Arator : How much [this] darkness earns! After the loss of his eyesight he sees greater things; fostering faith gives a marvelous example to the ages. Ananias casts out his fury—O strange victory! He whom the Hebrew called Sheep [Ananias] subdues a rapacious wolf. God will be proclaimed to the world by this herald, and pulled from the shadows of the law, under which he was blind, he will bring light into all lands singing about the everlasting Sun. Do not cease, O Saul, to make this day known, in order that the night which is given to you may be filled with the light of many, and you carry your darkness here [in your body] in order that you may be able to purge [the darkness] of the world. — ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1 Cassiodorus : "And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and laid his hand upon him, and said." Walking in to Paul, Ananias cleansed his eyes by the imposition of his hand, causing scales to fall off. Paul was baptized in the name of Christ, and was also reinvigorated by the taking of food, for he had been weakened by a three-day fast. Then, having been looked upon by heavenly kindness, growing strong in the Christian doctrine, he preached the word of the Lord in the synagogues: he had been changed for the better. Now after several days, a plot was hatched among the Jews against him too. He was placed in a basket by the disciples and secretly let down from the wall by a rope, and then came to Jerusalem. Having been brought by Barnabas before the apostles, he told them all that had happened to him by a gift of the Lord. Then, joined to them in the most loving fellowship, he preached together with them the Lord Christ whom he had previously thought worthy of persecution. As a result, the unbelieving hurriedly sought to have him killed, but the apostles decided, by a holy arrangement, to send him away to Tarsus. Meanwhile, the whole of Judea and Samaria had peace and grew in the splendor of the Lord. — Complexiones on the Acts of the Apostles Cyril of Jerusalem : The Holy Spirit worked immediately and not only changed Paul's blindness to sight but also imparted the seal to his soul, making him a vessel of election to carry the name of the Lord who had appeared to him before kings and the children of Israel; and he fashioned his former persecutor into a herald and a good servant who "from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum completed the gospel of Christ." — Catechetical Lecture 17.26 John Cassian : He sent him then to an old man and determined that he must be instructed by his teaching rather than by his own. Otherwise what might have been rightly done with regard to Paul would have given a bad example of presumption to those who came after him, since each individual would conclude that he too should be trained in similar fashion under the guidance and by the teaching of God alone rather than by the instruction of his elders. — CONFERENCE 2.15.1 John Chrysostom : "And Ananias went, and entered into the house, and laid his hands upon him, and said, Brother Saul"-he straightway addresses him as a friend by that name-"Jesus, Who appeared unto thee in the way in which thou camest"-and yet Christ had not told him this, but he learnt it from the Spirit-"hath sent me unto thee, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." — Homily on Acts 20 John Chrysostom : "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus"-he saith not, "Who made thee blind," but, "Who appeared with thee in the way, hath sent me unto thee that thou mayest receive thy sight": observe this man also, how he utters nothing boastful, but just as Peter said in the case of the lame man, "Why look ye on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made him to walk," so here also he saith, "Jesus, Who appeared unto thee." Or, he saith it that the other may believe: and he saith not, He that was crucified, the Son of God, He that doeth wonders: but what? "He that appeared unto thee:" speaking from what the other knew: as Christ also added no more, neither said, I am Jesus, the Crucified, the Risen: but what? "Whom thou persecutest." Ananias said not, "The persecuted," that he may not seem as it were to rave over him, to deride him, "Who appeared unto thee in the way:" and yet He did not visibly appear, but was seen by the things done. And immediately he added, wishing to draw a veil over the accusation: "That thou mayest receive thy sight." I came not to reprove the past, but to bestow the gift: "that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." — Homily on Acts 20 Oecumenius : But Christ did not say to Ananias: I appeared to him, but he learned this from the Holy Spirit. And indeed he was not seen. Yes, he was seen through works and through the operation. Nor did he say, He who pierced you, turning aside the reproach, but, the one who appeared to you. — Commentary on Acts