Hierarch
Hierarch Confessor Acacius, Bishop of Melitene
ок. 370 — †ок. 435
Hierarch Acacius, Bishop of Melitene — raised from childhood by Bishop Otrius of Melitene, who passed through all degrees of the priesthood and became Bishop of Melitene, a participant in the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus (431), defending the Orthodox teaching on the two natures in Christ against Nestorianism; in his youth he endured persecution and bodily wounds for the faith, but died peacefully, and so is venerated as a confessor, not a martyr.
Hierarch Acacius was born around 370 in Melitene (modern Malatya, Turkey). Per a vow of his childless parents, he was given to be raised by the local bishop, Otrius of Melitene, and under his guidance passed through all degrees of the priesthood, later becoming Bishop of Melitene.
He took part in the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus (431), where he resolutely defended the Orthodox teaching on the union in Christ of two natures, divine and human, and on the seedless birth from the Theotokos — against the heresy of Nestorius.
In an earlier period of his life he endured persecution and bodily suffering for the faith ("the wounds of the Lord on his body"), but was not executed — he reposed peacefully around 435, at an advanced age.
IMPORTANT CATEGORY CORRECTION: the original stub erroneously classified the hierarch as a "martyr" — he was not executed, and authoritative sources unanimously call him a hierarch-confessor (one who endured suffering but died a natural death), not a martyr. Category martyr→hierarch.
His feast is kept on April 17/30.