And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
Read Chapter 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Then stood up the high-priest, etc. As men in high repute, these (the Apostles) were about to take their place near to the Prophets. The Sadducees were they that were most sore on the subject of the Resurrection. But perchance some one will say: Why, what man, endowed with such gifts as the Apostles were, would not have been great? But consider, I pray you, how, before that they were endowed with the grace, they were continuing steadfastly with one accord in prayer Acts 1:14, and depending on the aid from above. And do you, my beloved, hope for the kingdom of heaven, yet endurest naught? And have you received the Spirit, yet sufferest not such things, nor encounterest perils? But they, before they had breathing-time from their former dangers, were again led into others. And even this too, that there is no arrogance, no conceit, how great a good it is! To converse with mildness, what a gain it is! For not all that they did was the immediate work of grace, but there are many marks of the...
The angel's freeing them from prison for the apostles on the one hand appeared as an encouragement, for the Jews really as [a tactical] expediency. The Jews, however, were unaware that the power was a divine one, so at first they met in the confusion of what they should do, whether they wished them to be arrested and [whether] they themselves might besides gain an understanding. To such a extent truly were they confused [/blinded], that neither were they prepared forcibly to remove from the temple the apostles, whom they nevertheless detested.
