Venerable Martyr Acacius the Cobbler

Life

From the village of Neochori near Thessalonica. Having been beaten severely by his master in Serres, he converted to Islam. Afterward, as a penitent and monk, he lived at Hilandar. His poor but Christ-loving mother counseled him: "Just as you voluntarily denied the Lord, so now you must voluntarily and courageously accept martyrdom for the sweet Jesus." The son obeyed his mother, and with the blessing of the Holy Mountain Fathers he went to Constantinople, where he was beheaded by the Turks on May 1, 1816. His head is preserved in the Monastery of Panteleimon.