MartyrUnknown

Martyr Melitina

Also known as Melitina

A martyr commemorated on this day; few details of her life are preserved.

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Life

Martyr Melitina is a saint commemorated in the Orthodox Church on July 28. Almost nothing of her life is preserved: the Orthodox Church in America's synaxarion lists her name among the day's commemorations but records no biography, noting only that no information about her is available. She is honored simply as a martyr who suffered for Christ.

The little that the Church's tradition conveys about her comes through her hymnography rather than a surviving vita. The day's troparion addresses her as a holy martyr who, through her sufferings, received an incorruptible crown, and the kontakion praises her as a witness who proclaimed Christ and turned the faithful away from the worship of false gods. These hymns affirm her standing as a martyr but supply no historical particulars such as a birthplace, era, or manner of death.

Kontakion & Troparion2 hymnsReadHide

KontakionTone 2

(Podoben: “You sought the heights...”) You appeared as a bright star announcing Christ with your radiance,
which is repulsive to this world, O Martyr Melitina;
extinguishing the allure of false gods,
you enlighten the faithful,
always interceding for us all.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

TroparionTone 3

Your holy martyr Melitina, O Lord,
through her sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from You, our God.
For having Your strength, she laid low her adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through her intercessions, save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributionsReadHide

Commemoration

Melitina is named on July 28 in the Orthodox Church in America's list of saints for that date, alongside the Apostles of the Seventy Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, and Parmenas; Saint Pitirim of Tambov; the Venerable Moses of the Kiev Caves; and other martyrs and venerables of the day. The synaxarion entry for her carries no narrative of her life.

Her commemoration is preserved chiefly in liturgical hymnography. A troparion in Tone 3 and a kontakion in Tone 2 are appointed for her, identifying her as a martyr whose endurance won an incorruptible crown and whose witness opposed idolatry. Beyond this, the surviving record gives no concrete biographical detail.

Identity

The July 28 commemoration of Melitina is a name-only entry, and her identity is not securely established by the available sources. A more fully attested Martyr Melitine of Marcianopolis is commemorated separately in Greek and OCA usage in September and October, and it is possible that the July 28 name is an echo of that saint; the sources, however, do not clearly identify the two as the same person, and the OCA records the Marcianopolis life only under its September commemoration while leaving the July 28 entry blank. This profile therefore treats the July 28 Melitina as a distinct, sparsely attested commemoration and does not assume the details of the Marcianopolis martyr.

Related Saints1 saintShowHide

Saints connected to her life, mission, and place in Orthodox tradition.

A more fully attested namesake commemorated in September and October; the sources do not clearly identify the two as the same person.

Martyr Melitineof Marcianopolis

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints