Augustine of Hippo : Therefore when he sent the Holy Spirit, he manifested him visibly in two ways, as a dove and as fire; as a dove upon the baptized Lord, as fire upon the assembled disciples.… Here we saw a dove upon the Lord; there parted tongues upon the assembled disciples; in the one, simplicity is shown, in the other, fervor. For there are those who are said to be simple, and they are indolent; they are called simple, but they are lazy. Not such a one was Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit. He was simple, because he harmed no one; he was fervent, because he reproached the impious. For he did not keep silence before the Jews; his are those fiery words, "Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you have always resisted the Holy Spirit." Great vehemence! He rages, but as a dove without bile. For, in order that you may know that he raged without bile, they who were ravens, when they heard these words, immediately ran for stones [to use] against the dove. Stephen began to be stoned; and he, who but a little before was raging and boiling spirit, as if he had attacked his enemies, and as if he had assailed them with violence by those fiery and blazing words as you have heard, "Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears," so that he who heard these words might think that Stephen, if he were allowed, wished them immediately annihilated—when the rocks were coming on him from their hands, on his knees he said, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." He adhered to the unity of the dove. For earlier his master, on whom the dove descended, had done that; hanging on the cross, he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." — TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF John 6.3.1-4 Bede : Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. He shows them that the circumcision of the foreskin, in which they gloried against the grace of the Gospel, is of no avail for salvation, who were proven to have unclean thoughts and hearing. And at the same time, by speaking these things as if interpreting, he explains to them what the Angel signified when he appeared to Moses in the flame of fire from the bush, so that the bush burned but was not consumed. For the fire indeed signifies the Holy Spirit; the bush, which is a kind of thorn, figuratively denounced the sins of that people. Therefore, the Lord appeared to Moses in the bush having fire, but not consumed, to indicate that He Himself indeed came with the enlightenment and fervor of the Holy Spirit to instruct the people, but He would not consume the sins of that same people, although He would always oppose them with His pious benefits amidst the thickest thorns of their wickedness. — Retractions on Acts John Chrysostom : What is the reason that at this point he speaks in the tone of invective? Great was his boldness of speech, when at the point to die: for in fact I think he knew that this was the case. "Ye stiffnecked," he says, "and uncircumcised in heart and ears." This also is from the prophets: nothing is of himself. "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." When it was not His will that sacrifices should be, ye sacrifice: when it is His will, then again ye do not sacrifice: when He would not give you commandments, ye drew them to you: when ye got them, ye neglected them. Again, when the Temple stood, ye worshipped idols: when it is His will to be worshipped without a Temple, ye do the opposite. — Homily on Acts 17 John Chrysostom : Observe, he says not, "Ye resist God," but, "the Spirit:" so far was he from knowing any difference between Them. And, what is greater: "As your fathers did," he says, "so do ye." Thus also did Christ (reproach them), forasmuch as they were always boasting much of their fathers. — Homily on Acts 17 Oecumenius : For what reason, when he had yet been speaking gently, does he now use a harsh tone? Because he saw that they were not paying attention with their minds to the things that were being said. — Commentary on Acts Oecumenius : "You always resist the Holy Spirit." He did not say, "you resist God," but, "the Holy Spirit." Therefore he recognizes no distinction, since the Spirit is also God, even if he does not appear so to the godless. Therefore you always, he says, resist God. For when he desires that sacrifices be made, you do not sacrifice to him; but when he does not desire it, you sacrifice. When the temple stood, you served idols. When he wishes to be served apart from a temple, you do the opposite, acting like your forefathers. — Commentary on Acts Oecumenius : It shows the evil descending from above into them. So did Christ. Since great things were always being prayed for on behalf of the fathers. — Commentary on Acts Tertullian : What is more manifest than the mystery of this "wood,"-that the obduracy of this world had been sunk in the profundity of error, and is freed in baptism by the "wood" of Christ, that is, of His passion; in order that what had formerly perished through the "tree" in Adam, should be restored through the "tree" in Christ? while we, of course, who have succeeded to, and occupy, the room of the prophets, at the present day sustain in the world that treatment which the prophets always suffered on account of divine religion: for some they stoned, some they banished; more, however, they delivered to mortal slaughter, -a fact which they cannot deny. — An Answer to the Jews