Holy Hierarch Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch

Saint Meletios of Antioch
القديس ملاتيوس بطريرك أنطاكية‎

Today is the feast in the Holy Orthodox Church of Saint Meletios, an archbishop of Antioch who reigned during the late fourth century. He was notable for his struggles against the Arian hæresy, struggles which did not endear him to the reigning powers in Constantinople. He was deposed and exiled from Antioch three times on account of his criticisms of emperors and on account of his firm adherence to the Orthodox doctrine.

Saint Meletios [Gk. Μελέτιος, Ar. Malâtiyyûs ملاتيوس] was an Armenian of Melitēnē, who lived a life which was ‘blameless, just, reverent, sincere and most gentle’. His parents were of the nobility. In the year 357 he was consecrated bishop of Armenian Sebasteía (now Sivas in Turkey), from which his enemies managed to get him deposed before 360. He took refuge in the Syrian deserts, and then moved to Berœa (now Aleppo, Syria). It happened that the previous (Arian) archbishop in Antioch, Eudoxos, was something of a social climber: his ambitions to be elected Patriarch of Constantinople alienated him from his flock, who expelled him. from which he was invited at the behest of both the Orthodox (then a minority in Antioch, and somewhat disparagingly called ‘Eustathians’ after Saint Eustathios of Antioch) and Arian populations of Antioch to serve as their bishop. Because of his prior support for the ‘moderate’ Arian bishop Ákákios Monóphthalmos of Cæsarea, the Arian party was amenable to his election. In fact, so fervently well-wished was the new archbishop in Antioch, that the citizens contended with each other to offer him their hospitality. Even the Jews and the pagans turned out to welcome Saint Meletios and watch his procession enter the city!

At first, Saint Meletios did not speak to the people about Christology. He dealt with them gently, admonishing and encouraging them toward a less selfish, less quarrelsome and more humble way of life. It was Saint Meletios who at this time ordained Saint Basil a deacon, and who oversaw the baptism of Saint John Chrysostom, who was then still a youth. Indeed Chrysostom had been among those who had come out into the streets upon Meletios’s entry into Antioch. But the saint dealt with the people of Antioch the same way he dealt with young people in general: with meekness and patience and painstaking care. His methods and his admonishing words were gentle. But he was nonetheless insistent on instructing the folk of Antioch – not least by his own mild and meek example – in the Christian temperament and a Christlike way of living.

It was a full three years after his installation as Archbishop there, that he wisely chose to begin to speak and write on theological matters. He was expelled from Antioch in 361 and 362 after some conflicts with the Arian hierarchs, and went back to his homeland in western Armenia. There is a hagiographical legend that he was expelled after he preached a homily on Proverbs 8 before the Arian Emperor Constantius II, in which he espoused Nicene Trinitarian views and which caused the Arians present with him to attempt in vain to hush him – being hushed by one Arian archdeacon he expounded the doctrine of the Trinity with the gestures of his hands and fingers. However, this legend appears to be a pious fiction as primary-source accounts of the homily in question have nothing to do with Christology. Saint Meletios did, however, write an Exposition of the Faith that was explicitly Nicene in its Christology – in 363, after his return to his see at Antioch during the reign of Emperor Julian. Owing to both his conflicts with the Arian hierarchs and his quiet but marked espousal of Trinitarian theology, the gentle Saint Meletios both enlarged and was embraced by the ‘Eustathian’ community in Antioch.

Saint Meletios was sadly a bit too ‘late’ and a bit too mild in his embrace of the Council of Nicæa for some of the ‘Eustathians’, however. There was a schism in Antioch. In Meletios’s absence during his first exile, a cleric named Paulinus was consecrated bishop in absentia by a Western hierarch, Lucifer Calaritanus. Paulinus’s followers were strict legalists, who held the following objections to Meletios: had been consecrated by both Arian and Orthodox hierarchs, that he had been ‘soft’ on the Arians of Antioch at first, and that he had received former Arians into Orthodox communion by œconomia, without rebaptism. For his part, Saint Meletios behaved with the same meekness toward Paulinus that he had toward the Antiochenes at first, and in all things sought to heal the schism. Saint Meletios also hosted a local council in Antioch in 364 which affirmed the Nicene teachings.

Saint Meletios was expelled again from Antioch in 365, after Emperor Valens came by his laurels. The Arians, then in the ascendency, concocted and disseminated a great variety of absurd and malicious libels against the holy Meletios – including that he was a follower of Sabellius. Emperor Valens, who sympathised with the Arian party, listened to these libels and cast Saint Meletios out of Antioch twice: the first time in 365, and the second time in 371.

Saint Meletios returned to Antioch in 378 after the death of Valens and the crowning of Emperor Gratian. Again at that time he tried to heal the schism between himself and Paulinus by making the proposal that they rule as co-bishops as long as they both remained alive, but that if one of them should repose in blessedness before the other, that the other should have sole sway in the archbishopric. Paulinus would not accept the saint’s proposal. However, Saint Meletios was afterward recognised as the sole valid bishop among the Orthodox by Emperor Gratian’s governor.

Toward the end of his earthly life, Saint Meletios ordained the young Saint John Chrysostom first a reader, then a deacon, in Antioch. He came to Constantinople at the invitation of Saint Theodosius, who desired especially to see him. Saint Theodosius – then fighting the Goths on Gratian’s behalf – called the Second Œcumenical Council in the City, and of course Saint Meletios was one of those in attendance. Without being assisted by any of his attendants, Theodosius recognised the holy man at once, leapt up and ran to him, knelt at his feet and gave him a kiss the way a loving son would do for a father he had long missed.

Theodosius said afterward that he had recognised Meletios, because he had seen the holy man in a dream, in which the holy man had anointed and crowned him Emperor, and vested him with the robe of purple and the other seals of his office. And this dream thereupon came to pass. At the Œcumenical Council which Theodosius had convoked, Saint Meletios of Antioch in stentorian tones declared, ‘We understand three Hypostases and we speak of a single Essence!’ As this happened, he seemed to be surrounded by a holy fire that flashed like lightning. The Antiochian bishop, so renowned for his meekness and self-beshedding humility, astounded the whole synod of bishops by the forcefulness and forthrightness of his teaching. Here again the hagiographers insert the story of his teaching the doctrine of the Trinity with his fingers as well as his voice.

Saint Meletios also gave his blessing to Gregory of Nazianzus as Patriarch of Constantinople. However, before the Second Œcumenical Council could officially begin, the holy man took ill and reposed in the Lord. This was a cause of great mourning for the Emperor and for the bishops there present, and Saint Gregory of Nyssa delivered the eulogy for this humble servant of servants. Saint Meletios’s relics were conveyed in state to Antioch, and interred with the honours due to a saint of God in the church he himself had consecrated to house the relics of Saint Babylas. Meletios has been the namesake and inspiration of many other holy men of the Antiochian Church, including the great Arab patriot Patriarch Meletios II. Holy hierarch Meletios, sweet and meek archpastor of Christ’s holy Church, pray unto Him who loves mankind to save our souls!

Apolytikion of Saint Meletios, Tone 4:

A model of faith and the image of gentleness,
The example of your life has shown you forth
To your sheep-fold to be a master of temperance.
You obtained thus through being lowly, gifts from on high,
And riches through poverty.
Meletios, our father and priest of priests,
Intercede with Christ our God that He may save our souls.