Agapetus

Agapetus, the name of several martyrs and prelates.

(1.) A deacon, said by some to have been the companion in martyrdom of pope Christus, and in many martyrologies he is commemorated with Sts. Xistus and Felicissimus on the same day. They are believed to have suffered on the same day, A.D. 258, although .in different places.

(2.) Saint and martyr of Palestrina, :near Rome, He was beheaded by the officers of Aurelian, about 275, when he was only fifteen years of age. He is celebrated Aug. 18.

(3.) Archbishop of Rhodes, and one of the metropolitans to whom the emperor Leo wrote respecting the death of Proterius. Replying to a letter of Leo's respecting the Council of Chalcedon, he vigorously defended the cause of the council. His name. appears affixed to the encyclical epistle of the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 459, directed against simony.

(4.) Deacon of the Church of Constantinople, flourished about A.D. 527, when he wrote a: letter, called Charta Regia, to the emperor Justinian, containing excellent advice on the duties of a Christian prince. The work is given in the Bibl. Patrum .under the following title: Agapeti, Constantinopol. Ecclesice Diaconi, ad Justinianum Imperatorem Oratio Parcefzetica, etc. It was printed in Greek and Latin (Venice, 1509, 8vo; Basle, 1518, 8vo; with notes, Frankfort, 1659), and translated into French by Louis XII. (5.) :Bishop of the Macedonians at Synnada. The sect. was fiercely persecuted by. Theodosius, the Catholic prelate, with the view of extorting money. During his absence from Synnada, Agapetus convened the clergy and laity of his sect, and, persuading them to accept the Homoousion, took possession of the churches and the episcopal throne, from which Theodosius, on his return, was unable to expel him. See Cave, Hist. Lit.; Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v.; Landon, Eccles. Dict. s.v.; Smith, Diet. of Christ. Biog. s.v.