Acacius of Caesarea

• The disciple of Eusebius and his successor.
• St. Jerome describes him as follows: “Acacius, whom, because he was blind in one eye, they nicknamed ‘the one-eyed.’ ”
• He was so influential in the reign of the Emperor Constantius who imposed Acacius’ doctrines on his opponents.
• He was deposed in 343 bythe Council of Sardica.

• At the Council of Seleucia in 359 he opposed the homoeousian majority and put forward a compromise formula defining the Son as like the Father.
• In the controversy over the Holy Spirit, he denied His divinity.
• After Constantius’ death he accepted the homoousios at Antioch in 363 together with Meletius and others. But he returned to Arianism in 364 when the pro-Arians prevailed with the support of the Emperor Valens.
• Jerome records his labors to preserve Origen’s library.

1. A Commentary On Ecclesiastes in 17 books 2. Six books of Miscellaneous Questions. 3. A surviving fragment of juvenile work against Marcellus of Ancyra focuses on Christ as the image of God and draws from this the distinction between the two divine

hypostases but also their close affinity and likeness. The fragment is preserved by St. Epiphanius. 4. His Life of Eusebius Pamphili has unhappily perished.

• Remaining fragments of his other works show a tendency to literal interpretation of Scripture.