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Acts 11:1–10. The Apostles and brothers who were in Judea heard that the pagans also accepted the word of God. And when Peter came to Jerusalem, the circumcision rebuked him, saying, “You went to the uncircumcised men and ate with them.” Peter began to retell it to them in order, saying: I was praying in the city of Joppa, and in a frenzy I saw a vision: a certain vessel came down, like a large sheet, lowered from heaven by four corners, and came down to me. I looked into it and, examining it, I saw four-legged creatures of the earth, animals, reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me: “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” I said, “No, Lord, nothing foul or unclean has ever come into my mouth.” And a voice answered me a second time from heaven: “What God has cleansed, do not consider unclean.” This happened three times, and again everything rose to heaven. You see what zeal they had for the law. They were not ashamed of Peter’s dignity, nor of the miracles that had happened, nor of the wonderful preparation that was made for accepting the word, but they began to talk about such trifles. Those who were circumcised spoke, not the apostles. And they don’t say “why did you preach?”, but “why did you eat?” Peter did not stop at this trifle, but based himself on what was of great importance. If, he says, they received the Spirit, then how could they not teach it to them? With this apology he shows that he is not guilty of anything, but the culprit of everything and everywhere is God, to whom he attributes everything. Because, he says, He showed the vessel, and I objected to Him. And again He spoke, but I didn’t listen to that either. The Spirit commanded me to go. I walked slowly and did not immediately perform baptism, but again the Spirit completed everything. “I heard a voice speaking to me.” It was enough that the canvas appeared to convince him; but this, however, was joined by a voice: “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” “I said: no, Lord.” You see, says Peter, I did my thing. This is an apology against what they said: “You went to uncircumcised people and ate with them.” And he, however, defends himself and does not use the authority of the teacher. Because the more meekly he answers them, the more he calms them down. Acts 11:11–18. And so, at that very hour, three men stood in front of the house in which I was, sent from Caesarea to me. The Spirit told me to go with them without any doubt. These six brothers also went with me, and we came to the man’s house. He told us how he saw a holy angel in his house, who stood and said to him: “Send people to Joppa and call Simon, who is called Peter; he will tell you words by which you and your whole house will be saved.” When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit descended on them, just as it did on us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said: “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So, if God gave them the same gift as he gave to us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, then who am I that I could hinder God? Having heard this, they calmed down and glorified God, saying: apparently, God gave repentance to life to the pagans. He could not say anything that would more reveal his humility than the fact that he referred to the testimony of the brethren. He does not say that the Angel said to Cornelius: “your prayers and your alms” (Acts 10:14), - he does not talk about the rightness of this man, he does not say that he did this because the Spirit sent him, that God commanded him, calling him from there through the Angel, but he confirms with the words “these six brothers also went with me.” Because that in itself was undeniable proof. But he is not content with what was said above; he also recalls the saying of the Lord: “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Nothing new happened, he says, but only what He predicted. But, they will say, there was no need to baptize; and meanwhile the baptism was performed. And he does not say “I commanded them to be baptized,” but he shows that he did nothing new. What we had, he says, they also received, for “God gave them the same gift as he gave us.” To stop their mouths, he says: “like us.” God does not allow, he says, that they should have less, if He has given an equal gift to those who believe. And he does not say: “like you,” but “like us.” What do you find unworthy when we call them fellows? “Who am I that I could hinder God?” In defending himself against his accusers, he strongly and cruelly shames them. I couldn’t, he says, forbid this. From these words they became meek and fell silent. Do you see that thanks to Peter’s speech to the people everything turned out well when he told what had happened? From this time on, the doors were finally opened for pagans to join the Church. Acts 11:19–26. Meanwhile, those who were scattered from the persecution that followed Stephen went as far as Phenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to no one except the Jews. Now there were some of them Cypriots and Cyrenians, who, having come to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks, preaching the good news of the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Rumors about this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they instructed Barnabas to go to Antioch. Having arrived and seeing the grace of God, he rejoiced and urged everyone to hold on to the Lord with a sincere heart. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And quite a number of people came to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and, having found him, brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they gathered in church and taught a considerable number of people; and the disciples in Antioch for the first time began to be called Christians. The persecution against Christians rendered considerable service to Christianity, because “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:28). Because when Stephen was killed, when Paul was twice in danger, when the apostles were scourged, then the pagans were accepted into the Church. This is what Paul says: “You should have been the first to preach the word of God, but because you reject it and make yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). "They spoke to the Greeks". Perhaps they were called Hellenes because they did not speak Hebrew. The expression “the hand of the Lord was with them” shows that they performed miracles. Do you see why miracles were needed even now? To make them believe. "They commissioned Barnabas to go to Antioch". Why didn’t they write to Paul about this, but sent Barnabas? Because they did not yet know about the virtue of this husband. “He was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” It does not mean the same thing that God is good and that the husband is good. The first is good in essence, being the beginning and source of all goods, and the husband is good not in essence, but by virtue of virtue. “Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.” Barnabas was a very kind, simple, and forgiving person. I was looking, says Luke, for an ascetic, a military leader. “For a whole year they gathered in church and taught a considerable number of people.” It is no small praise for the city that he, above all others, for such a period of time, enjoyed his lips. “The disciples in Antioch began to be called Christians for the first time.” And this speaks of the success of Paul’s preaching, when he raised Christianity here to such a height that it was possible to give Christians this name as if it were some kind of distinctive sign. Where three thousand believed, where five thousand, where such a multitude; but, however, there was nothing like this name, but people “of this path” were simply called “Christians.” Here for the first time they were awarded this name. It is remarkable that Antioch was especially honored with the chief throne of power because Christians there were called by this name for the first time. Acts 11:27–30. In those days, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them, named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine throughout the entire universe, which happened under Caesar Claudius. Then the disciples decided, each according to his income, to send aid to the brothers living in Judea; which they did, sending what they had collected to the elders through Barnabas and Saul. In what sense does Christ say that “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” (Matthew 11:13)? He speaks of those prophets who foretold His appearing. "Foretold by the Spirit". So that they do not think that the famine happened because Christianity appeared, the Holy Spirit predicts this, because Christ also predicted it. Not because “there will be famine throughout the entire universe”, so that it should be due to predestination spoken from the beginning, but because of the evils that were inflicted on the holy apostles. And since they continued, the “great famine” appeared, foreshadowing to the Jews about the misfortunes that were to come. “Then the disciples contributed, each according to his means.” Look: for them, hunger becomes a reason for salvation, an opportunity for mercy. Look: they become believers and bear fruits worthy of faith - they show mercy not only to those close to them, but also to those far away. "Send allowance to brothers". From this it becomes clear that the apostles had the dignity of elders, although, in addition, they were in the rank of deacons and bishops. You might be interested in: