Acacius Patriarch of Constantinople

Acacius Patriarch Of Constantinople, was originally administrator of the College of Orphans in that city, and was made patriarch, in A.D. 471. He nobly defended the Catholic faith upon the publication of the memorable edict of the Emperor Basiliscus against the Council of Chalcedon, called the Henoticon, and which had been subscribed by more than five hundred bishops, mostly Asiatic. Acacius opposed this decree with all his might, and compelled the emperor to revoke his edict and confirm the Council of Chalcedon. He also induced the prilates who had signed it to declare that they had done so only through fear and a desire to please the emperor. Acacius maintained that his see ought to have the pre-eminence over those of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. In a council held at Rome in 483, popes Felix condemned him as an abettor of heresy, and either in that or in a council held the following year deposed him. Acacius paid but little attention to the sentence, only erasing the pope's name from the sacred diptychs (q.v.) of the Church of Constantinople. He enjoyed his bishopric quietly until his death, in 488. His extant writings are, Two Epistles to Peter Fullo, in the collections of councils: — Epistle to Pope Simplicius on the state of the Church of Alexandria See Cave, Hist. Lit. 6, 452.