5th century (reposed c. 435)
Acacius, bishop of Melitene in Armenia, was dedicated to God from childhood and ordained by his predecessor Otreius. He took part in the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431, standing with St Cyril of Alexandria against the heresy of Nestorius, and reposed in peace.
Our Father among the Saints Acacius, Bishop of Melitene
Acacius was a fifth-century bishop of Melitene, the capital of the Roman province of Second Armenia. Born into a pious Armenian family that had been childless, he was, by tradition, dedicated to the service of the Church from childhood and entrusted to Bishop Otreius of Melitene, who raised him and advanced him through the orders of reader, deacon, and priest before he himself succeeded to the same see.
He is best remembered as a participant at the Third Ecumenical Council, held at Ephesus in 431, where he stood among the bishops who upheld the teaching of Saint Cyril of Alexandria against Nestorius, defending the union of the divine and human natures in Christ and the title of the Virgin Mary as Theotokos. He reposed in peace around the year 435.
In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father Acacius,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
Acacius of Melitene is to be distinguished from an earlier bishop of the same see, a third-century confessor under the persecution of the emperor Decius, also remembered under the name Acacius (or Acathius). The fifth-century Acacius commemorated here is the figure associated with the opposition to Nestorius and with the Council of Ephesus in 431.
By the accounts preserved in the synaxarion, several miracles are attributed to Acacius. During a drought, the wine in the chalice is said to have been replenished by rain; on another occasion a swollen river was held back at a stone marker he set; and during the Divine Liturgy the dome of a church is related to have been suspended mid-collapse, remaining intact until the service had concluded. These accounts are traditional rather than independently documented.
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