Acacius of Caesarea

Acacius of Caesarea (Ἀκάκιος; date of birth unknown, died in 366) was a Christian bishop probably originating from Syria; Acacius was the pupil and biographer of Eusebius and his successor on the see of Caesarea Palestina. Acacius is remembered chiefly for his bitter opposition to Cyril of Jerusalem and for the part he was afterwards enabled to play in the more acute stages of the Arian controversy. The Acacian theological movement is named after him. In the twenty-first oration of St. Gregory Nazianzen, the author speaks of Acacius as being "the tongue of the Arians". Throughout his life, Acacius bore the nickname of one-eyed (in Greek ό μονόφθαλμος); no doubt from a personal defect, but also possibly with a maliciously figurative reference to his alleged general shiftiness of conduct and rare skill in ambiguous statement. In 341 Acacius had attended the council of Antioch, when in the presence of the emperor Constantius II "the Golden Basilica" was dedicated by a band of ninety bishops and he subscribed the ambiguous creeds then drawn up from which the term Homoousion and all mention of "substance" were excluded. For this with other bishops of the Eusebian party he was deposed at the council of Sardica, 343. Refusing to acquiesce in the sentence passed upon him, he withdrew with the other bishops excommunicated to Philippopolis, where he, in turn, helped to secure a sentence of excommunication and deposition against his judges, including Pope Julius and Hosius of Cordoba. These penalties which were inflicted on him at the hands of the Nicene party did not diminish his prestige. Jerome tells us that his credit with Constantius II was so great during all these years that when Pope Liberius was deposed and driven into exile in 357, Acacius was able to secure Antipope Felix in his place. The year 358 marked the culmination of the quarrel between Acacius and Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem. The misunderstanding, which dated back to a period not long after Cyril of Jerusalem's installation, had ostensibly arisen over a question of canonical precedence.