Acts 10:3

εἶδεν : there is no ground for explaining away the force of the words by assuming that Cornelius had formerly a longing to see Peter. φανερῶς : “openly,” R.V.; manifeste, Vulgate. The words plainly are meant to exclude any illusion of the senses, not in a trance as in Acts 10:10, cf. Acts 22:17; only here in Luke's writings, cf. 2Ma 3:28. ὡσεὶ (περί): the ὡσεί, as Blass points out, intimates the same as περί the dative which is read here by Chrysostom (omit περί) is sometimes confused with the accusative in the sense of duration of time, see Blass on Acts 10:30, and Acts 8:11 (for the accusative see John 4:52; Revelation 3:3), and Gram., p. 93. Cornelius observed without doubt the Jewish hours of prayer, and the vision is represented as following upon, or whilst he was engaged in, prayer, and in answer to it.