The prophetic words about Judas are quoted from two psalms, verse 68, verse 26, and verse 108, verse 8. Both of these psalms depict a righteous man innocently suffering from his enemies, and contain rebukes against his enemies in the form of prayer, mainly against one of these enemies. There is no doubt that this sufferer, whoever he was in historical reality, whether King David himself or someone else, was a prototype of the Messiah – our Lord Jesus Christ, and his enemies prefigured the enemies of the Lord, who betrayed Him to death on the cross. The chief of these enemies is Judas, the perpetrator of treachery, which is why the Apostle Peter changes the plural to the singular in the first utterance, and presents the rebuke against enemies as a rebuke against one enemy, Iscariot. "Let his court be empty" is a symbol of God's wrath against those who lived in this place of residence. Applied to Judas, this means: let his apostolic place be idle. Instead of the unworthy, it must be replaced by the worthy, which is expressed in the psalm: "Let another take his dignity."

Since the prophecy about the expulsion of Judas from the assembly of the Apostles was fulfilled, it is necessary that another one be fulfilled – about the replacement of the empty place: it is necessary to choose another in place of the traitor and thus complete the number of His 12 Apostles established by the Lord. Probably, this completion was given by the command of the Lord Himself, which is not recorded in the Gospel. St. Peter sets as a necessary and only condition for the election of a new Apostle that the one chosen should be an eyewitness of the entire earthly life and activity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is because the Apostles are first and foremost "witnesses," as the Lord Himself called them (Luke 24:48). They are to bear witness before the whole world of what they themselves have seen and heard (Acts 4:20) — this is the special power and persuasiveness of their preaching. On the other hand, being constantly with the Lord during the three and a half years of His ministry is a sufficient guarantee of his faith, love and devotion to the Lord: such a person can be entrusted with the fulfillment of the apostolic ministry.

«Начиная от крещения Иоаннова до того дня, в который Он вознесся от нас» — здесь как раз указывается начало и конец общественного служения Господа на земле, свидетелем которого должен быть избираемый.

«Свидетелем воскресения Его» — второе весьма важное условие избрания — главный предмет апостольского свидетельства — это свидетельство об истине Воскресения Христова, основной истины спасающей веры христианской. Необходимо, чтобы избираемый Апостол был свидетелем действительности воскресения распятого и умершего Мессии.

Удовлетворявших этим условиям оказалось двое: Иосиф, называемый Варсавою, который прозван Иустом, и Матфей. Оба они неизвестны в евангельской истории. Есть предположение, что они были из числа 70-ти учеников Господа. Окончательное избрание из числа этих двух одного Апостола предоставили Самому Господу через жребий после усердной молитвы о том, чтобы Сам Господь показал, кого Он избирает. Таким образом в избрании нового Апостола совершилось двоякое действие — человеческое и Божественное: Апостолы со всем обществом верующих избирают двух, Господь, по молитве их, указывает одного.

«Ты, Господи, Сердцеведец всех…» — так обратились они в молитве к Господу: Господь Сердцеведец, знающий душу каждого человека, знал, кто из двух более способен понести возлагаемое на него служение. Определение по жребию есть установление ветхозаветное и в решении дел по жребию видели действие Самого Бога (см. Лев. 16:8 [3] и д.; Числ 17:1 и д.; 34:13 [4]; Нав. 14:2 [5]; 1 Цар. 14:42 [6]). Писались обычно имена на листках; листки вкладывались в сосуд, встряхивались, и чей жребий первый вынимался из сосуда, тот и считался избранным.

«И выпал жребий Матфию» — в этом увидели волю Божию, «и он сопричислен к одиннадцати Апостолам». Святой Матфей проповедовал потом Евангелие во Иудее и Эфиопии и был побит камнями во Иерусалиме по приговору первосвященника Анана, особенного ненавистника христиан. Память его празднуется 9(22) августа. Другой кандидат Иосиф, он же Иуст, был после епископом Елевферополя в Иудее и тоже окончил свою жизнь мученической смертью. Память его 30 октября (12 ноября н. ст).

Chapter Two

The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost and the bewilderment of the people (verses 1-13). The speech of the Apostle Peter and its effect on the listeners (verses 14-42). The Religious and Moral State of the First Christian Community in Jerusalem (verses 43-47).

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

(2:1-13)

The great event of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles is called by some, in all fairness, "the birthday of the Church of Christ." This event was at the same time the completion of the entire work of the "economy of God" – the work of the salvation of the human race. "What God the Father pleased to be, what the Son of God fulfilled in Himself, that the Holy Spirit has now descended to appropriate to the faithful" (Bishop Theophan of Vyshensky). Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles courageously and fearlessly, with great boldness, began to preach about Christ crucified and risen from the dead, and the Church of Christ began to grow and multiply, first among the Jews in Palestine, and then among the Gentiles throughout the world, "even to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

This happened "At the onset of the day of Pentecost" – at the onset of the day of the feast of the Jewish Pentecost. The Law of Moses decreed that the 50th day after the morning of the Saturday of Passover should be celebrated, counting from it seven full weeks. The Jewish Passover in the year of Christ's death fell on Friday evening: the first day of Pascha fell, therefore, on Saturday, the morning of Saturday was on Sunday (on which Christ was resurrected). It was necessary to count 7 full weeks from it. Thus, the feast of the Jewish Pentecost fell on Sunday that year and coincided with the day of the first Christian Pentecost. Jewish Pentecost was established in the consecration of the harvest or first fruits, since by this day the harvest, which began immediately after the Passover, ended. With this feast the Jews also combined the remembrance of the Sinai legislation. It was one of the three most important holidays (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles), on which the entire male sex was obliged to gather for celebration in Jerusalem. The coincidence of the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit with the day of the Jewish Pentecost, of course, is not accidental and is very symbolic. By this day, the Lord's disciples had matured and grown spiritually: then the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and they themselves appeared as the first fruits of the redemptive work of Christ. Besides them, the first fruits of the same work of Christ were the three thousand souls who were baptized on that day. Just as the Christian Passover replaced the Jewish Passover, so the Christian Pentecost replaced the Old Testament Pentecost on this day.

On the day on which the law (the Old Testament) was given, the grace of the Spirit had to be bestowed on the same day, because just as the Saviour, having to endure holy suffering, deigned to give Himself over to this suffering, not at another time, but at the time in which the lamb was slain, in order to bind the truth to the image itself, so the descent of the Holy Spirit, by grace from above, was granted at no other time, but in that in which the law was given, in order to show that the Holy Spirit laid down the law then, and now lays down the law.... Since on the day of Pentecost sheaves of new fruit were brought and various persons gathered under one heaven in Jerusalem, it also happened on the same day that the firstfruits of every nation of all the peoples living under heaven were gathered into one sheaf of piety and, according to the word of the Apostle, were brought to God (Blessed Theophylact).