The deceased was laid "in the upper room" – the upper room of the house, which usually served for prayer. The whole Christian community was saddened by the death of such a benefactor of the poor as Tabitha, and therefore they sent to Peter, asking him to come immediately.

"Peter sent them all away" — so that, without being embarrassed by any external impressions, he could devote himself to prayer. Peter resurrected the deceased with the words: "Tabitha! get up..." This miracle, of course, made many believe in the Lord. Peter, on the other hand, stayed "quite a few days" with a certain Simon the tanner, probably a Christian. This trade was considered unclean by the rabbis, but St. Peter, of course, was above such prejudices.

Chapter Ten

Conversion to Christ by Cornelius the centurion

(10:1-48)

While Peter was in Joppa, the Spirit of God called him to begin the greatest work of spreading the Christian Faith among the Gentiles.

The first city in which the conversion of the pagans to Christ took place was the already known Caesarea of Palestine, or Straton, a city that was the residence of the Roman procurator, in which there was therefore a garrison of native Romans, who, of course, were more reliable than the troops recruited from the natives. In this regiment, which therefore bore the name of the Italian regiment, there was a centurion named Cornelius. From the further narration it is clear that he was not even a proselyte, but an ordinary pagan, distinguished only by a good religious and moral disposition. Characteristically, none other than the chief Apostle Peter himself was called to this matter of primary importance, the conversion of the first pagan, although Philip the evangelist lived in Caesarea.

From the words of the Writer of Acts we can conclude that Cornelius was aware of the falsehood of paganism and revered the true God. He expressed his reverence for God by good deeds, and in the good rules of faith and life he kept his entire house. From v. 30 it is clear that Cornelius even observed the hours of prayer customary among the Jews. And while he was praying, an angel appeared to him, who commanded him to send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter: "He will tell you the words by which you and all your household will be saved," that is, he will teach you a doctrine, by believing which you and all your household will receive salvation. Cornelius immediately fulfilled the command of the angel, sending two of his servants and a pious soldier to Joppa, telling them everything so that they could induce Peter to come to him, considering it unseemly to call him themselves by virtue of their authority. From Caesarea to Joppa was about 40-45 versts. For this reason, those sent by Cornelius after the 9th hour, after three o'clock in the afternoon, could not come to Joppa until the next day at noon. It was at this time, about 6 o'clock, that Peter ascended, according to custom, to the flat roof of the house to pray. There he felt hunger, and he was attacked by a "frenzy", in Greek "ecstasis" – a state when a person is as if beside himself.

In this state, the external world with all its impressions is completely closed to the external senses of man, and the phenomena of another invisible world are revealed to his inner sense. The Holy Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:2-3 [55] expresses himself very characteristically about such a state, which he himself experienced: "Whether in the body I do not know, whether outside the body I do not know, God knows."

In this state, Peter saw the "open heaven" and from it descending, as it were, a large cloth, tied at the four corners above in the open sky. In this canvas, Peter saw all kinds of animals - quadrupeds, reptiles and birds.

"And a voice came to him, saying, Arise, Peter, kill and eat." Peter was probably on his knees or prostrate on the ground in a prayerful position. There were all kinds of animals in the linen - both clean and unclean. A voice from heaven seemed to invite Peter to eat any animal, without making a distinction. The Apostle turned his attention to this, in fact, side of the command as unusual, and therefore forcefully objected:

"Lord, I have never eaten anything filthy or unclean." To this the voice answered him: "What God has cleansed, you do not consider unclean, in contrast to God": in these words is the meaning of the whole vision, which Peter could not understand at first, but which was soon explained to him.

The meaning and purpose of the whole vision is this: all these animals symbolically signified all mankind; the clean animals denoted the chosen people of God – the Jews, and the unclean – the pagans, whom God cleansed by the death of Christ the Redeemer on the cross, and therefore in the new Kingdom of God on earth – the Kingdom of the Messiah or the Church of Christ, there is and should not be a difference between Jews and Gentiles – all are equally cleansed by the precious Blood of the Lamb of God Christ, and all are equally worthy to enter His Kingdom. As can be seen from v. 28, Peter later correctly understood the meaning of this vision.

This vision opened a new epoch in the history of the early Christian Church, the epoch of the calling of paganism to Christianity without the mediation of Judaism.