Bede : But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, etc. Heresy is called in Greek from election, because each one, having rejected the sayings of others, chose what he thought should be followed. But the Sadducees, who are called just (for they claimed for themselves what they were not, as we read below), entirely denying the resurrection of the body, said that the soul perishes with the flesh. They did not believe there was an angel or any spirit, and accepting only the five books of Moses, rejected the proclamations of the prophets. And therefore these chiefly supported the leaders in persecuting the apostles, being led by zeal, because those with great power and signs of miracles gave testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. — Commentary on Acts Bede : But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him, etc. This reading in Greek begins thus, looking back at the previous events: And seeing these things, the high priest rose up. — Retractions on Acts Cassiodorus : "Then the high priest rising up, and all they that were with him," etc. Having learned of those events, the high priest and the rest of the heresy of the Sadducees were filled with great envy and, detaining the apostles, they threw them into the common prison, setting guards at the door. But an angel of the Lord opened the doors and led them out, telling them to teach the people in the temple in their usual manner. Unaware of this, the princes and priests sent ministers to the common prison on the following day. These found the prison carefully guarded, yet none of those whom they had thrown into it on the previous day were inside. They found out by others' report that the men whom they were looking for were in the temple preaching the wonderful works of the Lord to the people. Then the officer, going to the synagogue, brought them without any violence before the council, and they tried a second time to forbid them from their habitual preaching. Then Peter and the apostles, filled with confidence, persisted in proclaiming the word of the Lord. Greatly angered by this, they plotted to kill them; they plotted secretly, because the people were to be feared. — Complexiones on the Acts of the Apostles John Chrysostom : "Having risen up," that is, being roused, being excited at the things taking place, the high-priest and they which were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees) were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the Apostles: they now assault them more vigorously: and put them in the common prison; but did not forthwith bring them to trial, because they expected them again to be softened down. — Homily on Acts 13 Oecumenius : When these things were completed by the apostles, and the multitude was increased by the preaching, and the number of the faithful was already growing great by the daily distribution; the high priest, he says, having risen, that is, being aroused and stirred by what was taking place, attacked them more violently, the Sadducees in particular viewing him as more inhuman for his rage against the resurrection they detested, while the apostles were accomplishing everything. For proclaiming Christ risen, and performing miracles in the name of the Risen One to bring people to faith, they showed that if the matter were false it would not have turned out so. Therefore, being therefore stung and preparing for the murder of the apostles, they for a time held them in the security of custody, not immediately bringing them to trial, while they themselves, through fear of detection, craftily sought repentance. Those men indeed acted so. But God, by the postponement wrought also by device, shamed those who had been wicked in vain, and rather confirmed the apostles by the removal from prison through a divine angel, and instructed them where and how they ought to continue unwaveringly. With the violent men meanwhile involved through ignorance in the perception of the angel, at the time when they postponed presenting the apostles for judgment, he did not show pity (for how could those stirred up to greater wrath have been more inclined to mercy?), but in order that first he might compel the arrogant to accomplish their own will by their custody, and, having therefore barricaded them, then, having been struck by the divine oversight of the matters contemplated, he might chastise the perplexity of the resolved by proving the power to be divine. — Commentary on Acts