The interpretation timeline

Acts 8:19

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Acts 8:19 · Douay-Rheims
“Saying: Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I shall lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said to him:”
Patristic before A.D. 750
386
A.D.
Cyril of Jerusalem Patristic
A.D. 313–386
“He did not say, "Give me also the participation in the Holy Ghost," but "Give me this power," with a view to selling to others what could not be sold—something he himself did not possess.”
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.