earth fruitful by means of the graves; this wicked one is denied the fertility of his own field and is alone excluded from the lands which bear sepulchers. His cruel trumpet [voice] began the gory wickedness. He is the standard bearer who, by planting a kiss, by a sign of peace, waged war as a wolf on the Lamb. — ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1

Atos 1:23

They choose two: Joseph, surnamed the Just, and Matthias—a name, as they say, that means "God's small one" in the Hebrew language, and by calling [him, God] confirms him as humble. Oh, how different are human from heavenly judgments! He who was just according to the praise of humankind is surpassed by the merit of a small one. — ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1