Acts 22:17
And it came to pass, when I was come again to Jerusalem, and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance,
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Factum est autem revertenti mihi in Jerusalem, et oranti in templo, fieri me in stupore mentis,
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- Ἐγένετο δέ μοι ὑποστρέψαντι εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ προσευχομένου μου ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ γενέσθαι με ἐν ἐκστάσει
Haydock's commentary
To Jerusalem...that I was in a trance. This might be when he went to Jerusalem, three years after his conversion, or at some other time. It might be in this ecstacy that he was wrapt to the third heaven, as he tells the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians xv. 9.[2 Corinthians xii. 2.?] (Witham)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XXI on Acts ix. 26, 27
One may well be much at a loss here to understand how it is that, whereas in the Epistle to the Galatians Paul says, “I went not to Jerusalem,” but “into Arabia” and “to Damascus,” and, “After three years I went up to Jerusalem,” and “to see Peter” ( Gal. i. 17 ), ( ἱστορἥσαι Cat.) here the writer says the contrary. (There, Paul says) “And none of the Apostles saw I; but here, it is said (Barnabas), brought him to the Apostles.”, Well, then, either (Paul) means, “I went not up with intent to refer or attach myself to them ( ἀναθέσθαι ), for what saith he? “I referred not myself, neither went I to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me:” or else, that the laying await for him in Damascus was after his return from Arabia; or else, again, that the visit to Jerusalem was after he came from Arabia. …
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XLVIII on Acts xxii. 17-20
Acts XXII. 17-20 “And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.”
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XLVIII on Acts xxii. 17-20
(Recapitulation.) ( b ) But let us review what has been said. ( a ) “And when I was came again to Jerusalem,” etc. ( v. 17 .) How was it, that being a Jew, and there brought up and taught, he did not stay there? Nor did he abide there, unless he had a mind to furnish numberless occasions against him: everywhere just like an exile, fleeing about from place to place. ( c ) “While I prayed in the temple,” he says, “it came to pass that I was in a trance.” (To show) that it was not simply a phantom of the imagination, therefore “while he prayed” (the Lord) stood by him. And he shows that it was not from fear of their dangers that he fled, but because they would “not receive” his “testimony.” ( v. 18 .) But why said he “They know I imprisoned?” ( v. 19 .) Not to gainsay Christ, but because he wished to learn this which was so contrary to all reasonable expectation. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).