Our Church celebrates today, Wednesday, March 31, the memory of Saint Hypatius the Wonderworker, Bishop of Gangra, as well as of Saint Acacius the Confessor, Bishop of Melitene.
Saint Hypatius lived under the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great and came from Cilicia, Asia Minor. He became bishop of Gangra, which is a town of Paphlagonia, and was distinguished for his missionary zeal and charity work. The grace of God deemed him worthy to receive the gift of wonderworking, which benefited the emperor himself.
He took part in the First Ecumenical Council, convened in Nicaea, Bithynia, in AD 325, and fought against the heterodoxy of Arianism and Novatianism. On the road from Constantinople to his episcopal seat, the followers of Novatian arrested him in a desolate place and, after torturing him, led him to martyrdom.
Saint Acacius, Bishop of Melitene, lived in the 3rd century AD. His missionary work and his Christian zeal infuriated the pagans who could not withstand the pious. They denounced him and brought him to governor Marcian, before whom he confessed his true faith in the Lord. He even had the courage to analyze the theology of the Church for the Divine Economy, that is, God’s charity and permission for the salvation of humankind. At the same time, he criticized and condemned the pagans’ gods and unmasked their delusion.
His doctrinal teaching was the reason for the various tortures and his imprisonment. Hierarch Acacius continued the work of the Church with steadfast self-denial, bearing the marks of the martyrdom on his body until his last breath.
Source: Church of Cyprus
