Melitius of Lycopolis

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Melitius or Meletius<ref>According to Scott T. Carroll, The Melitian Schism: Coptic Christianity and the Egyptian Church, Ph.D. diss., Miami University, 1989, p. 1, the spelling Meletius is an error.</ref> (died 327) was bishop of Lycopolis in Egypt. He is known mainly as the founder and namesake of the Melitians (c. 305), one of several schismatic sects in early church history which were concerned about the ease with which lapsed Christians re-entered the Church.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The details of his life are not clear, as there are conflicting accounts of it. According to one version, he was imprisoned for his Christianity during the persecution under Diocletian, along with Peter of Alexandria.<ref name=EB1911/> Another source has Peter fleeing the scene, and a third one has Melitius himself avoiding prison. Apparently, as early as during the persecution itself, Melitius began to refuse to accept in communion those Christians who had renounced their faith during the persecution and later repented of that choice. Melitius' rigorous stance on that point stood in contrast to the earlier willingness of bishops to accept back into communion those who seemed to have truly repented (a pattern that had been addressed during previous similar controversies, including those who had lapsed during the Decian persecution about 50 years earlier).

As Bishop of Alexandria, Peter would have been recognised as the leader of the Egyptian church and thus Melitius's superior in the church hierarchy. The historian Philip Schaff tells that prior to Peter's death in 311, he spoke out against Melitius's actions and "deposed him as a disturber of the peace of the church".<ref>Schaff, Philip (1885, third edition). History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 100-325; Section 58 on "Church Schisms" (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc2.v.vi.xviii.html</ref>

The supporters that Melitius drew around him included 28 other bishops, at least some of whom he personally ordained, and the objections against him included that he ordained people in regions in which he lacked authority.<ref>Athanasius of Alexandria's list of people attached to Melitius. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xiii.ii.ii.ii.html</ref> His group went by the name Church of the Martyrs and inherently objected to the reacceptance by other bishops of people who chose to avoid the risk of martyrdom. Melitius' influence extended into Palestine.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica (1911), Eleventh Edition. Article on "Meletius of Lycopolis"</ref>

It is believed by some that Melitius ordained Arius, known for the Arian controversy, as a priest. Scholarly opinions are divided on whether that is the case.<ref>Rubenstein, Richard E. (1999). When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome, Harcourt. The text linked suggests of only one Arius being involved, rather than two people of that name, to the work of W. H. C. Frend in Rise of Christianity, p. 493; see p. 245.</ref>

The Council of Nicaea in 325 attempted to create peace with the Melitians.<ref>According to the work of the historians Socrates Scholasticus and Sozomenus, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf202.iii.vi.xxiv.html</ref><ref name=EB1911/> Melitius was allowed to remain bishop of Lycopolis<ref name=EB1911/> but was no longer to ordain bishops outside his region. The bishops whom he had already ordained were accepted under certain restrictions and had to be reordained.<ref>Template:CathEncy</ref> Melitius's death followed in 327, and he was succeeded as leader by his handpicked successor, John Arkhaph.<ref>Carroll, Melitian Schism, p. 115.</ref> The effort to bring unity proved unsuccessful. His followers sided with the Arians in their controversy and existed as a separate sect until the 5th century.<ref name=EB1911>Template:1911</ref>

External links

• Documents Concerning the Melitian Schism - List of English translations of documents during Melitian schism including letters to and from Melitius from Fourth-Century Christianity