Venerable Acacius, Bishop of Melitene (+c. 433)
The Venerable Acacius of Melitene (+435) was born in the Armenian city of Melitene. For a long time his parents were not granted a child. They besought the Lord to grant them an heir, and promised that if a child were given them they would dedicate him to the service of God. And indeed the boy Acacius was entrusted to Otreius, Bishop of Melitene. When the heresy of Macedonius arose, Bishop Otreius defended at the Second Ecumenical Council (381) the Orthodox teaching on the Holy Spirit as the third Person of the consubstantial and undivided Trinity.
The bishop brought up Acacius with love: first he made him a reader, then ordained him deacon, and at last priest too. Saint Acacius served the Church faithfully, taught the people Holy Scripture, and explained to them the Orthodox Creed. Among his disciples was Euthymius the Great himself (+473; commemorated 20 January).
After the death of Otreius Saint Acacius was raised to the see of Melitene at the wish of the flock. He governed his flock wisely. For his firm faith, obedience and ascetic labours the Lord granted him the gift of wonderworking: once, when he was celebrating the Liturgy under the open sky in a summer of drought, drops of rain suddenly mingled with the wine poured into the chalice, and life returned to the parched earth; through his prayer a mountain river that had overflowed its banks in flood stopped at the place where the saint set down a stone. On an island in the river Azar the bishop built a church dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God, in spite of the opposition of the pagans. The builders, with evil intent, made the vault badly. During the Liturgy the vault sagged and was just about to fall; the frightened worshippers were ready to flee from the church, but the holy bishop stopped them with the words of the psalm: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Ps. 26:1). The vault stopped and seemed to hang in the air; it fell only when the Liturgy had ended and the bishop had been the last to leave the church. After this the church was rebuilt.
Saint Acacius took part in the Third Ecumenical Council and firmly defended the dogmas of the Orthodox faith.
Saint Acacius reposed in peace in 435.
