The Book of Acts.

This Book of the Holy Apostles emerges as a direct continuance of the Gospel. Its

author’s aim is to describe events that occurred following the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus

Christ, and outline the inaugural establishment of Christ’s Church. This Book narrates in

especial detail the missionary efforts of Apostles Peter and Paul. In his discourse on this

Book, St. John Chrysostom explains the great meaning this Book has for Christianity, as the

lives of the Apostles contain facts which confirm the truth of the Gospel’s teachings: “The

actual Book contains within itself the essential truth of the Resurrection.” That is why on

Easter night in church, before the Resurrection of Christ is hailed, a number of chapters are

read from the Acts. It is for this same reason that during the period from Easter to Pentecost,

the whole Book is read in sections during daily Liturgies.

By the Acts’ author’s own citation (Acts 1:1-3), this is his second Book written for

Theophilus, who lived in Antioch. From this, one can conclude that the Book of Acts was, by

its nature, written as a continuation of the third Gospel, and its author appears to be Evangelist

Luke, former fellow-traveler and colleague of Apostle Paul. There is also a stylistic

likeness between The Gospel according to Luke and the Acts. Reference to the Book of Acts

can be found in the writings of the early writers like St. Ignatius Theophorus (God Bearer),

St. Polycarp, and St. Justin the Martyr. Through the works of the second century writers – St.

Irenaeus of Lyon, Clement of Alexandria, Tertulian, Origen – as well as in the ancient Syrian

translation of the Bible known as “Peshito.”

The Book of Acts describes the events from the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to

the arrival of Ap. Paul in Rome, and covers an almost 30-year period. Chapters 1-12 deal

with Ap. Paul’s activities among the Jews of Palestine; ch. 13-28 deal with Ap. Paul’s

activities among the heathens, outside the Palestinian boundaries. The narrative of the Book

concludes with the indication that Ap. Paul spent 2 years in Rome, without any restrictions,

preaching Christ’s teachings (28:30-31). No mention is made of the Apostle’s martyr’s death

that followed 2-years later under the reign of Emperor Nero, in the year 67 AD. It is clear

from Church tradition, that after being acquitted in Caesar’s court, Ap. Paul performed his

fourth missionary journey by travelling again to Jerusalem. From this, it can be concluded

that the Book was completed in Rome around the years 63 or 64 AD. St. Paul’s Epistles to

the Colossians and to Philemon mentions Luke as being with him in Rome. In this way, the

Book of Acts paints a picture of how Christ’s Church, having asserted itself among the Jews

in Palestine (in accordance with God’s prophesy) amid stubborn disbelief from the majority

of the Jewish people, subsequently transgressed into the world of heathens and slowly spread

throughout Asia Minor and eastern Europe.

In the Book of Acts, we see the fulfillment of the Savior’s prophecies concerning those

miracles, which the Apostles will perform in His name, and the triumph of Christ’s faith over

the world. We observe, how notwithstanding human weaknesses, having no apparent material

means or possessions for disseminating the Gospel’s teachings, after the Holy Spirit descended

upon them, the Apostles became as if different people. Notwithstanding all the

persecutions, they fearlessly, with great valor and self-sacrifice, preached the teachings of

Christ throughout the four corners of the then cultured Greco-Roman world, establishing

many Christian communities in a short period of time. The Book of Acts clearly testifies that

the Apostles’ sermons are not the work of man, but the work of God. (Let us remember the

wise Gamaliel’s counsel to the Jews about not persecuting Christ’s followers, Acts 5:38-39).

The narratives on the life of the early Christians that “were of one heart and one soul,” is

especially instructive, as they ran contrary to the lives of the then rest of the world, which was

drowned in egoism and every type of sin and iniquity. To the pastors of Christ’s Church, this

Book is important in that it gives them an archetype of Church life and its management on the

principles of “through council” (Acts ch. 15). Through narrative and direct instruction, it

indicates what type a person should be that serves the Church (Acts 20:18-35).

However, the most important content in this Book is that, unlike any other, it witnesses

about the greatest Christian truth: Christ’s Resurrection. Indeed, the truth of Christ’s

Resurrection is best proven through miracles performed in His name, and the Book of Acts,

in the main, narrates the miracles performed by the Apostles.