ACACIUS THE CENTURION

May 20 (7), the Church honors the memory of the martyr Acacius the Centurion. The saint was a Roman soldier who suffered for Christ during the reign of Emperor Maximian (285–305). According to the place of his birth, he is also called Acacius of Cappadocia. In connection with the place of suffering and glorification, the Menologions also mention the saint under the name Acacius of Byzantium.

According to the life, Acacius was a centurion of the Mars Legion of the Roman Army. As a result of the imperial decree on the persecution of Christians, the tribune Flavius ​​Firmus summoned Acacius and his retinue and inquired of each in turn about their attitude towards Christianity. Acacius confirmed that he was descended from Christian parents and confessed Christ consciously. When asked to renounce the faith and sacrifice to idols, the saint refused.

Then Firmus ordered the arrest of Acacius and sent him in chains to the city of Perinthus on the shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara, where at that time Vivianus, the Roman military commander responsible for the further course of the case, was located. The latter also forced the saint to renounce, and having received a refusal, tortured and tormented him a lot. Then, in bonds, he sent him to the shores of the Bosporus, where the proconsul Flaccinius was at that time. Along the way, Acacius suffered a lot from the guards.

Seeing the centurion covered with wounds from the torture and torment he had endured, the proconsul was filled with indignation at the military leader. He was convinced that the dignity of a Roman soldier did not allow him to be treated this way. After conducting his own inquiry, he became convinced that Acacius was a Christian, and, announcing the deprivation of all military ranks, he ordered his beheading.

Saint Acacius came from Cappadocia. The homeland of the great saints, St George, the Apostle of Georgia Saint Nino, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, Amphilochius of Iconium, and many others, the ancient Christian land in the east of modern Turkey once gave the Church its son Acacius.

Saint Acacius is one of the holy warrior martyrs. Like St. George, Menas and Mercurius, he suffered for Christ in military rank. A fact that is surprising even for modern researchers is that Christ was very loved and popular even among the pagans in the Roman Army. It is surprising that the Roman soldiers did not choose as their ideal any all-conquering deity, for example Hercules, but admired the image of the Great Sufferer Jesus Christ.

Saint Acacius suffered for Christ not in one of the capitals or metropolises of that time, but on the banks of the Golden Horn in the town of Byzantium. In 330, it was at this place that Emperor Constantine founded New Rome on the banks of the Bosporus. This city was to become the eastern capital of the Empire. Unlike Rome on the banks of the Tiber, at that time still full of idols, New Rome of Constantine was to become a truly Christian city.

However, Constantinople did not have apostolic origins. In ancient times there was a bishop in Byzantium. But this local church was not founded by the apostles. Therefore, the bishop of the New Capital was subordinate to the neighboring church metropolis. The fact that in the very semantic center of the New Capital, on the banks of the Golden Horn, a holy martyr had previously suffered for Christ, was extremely great for the city. According to the testimony of the ancient historians Socrates and Sozomen, under Constantine a church was dedicated to the martyr Acacius. “The blood of the martyrs is the foundation of the Church,” and with the blessing of the martyrs, ancient cities were built. Apparently, for the sake of strengthening the Orthodox Byzantine presence in Southern Italy, part of the relics of Acacia was subsequently transferred by sea to Calabria. This, at the same time, is one of the proofs of his universal veneration.

The special veneration of Saint Acacius by Christians is also evidenced by the fact that the name of the martyr is among the so-called 14 Holy Helpers. According to legend, these saints in Heavenly Glory made a vow before God to help everyone who calls on them in difficult and hopeless circumstances. The saints made such a promise both as a reminder of what exactly they suffered from and as a sign of special gratitude for what the Lord Himself delivered them from. In accordance with this tradition, Acacius must ask for intercession before God when faced with mortal fear, doubt and despair. According to life, at the moment of greatest sorrow, the Lord appeared to the saint and strengthened him in suffering.

Almost simultaneously with Acacius, the martyr Mauritius suffered in Helvetia, as modern Switzerland is still officially called to this day. Together with the soldiers of his legion, he refused to obey the order and turn the sword against his comrades in arms, who were Christians. Over time, Mauritius became one of the most revered saints in the Christian west. Egyptian by origin, he was not known in the Orthodox East for mysterious reasons.

There is a special spiritual brotherhood between Mauritius and Acaсius. The East did not know about Mauritius, and therefore was deprived of the opportunity to honor him. His native Orthodox Egypt did not know about him. The Lord granted Acacius universal recognition, but over the centuries the saint himself seemed to ask the Lord for oblivion. In this exhaustion of his memory, he became like Christ. In this amazing ability, indicating the kinship of suffering and oblivion, the paradoxical, hidden tragic face of the victory of the forgotten saints over time, a sign of the belonging of Acacius, and others, already here and now, exclusively to the future kingdom of heaven.

In Church Slavonic and Russian, the name Acacius sounds special. Apparently, such a peculiar sound of this name in modern Russian became the reason that this once highly revered ancient saint became, as it were, neglected among modern Christians. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, pious Christians considered it their duty to name their children after the saints celebrated on their birthdays. Therefore, the name “Acacius” was still preserved.

Those who were brought up in liturgical services and patristic reading remembered Saint Acacius the Centurion, as well as another saint, the ascetic Acacius from the “Ladder” of St. John of Sinai, who was distinguished by extreme kindness and gentleness. Nikolai Gogol wrote the story “The Overcoat”, the hero of which was a man named Akaki Akakievich. Perhaps he knew these saints, and, as an educated person of his time, understood the etymology of the name.

As a true writer, and therefore, in the tradition of Russian literature of the 19th century, truly a prophet, he involuntarily reminded society of the Christian ideal. Just as the soldiers “divided the clothes of Christ, casting lots” (Matthew 27:35), in the story, evil people took off their only overcoat and thereby destroyed Akaki Akakievich.

Close in meaning to the name “Acacius” is the Latin name “Innocent”. Acacia honey is known throughout the countries, as well as the tree family of the same name. According to the life, during interrogation St Acacius testified that he was born into a Christian family. His parents and even his ancestors were Christians. This evidence, rare at that time, also explains the meaning of his name. After all, it means “benevolent”, “harmless”, “meek”. “A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench,” the prophet Isaiah proclaimed to the Redeemer (Is. 42:3). In fact, the name Acacius is Christological, it is one of the Names of Christ.