HE was of one of the best families of Lesser Armenia, and born a
Melitene, which Strabo and Pliny place to Cappadocia; but Ptolemy, and
all succeeding writers, in Lesser Armenia, of which province it became
the capital. The saint, in his youth, made fasting and mortification his
choice, to the midst of every thing that could flatter the senses. His
conduct was uniform and irreproachable, and the sweetness and affability
of his temper gained him the confidence and esteem both of the Catholics
and Arians; for he was a nobleman of charming simplicity and sincerity,
and a great lover of peace. Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, a semi-Arian,
being deposed by the Arians, in a council held at Constantinople, in
360, Meletius was promoted to that see; but meeting with too violent
opposition, left it, and retired first into the desert, and afterwards
to the city of Beraea, in Syria, of which Socrates falsely supposes him
to have been bishop. The patriarchal church of Antioch had been
oppressed by the Arians, ever since the banishment of Eustathius, in
331. Several succeeding bishops, who were intruded into that chair, were
infamous abettors of that heresy. Eudoxus, the last of these, had been
removed from the see of Germanicia to that of Antioch, upon the death of
Leontius, an Arian like himself, but was soon expelled by a party of
Arians, in a sedition, and be shortly after usurped the see of
Constantinople. Both the Arians and several Catholics agreed to raise
St. Meletius to the patriarchal chair at Antioch, and the emperor
ordered him to be put in possession of that dignity in 361; but some
among the Catholics refused to acknowledge him, regarding his election
as irregular, on account of the share which the Arians had had in it.
The Arians hoped that he would declare himself of their party, but were
undeceived when, the emperor Constantius arriving at Antioch, he was
ordered, with certain other prelates, to explain in his presence that
text of the Proverbs,[1] concerning the wisdom of God: _The Lord hath
created me in the beginning of his ways_. George of Laodicea first
explained it in an Arian sense, next Acacius of Caesarea, in a sense
bordering on that heresy; but the truth triumphed in the mouth of
Meletius, who, speaking the third,[2] showed that this text is to be
understood not of a strict creation, but of a new state or being, which
the Eternal Wisdom received in his incarnation. This public testimony
thunderstruck the Arians, and Eudoxus, then the bishop of
Constantinople, prevailed with the emperor to banish him into Lesser
Armenia, thirty days after his installation. The Arians intruded the
impious Euzoius into that see, who, formerly being deacon at Alexandria,
had been deposed and expelled the church, with the priest and
arch-heretic Arius, by St. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria. From this
time is dated the famous schism of Antioch, in 360, though it drew its
origin from the banishment of St. Eustathius about thirty years before.
Many zealous Catholics always adhered to St. Eustathius, being convinced
that his faith was the only cause of his unjust expulsion. But others,
who were orthodox in their principles, made no scruple, at least for
some time, to join communion in the great church with the intruded
patriarchs; in which their conscience was more easily imposed upon, as,
by the artifices of the Arians, the cause of St. Eustathius appeared
merely personal and secular, or at least mixed; and his two first
short-lived successors Eulalius and Euphronius, do not appear to have
declared themselves Arians, otherwise than by their intrusion. Placillus
the Third joined in condemning St. Athanasius in the councils of Tyre,
in 335, and of Antioch {402} in 341. His successors, Stephen I., (who at
Philippopolis opposed the council of Sardica,) Leontius, and Eudoxus,
appeared everywhere leagued with the heads of the Arians. But the
intrusion of Euzoius, with the expulsion of St. Meletius, rendered the
necessity of an entire separation to communion more notorious; and many
who were orthodox in their faith, yet, through weakness or ignorance of
facts, had till then communicated with the Arians in the great church,
would have no communion with Euzoius, or his adherents; but under the
protection of Diodorus and Flavian, then eminent and learned laymen,
afterwards bishops, held their religious assemblies with their own
priests, in the church of the apostles without the city, in a suburb
called Palaea, that is, the old suburb or church. They attempted in vain
to unite themselves to the Eustathians, who for thirty years past had
held their separate assemblies; but these refused to admit them, or to
allow the election of Meletius, on account of the share the Arians had
had therein: they therefore continued their private assemblies within
the city. The emperor Constantius, in his return from the Persian war,
with an intention to march against his cousin Julian, Caesar, in the
West, arrived at Antioch, and was baptized by the Arian bishop Euzoius;
but died soon after, in his march at Mopsucrene, in Cilicia, on the 3d
of November, 361. Julian having allowed the banished bishops to go to
their respective churches, St. Meletius returned to Antioch about the
end of the year 362, but had the affliction to see the breach made by
the schism grow wider. The Eustathians not only refused still to receive
him, but proceeded to choose a bishop for themselves. This was Paulinus,
a person of great meekness and piety, who had been ordained priest by
St. Eustathius himself, and had constantly attended his zealous flock.
Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, passing by Antioch in his return from
exile, consecrated Paulinus bishop, and by this precipitate action,
riveted the schism which divided this church near fourscore and five
years, and in which the discussion of the facts upon which the right of
the claimants was founded, was so intricate that the saints innocently
took part on both sides. It was an additional affliction to St.
Meletius, to see Julian the Apostate make Antioch the seat of the
superstitious abominations of idolatry, which he restored; and the
generous liberty with which he opposed them, provoked that emperor to
banish him a second time. But Jovian soon after succeeding that unhappy
prince, in 363, our saint returned to Antioch. Then it appeared that the
Arians were men entirely guided by ambition and interest, and that as
nothing could be more insolent than they had shown themselves when
backed by the temporal power, so nothing was more cringing and
submissive, when they were deprived of that protection. For the emperor
warmly embracing the Nicene faith, following in all ecclesiastical
matters the advice of St. Athanasius, and expressing a particular regard
for St. Meletius; the moderate Arians, with Acacius of Caesarea, in
Palestine, at their head, went to Antioch, where our saint held a
council of twenty-seven bishops, and there subscribed an orthodox
profession of faith. Jovian dying, after a reign of eight months, Valens
became emperor of the East, who was at first very orthodox, but
afterwards, seduced by the persuasions of his wife, he espoused the
Arian heresy, and received baptism from Eudoxus, bishop of
Constantinople, who made him promise upon oath to promote the cause of
that sect. The cruel persecution which this prince raised against that
church, and the favor which he showed not only to the Arians, but also
to Pagans, Jews, and all that were not Catholics, deterred not St.
Meletius from exerting his zeal in defence of the orthodox faith. This
prince coming from Caesarea, where he had been vanquished by the
constancy of St. Basil, arrived at Antioch in April, 372, where he left
nothing unattempted {403} to draw Meletius over to the interest of his
sect; but meeting with no success, ordered him a third time into
banishment. The people rose tumultuously to detain him among them, and
threw stones at the governor, who was carrying him off, so that he only
escaped with his life by our saint's stepping between him and the mob,
and covering him with his cloak. It is only to this manner that the
disciples of Jesus Christ revenge injuries, as St. Chrysostom
observes.[3] Hermant and Fleury suppose this to have happened at his
first banishment. By the order of Valens, he was conducted into Lesser
Armenia, where he made his own estate at Getasus, near Nicopolis, the
place of his residence. His flock at Antioch, by copying his humility,
modesty, and patience, amid the persecution which fell upon them, showed
themselves the worthy disciples of so great a master. They were driven
out of the city, and from the neighboring mountains, and the banks of
the river, where they attempted to hold their assemblies; some expired
under torments, others were thrown into the Orontes. In the mean time,
Valens allowed the pagans to renew their sacrifices, and to celebrate
publicly the feasts of Jupiter, Ceres, and Bacchus.[4] Sapor, king of
Persia, having invaded Armenia, took by treachery king Arsaces, bound
him in silver chains, (according to the Persian custom of treating royal
prisoners,) and caused him to perish in prison. To, check the progress
of these ancient enemies of the empire, Valens sent an army towards
Armenia, and marched himself to Edessa, in Mesopotamia. Thus the
persecution at Antioch was abated, to which the death of Valens put an
end, who was burnt by the Goths in a cottage, after his defeat near
Adrianople, in 378. His nephew Gratian, who then became master of the
East, went in all haste to Constantinople, by his general, Theodosius,
vanquished the Goths, and by several edicts recalled the Catholic
prelates, and restored the liberty of the church in the Eastern empire.
St. Meletius, upon his return, found that the schism had begun to engage
distant churches in the division. Most of the Western prelates adhered
to the election of Paulinus. St. Athanasius communicated with him, as he
had always done with his friends the Eustathian Catholics, though, from
the beginning, he disapproved of the precipitation of Lucifer of
Cagliari in ordaining him, and he afterwards communicated also with St.
Meletius. St. Basil, St. Amphilochius of Iconium, St. Pelagius of
Laodicea, St. Eusebius of Samosata, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory
of Nyasa, St. Gregory of Nazianzum, St. Chrysostom, and the general
council of Constantinople, with almost the unanimous suffrage of all the
East, zealously supported the cause of St. Meletius. Theodosius having,
after his victory over the Goths, been associated by Gratian, and taken
possession of the Eastern empire, sent his general, Sapor, to Antioch,
to re-establish there the Catholic pastors. In an assembly which was
held in his presence, in 379, St. Meletius, Paulinus, and Vitalis, whom
Apollinarius had consecrated bishop of his party there, met, and St.
Meletius, addressing himself to Paulinus, made the following
proposal:[5] "Since our sheep have but one religion, and the same faith,
let it be our business to unite them into one flock; let us drop all
disputes for precedency, and agree to feed them together. I am ready to
share this see with you, and let the survivor have the care of the whole
flock." After some demur the proposal was accepted of, and Sapor put St.
Meletius in possession of the churches which he had governed before his
last banishment, and of those which were in the hands of the Arians, and
Paulinus was continued in his care of the Eustathians. St. Meletius
zealously reformed the disorders which heresy and divisions {404} had
produced, and provided his church with excellent ministers. In 379 he
presided in a council at Antioch, in which the errors of Apollinarius
were condemned without any mention of his name. Theodosius, whom Gratian
declared Augustus, and his partner in the empire at Sirmich, on the 19th
of January, soon after his arrival at Constantinople, concurred
zealously in assembling the second general council which was opened at
Constantinople, in the year 381. Only the prelates of the Eastern empire
assisted, so that we find no mention of legates of pope Damasus, and it
was general, not in the celebration, but by the acceptation of the
universal church. St. Meletius presided as the first patriarch that was
present; in it one hundred and fifty Catholic bishops, and thirty-six of
the Macedonian sect, made their appearance; but all these latter chose
rather to withdraw than to retract their error, or confess the divinity
of the Holy Ghost. The council approved of the election of St. Gregory
of Nazianzen to the see of Constantinople, though he resigned it to
satisfy the scruples and complaints of some, who, by mistake, thought it
made against the Nicene canon, which forbade translations of bishops;
which could not be understood of him who had never been allowed to take
possession of his former see. The council then proceeded to condemn the
Macedonian heresy, and to publish the Nicene creed, with certain
additions. In the second, among the seven canons of discipline, the two
oriental patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch were acknowledged. In
the third, the prerogative of honor, next to the see of Rome, is given
to that of Constantinople, which before was subject to the metropolitan
of Heraclea, in Thrace. This canon laid the foundation of the
patriarchal dignity to which that see was raised by the council of
Calcedon, though not allowed for some time after in the West. St.
Meletius died at Constantinople while the council was sitting, to the
inexpressible grief of the fathers, and of the good emperor. By an
evangelical meekness, which was his characteristic, he had converted the
various trials that he had gone through into occasions of virtue, and
had exceedingly endeared himself to all that had the happiness of his
acquaintance. St. Chrysostom assures us, that his name was so venerable
to his flock at Antioch, that they gave it their children, and mentioned
it with all possible respect. They cut his image upon their seals, and
upon their plate, and carved it in their houses. His funeral was
performed at Constantinople with the utmost magnificence, and attended
by the fathers of the council, and all the Catholics of the city. One of
the most eminent among the prelates, probably St. Amphilochius of
Iconium, pronounced his panegyric in the council. St. Gregory of Nyssa
made his funeral oration in presence of the emperor, in the great
church, in the end of which he says, "He now sees God face to face, and
prays for us, and for the ignorance of the people." St. Meletius's body
was deposited in the church of the apostles, till it was removed before
the end of the same year, with the utmost pomp, to Antioch, at the
emperor's expense, and interred near the relics of St. Babylas, in the
church which he had erected in honor of that holy martyr. Five years
after, St. Chrysostom, whom our saint had ordained deacon, spoke his
elegant panegyric on the 12th of February, on which his name occurs in
the Menaea, and was inserted by Baronius in the Roman Martyrology; though
it is uncertain whether this be the day of his death, or of his
translation to Antioch. On account of his three banishments and great
sufferings, he is styled a martyr by St. John Damascen.[6] His
panegyrics, by St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Chrysostom, are extant. See
also Socrates, l. 5, c. 5, p. 261. Sozom. l. 4, c. 28, p. 586.
Theodoret, l. 3, c. 5, p. 128, l. 2, c. 27, p. 634. Jos. Assem. in Cal.
Univer. t. 6, p. 125.
Footnotes:
1. Prov. viii. 22.
2. St. Epiph. haer. 73, n. 29.
3. Hom. in St. Melet. t. 2.
4. Theod. l. 4, c. 23, 24. Sozom. l. 6, c. 17.
5. Socr. l. 5, c. 5. Sozom. l. 7, c. 3. Theodoret. l. 5, c. 22.
6. Or. 2. de Imagin.
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