Acacius (3)
Acacius bishop OF AMIDA, in Mesopotamia, lived about. A.D. 421. Vaarannes V, king of Persia, having, at the instigation of the magi, commenced a persecution of the Christians, war followed between the Romans and Persians, in which the former made about 10,000 prisoners, who were left by their captors in a most miserable condition. These men found in the bishop an unlooked-for friend, who sold all the gold and silver vessels and ornaments of his Church in order to purchase their liberty, and sent them back to their country. The Persian monarch. struck by this act of Acacius, sent for him, and the interview ended in the restoration of peace between the two nations. The Roman Church celebrates his festival April 9. See Socrates, Hist. Eccles. 7, 21 Baillet,: Vies des Saints, vol. 1, April 9.
