ST. ACACIUS was bishop of Antioch, probably the town of that name in
Phrygia, where the Marcionites were numerous. He was surnamed
Agathangel, or Good-angel, and extremely respected by the people for his
sanctity. It was owing to his zeal that not one of his flock renounced
Christ by sacrificing to idols during the persecution of Decius, a
weakness which several of the Marcionite heretics had betrayed. Our
saint himself made a glorious confession of his faith; of which the
following relation, transcribed from the public register, is a voucher.
Martian, a man of consular dignity, arriving at Antioch, a small town of
his government, ordered the bishop to be brought before him. His name
was Acacius, and he was styled the buckler and refuge of that country
for his universal charity and episcopal zeal. Martian said to him: "As
you have the happiness to live under the Roman laws, you are bound to
love and honor our princes, who are our protectors." Acacius answered:
"Of all the subjects of the empire, none love and honor the emperor more
than the Christians. We pray without intermission for his person, and
that it may please God to grant him long life, prosperity, success, and
all benedictions; that he may be endowed by him with the spirit of
justice and wisdom to govern his people; that his reign be auspicious,
and prosperous, blessed with joy, peace, and plenty, throughout all the
provinces that obey him." MARTIAN.-"All this I commend; but that the
emperor may be the better convinced of your submission and fidelity,
come now and offer him a sacrifice with me." ACACIUS.-"I have already
told you that I pray to the great and true God for the emperor; but he
ought not to require a sacrifice from us, nor is there any due to him or
to any man whatsoever." MARTIAN.-"Tell us what God you adore, that we
may also pay him our offerings and homages." ACACIUS.-"I wish from my
heart you did but know him to your advantage." MARTIAN.-"Tell me his
name." ACACIUS.-"He is called the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
Jacob." MARTIAN.-"Are these the names of gods?" ACACIUS.-"By no means,
but of men to whom the true God spoke; he is the only God, and he alone
is to be adored, feared, and loved." MARTIAN.-"What is this God?"
ACACIUS.-"He is the most high Adonia, who is seated above the cherubims
and seraphims." MARTIAN.-"What is a seraph?" ACACIUS.-"A ministering
spirit of the most high God, and one of the principal lords of the
heavenly court." MARTIAN.-"What chimeras are these? Lay aside these
whims of invisible beings, and adore such gods as you can see."
ACACIUS.-"Tell me who are those gods to whom you would have me
sacrifice?" MARTIAN.-"Apollo, the saviour of men, who preserves us from
pestilence and famine, who enlightens, preserves, and governs the
universe." ACACIUS.-"Do you mean that wretch that could not preserve his
own life: who, being in love with a young woman, (Daphne,) ran about
distracted in pursuit of her, not knowing that he was never to possess
the object of his desires? It is therefore evident that he could not
foresee things to come, since he was in the dark as to his own fate: and
as clear that he could be no god, who was thus cheated by a creature.
All know likewise that he had a base passion for Hyacinth, a beautiful
boy, and was so awkward as to break the head of that minion, the fond
object of his criminal passion, with a quoit. Is not he also that god
who, with Neptune, turned mason, hired himself to a king, (Laomedon of
Troy,) and built the walls of a city? Would you {684} oblige me to
sacrifice to such a divinity, or to Esculapius, thunderstruck by
Jupiter? or to Venus, whose life was infamous, and to a hundred such
monsters, to whom you offer sacrifice? No, though my life itself
depended on it, ought I to pay divine honors to those whom I should
blush to imitate, and of whom I can entertain no other sentiments than
those of contempt and execration? You adore gods, the imitators of whom
you yourselves would punish." MARTIAN.-"It is usual for you Christians
to raise several calumnies against our gods; for which reason I command
you to come now with me to a banquet in honor of Jupiter and Juno, and
acknowledge and perform what is due to their majesty." ACACIUS.-"How can
I sacrifice to a man whose sepulchre is unquestionably in Crete? What!
Is he risen again?" MARTIAN.-"You must either sacrifice or die."
ACACIUS.-"This is the custom of the Dalmatian robbers; when they have
taken a passenger in a narrow way, they leave him no other choice but to
surrender his money or his life. But, for my part, I declare to you that
I fear nothing that you call do to me. The laws punish adulterers,
thieves, and murderers. Were I guilty of any of those things, I should
be the first man to condemn myself. But if my whole crime be the adoring
of the true God, and I am on this account to be put to death, it is no
longer a law but an injustice." MARTIAN.-"I have no order to judge but
to counsel you to obey. If you refuse, I know how to force you to a
compliance." ACACIUS.-"I have a law which I will obey: this commands me
not to renounce my God. If you think yourself bound to execute the
orders of a man who in a little time hence must leave the world, and his
body become the food of worms, much more strictly am I bound to obey the
omnipotent God, who is infinite and eternal, and who hath declared,
_Whoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father_."
MARTIAN.-"You now mention the error of your sect which I have long
desired to be informed of: you say then that God hath a son?"
ACACIUS.-"Doubtless he hath one." MARTIAN.-"Who is this son of God?"
ACACIUS.-"The Word of truth and grace." MARTIAN.-"Is that his name?"
ACACIUS.-"You did not ask me his name, but what he is." MARTIAN.-"What
then is his name?" ACACIUS.-"Jesus Christ." Martian having inquired of
the saint by what woman God had this son, he replied, that the divine
generation of the Word is of a different nature from human generation,
and proved it from the language the royal prophet makes use of in the
forty-fourth psalm. MARTIAN.-"Is God then corporeal?" ACACIUS.-"He is
known only to himself. We cannot describe him; he is invisible to us in
this mortal state, but we are sufficiently acquainted with his
perfections to confess and adore him." MARTIAN.-"If God hath no body,
how can he have a heart or mind?" ACACIUS.-"Wisdom hath no dependence or
connection with an organized body. What hath body to do with
understanding?" He then pressed him to sacrifice from the example of the
Cataphrygians, or Montanists, and engage all under his care to do the
same. Acacius replied: "It is not me these people obey, but God. Let
them hear me when I advise them to what is right; but let them despise
me, if I offer them the contrary and endeavor to pervert them."
MARTIAN.-"Give me all their names." ACACIUS.-"They are written in
heaven, in God's invisible registers." MARTIAN.-"Where are the
magicians, your companions, and the teachers of this cunningly devised
error?" by which he probably meant the priests. ACACIUS.-"No one in the
world abhors magic more than we Christians." MARTIAN.-"Magic is the new
religion which you introduce." ACACIUS.-"We destroy those gods whom you
fear, though you made them yourselves. We, on the contrary, fear not him
whom we have made with our hands, but him who created us, and who is the
Lord and Master of all nature: who {685} loved us as our good father,
and redeemed us from death and hell as the careful and affectionate
shepherd of our souls." MARTIAN.-"Give the names I require, if you would
avoid the torture." ACACIUS.-"I am before the tribunal, and do you ask
me my name, and, not satisfied with that, you must also know those of
the other ministers? Do you hope to conquer many; you, whom I alone am
able thus to confound? If you desire to know our names, mine is Acacius.
If you would know more, they call me Agathangelus, and my two companions
are Piso, bishop of the Trojans, and Menander, a priest. Do now what you
please." MARTIAN.-"You shall remain in prison till the emperor is
acquainted with what has passed on this subject, and sends his orders
concerning you."
The emperor Decius having read the interrogatory, recompensed Martian by
making him governor of Pamphilia, but admired so much the prudence and
constancy of Acacius, that he ordered him to be discharged, and suffered
him to profess the Christian religion.
This his glorious confession is dated on the 29th of March, and happened
under Decius in 250, or 251. How long St. Acacius survived does not
appear. The Greeks, Egyptians, and other oriental churches, honor his
name on the 31st of March; though his name occurs not in the Roman
Martyrology. See his authentic acts in Ruinart, p. 152; Tillemont, t. 2,
p. 357; Fleury, t. 2; Ceillier, t. 3, p. 560.