Acacius, Bishop of Melitene

ACACIUS BISHOP OF MELITENE

NOTITIA

When the Nestorian heresy arose, Acacius of Melitene took up the cause of Catholic doctrine, and he was a great part of those things which were done in the Ephesian synod; whence John of Antioch with his synod of Orientals deprived him of his priesthood and communion. Alexander of Hierapolis, in a letter which exists in Latin in chapter 87 of the collection from the Tragedy of Irenaeus, said that Acacius had preached that the Godhead was born from Mary and died. Cyril celebrated in his writings the extraordinary zeal of Acacius in exposing and translating the errors of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and he was still living in the year 438: his holy memory the Greeks commemorate in the Menologies on the 17th of April: S. Acacius, Archbishop of Melitene, thaumaturge.

ACACIUS EPISCOPUS MELITENES HOMILY DELIVERED AT EPHESUS.

As I look, beloved, upon this bright and spiritual assembly of the holy synod, both joy and confidence come over me. Joy, indeed: for although I am the least of all, I endeavor to steer this frail skiff of my discourse in this vast sea of wisdom; but confidence, because those great waves of sedition will soon be calmed, and the tranquility of the Lord's peace will return to the universal assembly of the Church. For if the Lord’s twelve disciples, when their ship was being violently shaken by the force of the winds, as soon as they called upon the Lord, immediately escaped the tempest; how much more is it fitting that we should now hope for this same thing without any hesitation, when so many disciples, gathered together in one, will move the Lord with their own voices? When this great and wise pilot is present, who fears no commotion of winds or storms, but with great dexterity brings his fellow-rowers to the rudder, persuading them to take hold of it together and never ceasing to call out with great-consonance to the Master: "Lord, does it not concern you that we are perishing?" He, immediately using his voice, not without a rebuke to the savage waves of the sea, says: "Be silent; be muzzled." It is therefore most appropriate that we should hope better things regarding the present state of affairs, and pay the debts of thanksgiving to God; since the tempest, which had arisen against the truth ^A to scatter the lights of the world, ^B has brought [them] together.

^A Of these, the life of each is the good odor of Christ to God, and their mind is joined to one and the same proclamation of the truth. For we do not teach those who come to usone thing, while believing another concerning the things themselves; but for us there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, God the Word himself: the same before all ages from the Father alone, and the same in the last days in the form of a servant; alone from the Only-One Above, and alone again from the Only-One Below; yet both the same, divinely, but humanly brought forth in our flesh and infancy: the same impassible in divinity, but having suffered for our sake voluntarily in the flesh; ^B not having received the dispensation involuntarily, but having emptied himself voluntarily, having taken the form of a servant. And having taken it, why? That he might make you a partaker in the form of his own glory. And Paul testifies to this, saying: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." He, therefore, who voluntarily took the form of a servant, he who did not refuse the union, how could he refuse the sufferings of the servant? But if he did refuse them, for what purpose did he assume the form of a servant, which is subject to suffering? But he did not refuse, because, having taken the form of a servant, he becomes obedient: he who is the ruler in heaven becomes the subject on earth; he who is the Son above, a child below. And let me remind you of the prophecy. What did blessed Isaiah cry out? "A child is born to us, a son also is given to us." What is this: "and he was given"? Not only was he born, but he was also given; for He who is, was given: "Whose government was upon his shoulder." What is the government of God the Word having become human? The Church; and he himself is the head of the body of the Church; ^C how then does he carry this upon his shoulder? He bears upon his shoulders that which had been crushed and shattered; "Whose government was upon his shoulder, and his name is called the Angel of the great counsel." And he is so called because of the dispensation. And what is the meaning of, "Counselor, mighty God, governor, Father of the age to come"? The ruler above is then the subject below; the Son above, the child below; the wonderful counselor above, the human below; the mighty God above, the human below who is buffeted and reviled, and nailed to the cross, and who received death through it; for all these things, belonging to the form of a servant, the Godhead that had assumed it did not in any way decline, so that through each of the things mentioned he might abolish for us the obstacles to salvation, and might bestow upon us a beneficence worthy of such an emptying. I do not set aside the grace of God; I do not refuse to speak of what he endured for my sake. For being impassible, he did not refuse, but having joined himself to the suffering ^D

[...]. I do not fear to bring forth [its] praise. For the impassible, by uniting himself to a passible body, did not refuse sufferings, but for the sake of my salvation endured them. I do not deprive the Theotokos Virgin of that honor which the ministry of the dispensation has freely bestowed upon her. For indeed it would be absurd, ^A dearly beloved, that the ignominious cross, which bore Christ, should be glorified along with the altars of Christ and appear shining upon the front of the Church, while she who received the Godhead for so great a benefit should be deprived of the honor of being the Mother of God. Therefore the holy Virgin is the Theotokos. For it is God who was born of her, not that he received the beginning of his being from her, but that he received from her the beginning of his becoming man. Do not therefore, O heretic, promise yourself impunity as if you were directing your blasphemous words against a man. He whom you cast down into the rank of a slave and a creature is not a man. Do not be puffed up, O Jew, as if you had crucified a mere man. ^B It was not for a mere man that the blessed David, indignant against that nation, cried out, saying: "Let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and bow down their back always." Let not the faith ^C of the Church collapse as if she had placed her hope only in a man; but let her have faith in the blessed Paul, who says: "If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men, what is the profit to me?" The blessed apostles did not spend their lives in stripes, and prisons, and scourgings after the manner of men, nor for the sake of a man; nor did the holy martyrs, who fought throughout the world, leave this present life, cut to pieces and afflicted, after the manner of men, or for the sake of a man, but for the sake of our Lord and God, who, having existed before all ages, was lastly seen on earth, and conversed with men, and was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and on the third day was raised, and taken up into heaven, and was seen at once by five hundred brethren, and in the sight of the disciples was carried up into heaven, whence also he shall come in a not dissimilar manner to judge the living and the dead. This is our faith; upon this foundation the Church is built, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. May I, protected by your prayers, one day be worthy to bring forth praises to the most holy God. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

EPISTLES OF ACACIUS OF MELITENE

EPISTLE I

EPISTLE II

YEAR OF OUR LORD 436 RABBULAS OF EDESSA, BISHOP. NOTICE.

^A After Diogenes, Rabbulas was raised to the see of Edessa, according to chronicle no. 51: In the year 723, Rabbulas assumed the Edessene episcopate. By the emperor's order he built the temple of Saint Stephen, which had previously been the house of Sabbath, that is, the synagogue of the Jews. The year of the Greeks 723 is the year of Christ 412. The beginnings of Rabbulas are described in the Life of Saint Alexander the Unsleeping, which has been edited in Latin among the Acts of the Saints for the 15th day of January. It is said there that Rabbulas, or Rabbula—who was, I know not of what city, a prefect—having been made a Christian from a pagan after seeing the miracle that God had performed in answer to Alexander's prayers, soon submitted himself to his discipline. Then, having performed another deed in return, he resigned the public office he held, restored to his wife the goods he had received from her, and granted freedom to his daughters and also to his servants. With her husband's consent, his wife, together with her daughters and maids, served God in a monastery he built, while he meanwhile sought the desert.

^B Afterward, the Edessene see being widowed of its pastor, he was requested as bishop by the whole city and the surrounding region, and he is said to have soon become a master of divine knowledge, not only to the Syrians, Armenians, and Persians, but to almost the whole world. Long ago a school of the Syriac dialect had been established at Edessa for the convenience of neighboring cities, to which princes and other wealthy men sent their sons for the sake of instruction. Rabbulas, however, used to summon the children of the pagans to himself twice every month, that he might instruct them with words of truth. It is said in the Life of Saint Alexander that he did this for a full thirty years. But he did not sit for that many years in total, but only for twenty-three. During this time, when Nestorius proclaimed his impiety at Constantinople, Rabbulas came with John of Antioch and other Orientals to Ephesus, where a general synod was being gathered; but at first adhering to John and his associates, he supported some of their actions, separating himself from the legitimate synod.

^C Soon, however, having recognized his error, he withdrew from them and did not hesitate to condemn Nestorius, and indeed even Theodore of Mopsuestia, from whom the stain of evil had arisen. John of Antioch, having convened a council of the bishops of Osrhoene, proposed to take action against Rabbulas, which, however, he did not fulfill at all. Later, peace having been established between the Church of Antioch and the Church of Alexandria, Andrew of Samosata—who had long been opposed to Rabbulas, just as he had been opposed to the concord—was reconciled with him and openly boasted that he was in communion with Sixtus of Rome, Cyril of Alexandria, Maximian of Constantinople, and Rabbulas of Edessa. This is discovered from chapters 7, 13, 25, 43, 44, and 106 of the collection from the tragedy of Irenaeus of Tyre. There exist epistles of the great Cyril to Rabbulas, and of Rabbulas to Cyril. With what solicitude did he take care that the sincerity of the true faith be preserved; together with Acacius of Melitene he gave letters to the Armenians about not reading the volumes of Theodore of Mopsuestia. He died, according to the Edessene chronicle, no. 59, in the year 746, on the 8th day of the month of Ab, or August, and thus in the year of Christ 456; ^D indeed, Rabbulas was still alive in the year 435, at which time he was accusing the books of Theodore of Mopsuestia of heresy. Theodorus Lector reveals that Rabbulas was struck in his eyes before his death and was blind: Ραββουλᾶς 'Εδέσσης τυφλὸς ἦν.

RABBULAE LETTER AD CYRILLUM.

CANONS OF RABBULA OF EDESSA.

*Of first-fruits, blessings, and alms.* From those things which belong to the Church, [let them provide for] the bishop’s banquet, and let them not report collections from seculars under the name of the bishop when he proceeds to them.