Biography
Akakios of Liti and Rendini
About Akakios of Liti and Rendini
Akakios was a bishop of Liti and Rendini remembered for his ascetic life and his connection with Theophilos, later known as the Myrrh-Bearer.
The account published by Vatopedi monastery places his consecration during Niphon’s service as metropolitan of Thessaloniki. It describes Theophilos becoming his disciple and, through him, entering Niphon’s circle. The same account already calls Theophilos a priest before their meeting.
When Niphon became patriarch, the narrative says that he sent Akakios and Theophilos to Egypt to investigate reports of miracles associated with Patriarch Joachim. They then traveled to Sinai, Jerusalem and Damascus. Akakios became ill in Jerusalem and died there; Theophilos buried him and continued the journey. These events are known here through the later Life of Theophilos, whose miraculous claims remain part of its devotional account.
The dates attached to that journey are not secure. The Life gives 1486 for the mission, yet the Patriarchate of Alexandria dates Joachim’s tenure from 1487. That discrepancy prevents treating the mission year as established.
The local episcopal list assigns Saint Akakios to 1482–1502 and includes another Akakios entry under 1503. It does not explain whether these entries distinguish two people or how its chronology was established. They cannot safely supply a death date.
Manuscript evidence complicates the chronology further. Maria Luisa Agati reports that Theophilos’s annotations place his tonsure by Akakios in 1504, priesthood in 1506, and eastern travels in 1508–1510. These dates conflict with the earlier mission described in the devotional narrative. They warrant caution about that narrative’s sequence, rather than an invented reconciliation.
Formal recognition of his veneration came through a patriarchal and synodal act dated July 10, 2013. The act recognized Akakios alongside Damaskinos the Studite, a later bishop of the same see, and confirmed August 16 as Akakios’s annual feast. It drew on the continuing religious memory of the local church.
The local celebration followed at Saint Athanasios in Liti in November. During the service, the synodal act was read and new icons of Akakios and Damaskinos were blessed.
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