St Achillius, Bishop of Larissa.

Commemorated May 15 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion

From the Prologue

This great hierarch and wonderworker was born in Cappadocia. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council, at which he put the heretics to shame and, both by his great learning and his great purity, gave cause for much wonder. Taking up a stone, Achillius called to the Arians: 'If Christ is a creature of God, as you say, tell oil to flow from this stone.' The heretics kept silent, amazed at this demand by St Achillius. Then the saint continued: 'And if the Son of God is equal to the Father, as we believe, then let oil flow from this stone.' And oil flowed out, to the amazement of all. St Achillius entered peacefully into rest in Larissa in the year 330. Samuel, King of Macedonia, when he conquered Thessaly, translated the relics of Achillius to Prespa, to an island in a lake that was named, and is called to this day, Achillius or Ailus.

From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK