Workshop of Philip Galle, after Jan van der Straet

Paul raises Eutychus from the Dead, from the Acta Apostolorum, 1582, Engraving, 202 x 265 mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; RP-P-OB-6570, Courtesy of Rijksmuseum

An Upper Room

Commentary by Amina Wright

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Paul leaves the third storey where he is preaching and goes down to rescue Eutychus. Here, the whole narrative is compressed into a single space: a crowded, fuggy room packed with people; the newborn church of Troas. 

Eutychus, imagined here as a child, is stretched out on the floor, surrounded by anxious adults and curious children. Paul bends over him, pressing his hand to the boy’s heart. The open window that caused the accident gapes darkly above their heads and the air is filled with the smoke of hanging lamps. To the right is the focal point of the room: Paul’s preaching chair raised up on a dais.

In his designs for engravings Jan van der Straet (a Flemish artist mainly active in Italy) interpreted scripture for a society in which discourse on the nature and purpose of the church was tearing Europe apart. This inward-looking composition may reflect the religious chaos of the artist’s times. In the Netherlands, the idea of a community worshipping secretly in the loft of a private house was no longer confined to stories from the New Testament, but was a daily reality for many.

This retelling of the story of Eutychus offers many points for meditation. Paul has stepped down from his throne-like seat and laid aside his book, showing how the authority of the Word reaches its full expression in acts of what St Bede called ‘loving help’ (Martin 1989: 160). The peaceful nursing mother seated near Paul recalls the ancient Roman personification of Charity, and scriptural images likening God’s people to infants nurtured with maternal care (Isaiah 66:5–13; 1 Peter 2:2). Eutychus is healed not outside the meeting house where his fall cast him down, but within the upper room, raised up from below by the strong arms and silent prayers of concerned believers and the apostle’s loving kindness. He is saved within the heart of the church.

 

References

Baroni Vannucci, Alessandra. 1997. Jan Van Der Straet detto Giovanni Stradano (Milan: Janda Sapi Editori)

Martin, Lawrence T. (ed.). 1989. Bede: Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications)

See full exhibition for Acts of the Apostles 20:1–12

Acts of the Apostles 20:1–12

Revised Standard Version

20 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and having exhorted them took leave of them and departed for Macedoʹnia. 2When he had gone through these parts and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedoʹnia. 4Sopʹater of Beroeʹa, the son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessaloʹnians, Aristarʹchus and Secunʹdus; and Gaʹius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychʹicus and Trophʹimus. 5These went on and were waiting for us at Troʹas, 6but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troʹas, where we stayed for seven days.

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered. 9And a young man named Euʹtychus was sitting in the window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer; and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10But Paul went down and bent over him, and embracing him said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12And they took the lad away alive, and were not a little comforted.

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