Saint Meletius Archbishop of Antioch

Bishop and Confessor of the Nicene Faith

Meletius came from Melitene in Lesser Armenia, a city in the eastern part of the Roman Empire (modern Malatya in present-day Turkey), and according to the synaxarion pursued an ascetic manner of life from his youth. His early ecclesiastical career placed him near the centre of the doctrinal struggles that followed the Council of Nicaea, and the sources describe his theological standing as initially difficult to categorize, neither straightforwardly Nicene nor Arian in the eyes of the contending parties, a perceived ambiguity that for a time made him acceptable to several factions.

Following his elevation to Antioch in 360, his openly Nicene preaching brought him into conflict with the Arian-leaning imperial authorities, and he was deposed and sent into exile in 361. Across the reign of the Arian emperor Valens he was exiled twice more, in 365 and again in 371 or 372. The repeated banishments earned him recognition as a confessor — a title the anchor record assigns him alongside that of hierarch — and his fidelity through these displacements is the chief mark of his memory in the Church.

The Meletian Schism

Meletius's episcopate at Antioch unfolded against a long-running division within the city's own pro-Nicene community, known as the Meletian Schism. While he held the see, a rival faction associated with the memory of Eustathius elected Paulinus as a competing bishop, so that two pro-Nicene claimants stood opposed even though both rejected Arianism. The division proved remarkably durable: it outlived Meletius himself and, according to the sources, was not fully healed until 415.

After Meletius's death, Flavian I was consecrated as his successor at Antioch while the rival party elected Evagrius, perpetuating the schism that had shadowed his tenure.

Ordination of John Chrysostom and the Council of 381

Meletius ordained the young John, later known as Chrysostom, to the diaconate; John afterward separated from Meletius's circle and received ordination to the priesthood at other hands. Meletius's most prominent public act came at the close of his life, when he presided over the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the gathering reckoned as the Second Ecumenical Council, which was convened with the support of the emperor Theodosius I. During the council's sessions, by tradition associated with the enthronement of Gregory of Nazianzus as bishop of Constantinople, Meletius died.

The sources relate that funeral services were held at Constantinople and that the emperor Theodosius, who had honoured him in life, ordered his body carried to Antioch, where it was buried with the honours due a saint.

Relics & Shrines

According to the sources, the relics of Meletius were transferred from Constantinople to Antioch after his repose, where tradition holds that he was buried near St. Babylas, an earlier bishop and martyr of the city.