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St. Meletius of Antioch, the confessor
d. 381 Feast day: February 12
Patriarch of Antioch His staunch support of the Nicene faction of the church led to his exile three times under Arian emperors. One of his last acts was to preside over the First Council of Constantinople in 381.
He was born in Melitene (Malatya in modern Turkey) of wealthy and noble parents. He first appears (ca. 357) as a supporter of Acacius, bishop of Caesarea, the leader of that party in the episcopate which supported the Homoean formula by which the emperor Constantius II sought for a compromise between the Homoiousian and the Homoousian. The idea was that God and Jesus Christ are of like essence or they are of the same essence. Meletius thus makes his debut as an ecclesiastic (member of clergy) of the court party, and as such became bishop of Sebaste in 357/8 in succession to Eustathius, who the synod of Melitene deposed (removed) for his Homousianism (Nicene trinitarianism) which they considered a heresy. He left Sebaste because of the rudeness of the Homoeusian clergy and lived a solitary life nearby the city of Beroea (Aleppo) in Syria.
According to Socrates Scholasticus he attended the synod of Seleucia in the autumn of 359, and then subscribed to the Acacian formula. Early in the year 360 he became bishop (Patriarch) of Antioch, succeeding Eustatheos (324-337) who presided the Council of Nicea 325.
Saint Meletius was an eminent, learned and meek man, who was loved by everyone. When he entered the city of Antioch, he resisted the Arians and kept them away from the churches.
When he entered the city of Antioch, he resisted the Arians and kept them away from the churches. When Constantius the Emperor heard that, and had become surrounded by the Arians and had been swayed over to their position, he exiled the Patriarch in the same year that he was enthroned patriarch. The noble men of the city of Antioch, the bishops and the priests met and wrote to the Emperor asking for the return of the Patriarch. The Emperor returned St. Malatius in shame to them.
When St. Malatius came back in the year 362 A.D., in consequence of the emperor Julian, he found himself as one of three rival bishops. Meletius was now between two stools. The orthodox Nicene party, notably Athanasius himself, held communion with Paulinus only, twice in 365 and 371 or 372. Meletius was exiled by decree of the Arian emperor Valens. When he arrived to his exile, the bishops and the fathers that were exiled from different countries came and gathered around and stayed with him.
Saint Meletius wrote his theological tract, "Exposition of the Faith", which facilitated the conversion to Orthodoxy of many of the Arians.
St. Malatius did not slack in teaching and interpreting what was difficult to understand in the Holy Scriptures. His epistles reached his flock, in spite of the distance, confirming their faith in the Holy Trinity, preaching the faith of the Council of Nicea and refuting the teachings of Arius.
Meanwhile, under the influence of his situation, Meletius had been more and more approximating to the views of the Nicene Creed. Basil of Caesarea, throwing over the cause of Eustatheos, championed that of Meletius who, returning in triumph to Antioch after the death of Valens, was hailed as the leader of Eastern orthodoxy. As such he presided in October 379 over the great synod of Antioch, in which the dogmatic agreement of East and West was established. He helped Gregory Nazianzus to the See of Constantinople and consecrated him.
In the year 381, under the emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395), the Second Ecumenical Council was convened. Already in the year 380 the saint had set off on his way to the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, and came to preside over it. During the time of the Council Saint Meletius departed in peace to the Lord.
He died soon after the opening of the council and the emperor Theodosius I, who had received him with special distinction, ordered his body to be carried to Antioch and buried with the honors of a saint. Saint Gregory of Nyssa honored the memory of the deceased with an eulogistic word.
The Meletian schism, however, did not end with his death. In spite of the advice of Gregory Nazianzus and of the Western Church, the recognition of Paulinus' sole episcopate was refused, and Flavian was consecrated as Meletius' successor. The Eustathians, on the other hand, elected Evagrius as bishop on Paulinus' death, and it was not until 415 that Flavian succeeded in re-uniting them to the Church.
Meletius ascetic life was remarkable in view of his great private wealth. He is venerated as a saint and confessor in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Eastern Churches, beside the church of Antioch.
Thus, Saint Meletius struggled quite zealously against the Arian error, but through the intrigues of the heretics he was thrice deposed from his Patriarchate See; In all this Saint Meletius was distinguished by an extraordinary gentleness, and he constantly led along his flock by the example of his own virtue and kindly disposition, presupposing that upon suchlike a soil sprouts more readily the seeds of the true teaching of the faith.
Saint Meletius was the one who ordained as deacon the future hierarch Saint Basil the Great. And Saint Meletios also baptized and encouraged the growth under him of another of the greatest luminaries of Orthodoxy, Saint John Chrysostom.
St. John Chrysostom (Golden Mouthed) praised St. Malatius on his feast day declaring his greatness and that he was not in any less stature than the apostles in honor for what he suffered from exile and humiliation for the sake of the Orthodox faith.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
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