Acacius of Sinai

Venerable Acacius of Sinai was a novice in a monastery of Sinai in the first half of the sixth century, known from the Ladder of Saint John Climacus. He is venerated in the Orthodox Church among the venerable saints and commemorated (by the old calendar) on 7 July, on 29 November, on Wednesday of Bright Week (the Synaxis of the Sinai venerable fathers) and on the day of the Synaxis of all the saints who shone forth in the land of Egypt; a Ukrainian source places him, together with Saint Thomas of Maleon, on 20 July. The record also gives 29 December and 19 January, which the sources do not support.

According to John Climacus, Acacius was the novice of a harsh old man, who tormented him every day not only with reproaches and abuse, but also with blows. The young man endured everything with humility and, after nine years of obedience, reposed. His instructor reported that Acacius had died. After five days he told a great elder who was staying there that brother Acacius was dead, but the elder answered that he doubted it. Then the elder went to the tomb and called the brother as if alive, asking whether he had died. The wise novice, showing obedience even after death, answered that one who practises obedience cannot die.

The former instructor spent the rest of his life in seclusion near Acacius' grave, telling the other monks that he had committed murder. According to John Climacus, the great elder who spoke with the dead man may have been John the Sabaite (the Silent) himself. The Serbian source adds that when someone asked him how he lived, Acacius answered that he was well, as before the Lord God.

In the ninth century Theophanes Graptos wrote a canon for Venerable Acacius, with an acrostic that calls him the chosen obedient one; the service also includes stichera and kathismata. According to the Hermeneia of Dionysius of Fourna, Acacius is depicted young, with a beard barely showing. Among his best known images are the mosaic of the katholikon of Hosios Loukas monastery (1030s) and a fresco in the church of the Transfiguration at Kovalyov in Novgorod (1380), where the saint holds a scroll with the words that the child of obedience never dies.