Hl. 12. Peter is imprisoned by Herod; The Church prays diligently for him. An angel appears to Peter in prison. The light shone over the prison from the glory of the heavenly visitor; he leads him out and leads him through two guards, after which he comes to the iron gates; the gates open of their own accord. (To what earthly king the heaviest iron gates ever opened, even simple, ordinary gates!) Then he passes one street and the Angel disappears. Peter comes to his senses. Glory to Thee, O God, wondrous in Thy saints!

Hl. 13, p. 15. After the reading of the law, the prophet (in Pisidian Antioch) sent the leaders of the assembly to them, the apostles, saying: "Men, brethren, if there is a word of consolation in you to men, speak."

On this sinful, passionate, restless and sorrowful earth, which is obviously passing by, what word of consolation can we say to people, if not the word of faith, the word of the future endless kingdom in heaven, waiting for the worthy! The word of faith, and it alone, is truly a word of consolation to people. Let us preach it and console pious souls with it.

Art. 38 and 39. Let it be known to you, men brethren, that for His sake the forgiveness of sins is preached: and from all, from whom it is not possible to be justified in the law of Moses, in Him everyone who believes will be justified.

Know all of you that for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of His merits before the justice of God, everyone can receive the forgiveness of all sins, whatever one may have, and be righteous by the righteousness of Christ, if only he believes in the Lord and His merits and repents of his sins. The inhabitants of Antioch so pleased the words of heavenly consolation, that on the following Saturday almost the entire city gathered to hear the Word of God. Art. 44.

For instruction [24]

Hl. 14, verses 8-11, 15-18. A certain man in Liszt was weak in legs, gray with his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who walked somewhere. And when he heard Paul, saying, "Whosoever hath looked upon him, and beheld that he hath faith to be in good health, saith with a great voice, I say unto thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, stand upright on thy foot." And he jumped up and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the Lycaonian, "God is like a man, and he has come down to us."

Barnabas is proclaimed Jupiter and Paul Mercury because he was the first in the word. The priest of Jupiter the image, who was in the Forecity, brought the youths, brought the crowns to the gates, and together with the people wanted to offer sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. So firm and unshakable was the conviction of the priests and the people that Paul and Barnabas were indeed gods who had descended to earth in human form! So obvious and unmistakable was the miracle performed by Paul! Paul and Barnabas rush into the people, crying out and saying, "Men, what are you doing? And we are a man who is obsequious to you, preaching to you from these vain things to turn to the Living God, Who created the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all that is in them: Who in the generations that have passed by, left all tongues to walk in their paths: and did not leave Himself unwitnessed, doing good to us, from heaven. Giving rains, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And this is saying, "Scarcely the nations have eaten them."

Such was the power of conviction in the reality of the miracle and in the inhuman origin of Paul and Barnabas. It is remarkable that Paul and Barnabas, seeing that they were taken for gods and wanted to offer sacrifice to them, rushed with force and haste into the crowd of people in order to stop their madness. They feared that the people would somehow really give them Divine honor, since to admire the honor befitting the One God is very sinful, impudent and foolish, and the apostles had before their eyes the example of Herod, who, out of pride, allowed the caresses in the temple to call himself God, was struck down by an angel for this and, being eaten by worms, died. Were the Apostles not afraid to offend the Living God by admiring His honor? It is also remarkable that the Apostle Paul decided to heal a lame man, because he saw that he had faith to be healthy, and he himself healed him with strong faith in the omnipotence and goodness of Christ, expressing it with a great voice: "Unto Thee I say... Everything is done by faith in the Lord Jesus as the Creator and Author of all: diseases are cured, nature is conquered, and demons are driven away. Just as a complex mechanism, built by the hand of a skilful mechanic and damaged by something, cannot be put into full and correct operation by the ignorant, and he can easily damage the levers, wheels, and springs in it, if he wanted to correct it without the mechanic himself, who alone knows the laws of his machine, so in general it is impossible for any man to freely and with full knowledge of the matter correct the defects in human nature, this all-wise mechanism of the Heavenly Creator. without His omnipotent participation, and in order to be worthy of this participation, it is necessary to have God's faith, living and active, which does not recognize anything as impossible for God and which is the work itself.

Ст. 22. ...Многими скорбъми подобает нам вни ти в Царствие Божие.

Гл. 15, ст. 18—19. Разумна от века суть Богови вся дела Его. Сего ради аз сужду не стужати от язык обращающимся к Богу (слова апостола Иакова).

Вот где начало нашего спасения [25], прежде же всего, разумеется, в предвечном совете Божием. Бог от века предопределил нас ко спасению: разумна суть от века Богови вся дела Его.

Гл. 16, ст.18. ...Запрещаю ти именем Иисуса Христа, изыди из нея. И изыде в том часе.

Такова сила страшного для демонов имени Господа Иисуса.