Bede : Thus says the Holy Spirit: The man whose belt this is, will be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem in this way. He imitates the old prophets, who used to say: Thus says the Lord God. Because the Holy Spirit is equally Lord and God, as the Father and the Son, and their activity cannot be separated, whose nature and will is one. Whence we also read above: The Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them (Acts XIII), that is, the apostleship. And Paul himself writes: Paul, an apostle not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father (Galatians I). We have said this, lest anyone, after the manner of Macedonius, thinks the Holy Spirit to be a creature or of lesser authority than the Father or the Son. — Commentary on Acts John Chrysostom : But why, it may be asked, did he use a girdle with his raiment? This was customary with them of old time, before men passed into this soft and loose kind of dress. Thus, for instance, both Peter appears to have been "girded," and Paul; for it saith, "the man that owneth this girdle." And Elijah too was thus arrayed, and every one of the saints, because they were at work continually, laboring, and busying themselves either in journeyings, or about some other necessary matter; and not for this cause only, but also with a view of trampling under foot all ornaments, and practising all austerity. This very kind of thing accordingly Christ declares to be the greatest praise of virtue, thus saying, "What went ye out for to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses." — Homily on Matthew 10 John Chrysostom : "And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." He who formerly had declared about the famine, the same says, This "man, who owneth this girdle, thus shall they bind." The same that the prophets used to do, representing events to the sight, when they spoke about the captivity - as did Ezekiel - the same did this Agabus. And Agabus does not say, "They shall bind" Paul, that he may not seem to speak upon agreement with Paul, but "the man that owneth this girdle" - so then he had a girdle also. — Homily on Acts 45 Oecumenius : Agabus, the one who long ago foretold the famine. But the troubling thing is that they will hand him over into the hands of Gentiles. And see that when Paul heard that he would suffer countless terrible things, then he was hastening. And Agabus did not say that they would bind Paul, so as not to seem to speak from an agreement; but "the man whose belt this is." — Commentary on Acts Origen of Alexandria : "When he was about to go up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve aside and spoke to them on the road, 'Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall sentence him to death, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and beaten and crucified, and on the third day he shall rise." Paul both contemplated Christ, in the face of manifest dangers, proceeding and eagerly going up to Jerusalem with the foreknowledge that he would be handed over to the chief priests and scribes and sentenced to death, and he exhorted us to imitate him as he imitated Christ, as he says, "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ." And he did something similar to what Christ did when he took his disciples aside. For Agabus, taking his belt and girding himself about the hands and feet, said, "These things the Holy Spirit says: they will bind in this way the man who owns this belt" when he goes off to Jerusalem. When Paul learned of this, in imitation of his teacher, he went up eagerly to Jerusalem. — COMMENTARY ON Matthew 16.1 Tertullian : When Agabus, making use of corresponding action too, had foretold that bonds awaited Paul, the disciples, weeping and entreating that he would not venture upon going to Jerusalem, entreated in vain. As for him, having a mind to illustrate what he had always taught, he says, "Why weep ye, and grieve my heart? But for my part, I could wish not only to suffer bonds, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of my Lord Jesus Christ. — Scorpiace