But a certain maidservant beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
What difference does it make that the maid is the first to give Peter away? The men could have recognized him instead. Perhaps this happened so that we may see that the female sex also sinned by killing the Lord, so that his passion should also redeem womankind. A woman therefore was the first to receive the mystery of the resurrection and to obey the commands, so that she abolished the old error of her sin.
By saying that Peter did penance, we have to take care not to think that he did it as those who are properly called penitents now do it in the church. Who could bear it that we should think the first of the apostles was numbered among such penitents? He repented of having denied Christ, as his tears show, for so it is written, “he wept bitterly.” They had not yet been strengthened by the resurrection of the Lord, the coming of the Holy Spirit who appeared on the day of Pentecost, or by that breath which the Lord breathed on them after he rose from the dead.
We do not say that the denial took place in order that Christ’s words might come true. We say rather that his object was to forewarn the disciple, inasmuch as what was about to happen did not escape Christ’s knowledge. The misfortune, therefore, happened to the disciple from the cowardice of human nature. Since Christ had not risen from the dead, he had not yet abolished death and wiped corruption away. The fear of undergoing death was something beyond human endurance. Commentary on Luke, Homily
