Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1033

Rh MELETIUS. which is very doubtful, charges hira with hypocrisy. He enjoyed the friendship of Basil and other lead- ing men of the orthodox party. Epiphanius has spoken favourably of him, but Jerome is less fa- vourai)le, owing, probably, to his connection with Pau'inus. A part of the first sermon preached by Meletiiis at Antioch has been preserved by Epi- phanius, and is given in the liibliotheca Patnim of Galland, vol. v. A synodical epistle to the emperor Jovian, given by Socrates {H. E. iii. 25), and So- zonien {H. K. vi. 4), and reprinted in the Concilia^ vol. i. col. 741, ed. Hardouin, and in the BMio- theca of Galland, vol. v., may perhaps be ascribed to him. The Greek Church honours his memory on February the 12th, and the Latin Church at last received him into the calendar on the same day. Meletius was succeeded in the see of Antioch by Flavian [Flavianus, No. 1], under whom the Eustathian schism was at length healed, and the suppression of the Arians under Theodosius the Great restored for a v/hile the unity of the see. (Socrates, H. E. ii. 43, 44, iii. 6, 9, iv. 2, v. 3, 5, 9 ; Sozomen, H. E. iv. 25, 28, v. 12, 13, vi. 7, vii. 3, 7. 8, 10 ; Theodoret. H. E. ii. 31, iii. 3, 4, iv. I o 25, V. 3, 8 ; Philostorg. //. E. v. 1,5; Greg. Nvssen. Orat. in Fun. Mektii hahita ; Basil. Eptsto'0£. I Ivi. Ivii. Iviii. lix. Ixiv. cclxxiii. cccxxi. cccxx V. cccxlix. editt. vett., or Ivii. Ixvii. Ixviii. Ixxxix. cxx. cxxix. ccx. ccxiv. cclviii. cclxvi. edit. Benedict. ; Epiph. Haercs. Ixxiii. 28 — 35 ; Hieron. in Ckro- nico ; Concilia, vol. i. p. 731, 741, ed. Hardouin ; Tilleraont, Mtmoires, vol. viii. p. 341, &c. ; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 360, vol. i. p. 223, ed. Oxford, 1740—43; Fabric. Bihl Graec. vol. ix. p. 304; Galland. Biblioth. Patrum. Proleg. ad Vol. V. c. 11; Le Quien, Oriens Christian, vol. i. col. 423, vol. ii. col. 713, &c., 781.) 2. Iatrosophista. [No. 6.] 3. Of LvcopOLis, a schismatical bishop of the third and fourth centuries. There is a remarkable discrepancy in the accounts given of this person. According to Athanasius, whose contests with the Meletians render his testimony less trustworthy, Meletius, who was bishop of Lycopolis in Upper Egypt at the time of the persecution under Diocle- tian and his successors, yielded to fear and sacri- ficed to idols ; and being subsequently deposed, on this and other charges, in a synod, over which Petrus or Peter, bishop of Alexandria, presided, determined to separate from the church, and to constitute with his followers a separate community. Epiphanius, on the other hand, relates that both Peter and Meletius being in confinement for the faith, di tiered concerning the treatment to be used toward those who, after renouncing their Christian profession, became penitent and wished to be re- stored to the communion of the Church. He sUites that Peter, who was willing to receive them, was opposed by Meletius, who was next to Peter in influence, and had, in fact, the larger number of fol- lowers on this question : and the schism which arose on this account he represents as owing rather to the former than to the latter. Although the ecclesiastical historians Socrates and Theodoret have adopted, wholly or partially, the account of Athanasius, the statement of Epiphanius is the more probable. Had Meletius been convicted, as Athanasius states, it is hardly probable that either he would have been able to raise and keep up so fonuidable a schism, or that the Council of Nice MELETIUS. 1019 (which left him the title of bishop, though it de- prived him of the power to ordain) would have dealt so leniently with him. The Council allowed those whom he had ordained to retain the priestly office, on condition of re-ordination, and of their yielding precedence to those whose first ordination liad been regular. The schism begun in prison was continued in the mines of Phaenon, in Arabia Petraea, to which Meletius and others were ba- nished, and after their release. Meletius ordained bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and kept his fol- lowers a distinct body, under the title of " the Church of the Martyrs." He even extended his sect into Palestine, where he visited Jerusalem, Eleutheropolis, and Gaza, and ordained many in those towns to the priesthood. In this state matters remained till the Nicene Council (a. d. 325), the sentence of which has been already mentioned. The synodical letter to the Egyptian clergy, which notifies the sentence, gives no in- formation as to the origin of the schism : it de- scribes, indeed, Meletius as disorderly, hasty, and headstrong ; characteristics more in harmony with the conduct ascribed to him by Epiphanius, than with the charges of Athanasius. There is no dispute that the theological senti- ments of the Meletians were at first what is deemed orthodox ; and, according to Epiphanius, Meletius was the first to detect the heretical teachings of Arius, and to report them to Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, Meletius died very shortly after the Council of Nice, for Alexander, who himself only survived the council about five months, lived long enough to persecute the followers of Meletius after their leader's death, because, deeming Meletius ill- treated, they would not accept the terms of recon- ciliation offered by the Council. The schism con- tinued under the leadership of John Arcaph, whom Meletius had appointed to succeed him [Joannes, No. 16J ; and the Meletians co-operated with the Arians in their hostility to Athanasius [Atha- nasius] ; an alliance more conducive to the grati- fication of their revenge than to the maintenance of their orthodoxy. ( Athanas. ApoL contra J rian. c. 59 ; Epiphan, Haeres. Ixviii. 1 — 5 ; Socrat. H. E. i. 6, 9 ; Sozomen, //. E. i. 24, ii. 21 ; Theo- doret, H. E. i. 9 ; Tillemont, Memoires, vol. v. p. 453, &c. ; Le Quien, Oriens Christian, vol. ii. coL 598.) 4. Of Melitene. [No. 1.] 5. Medicus. [See below.] 6. Monachus, the Monk. [See below.] 7. Of MoPSUESTiA, an ardent supporter of the unfortunate Nestorius [Nestorius], of Constanti- nople. He succeeded the celebrated Theodore as bishop of Mopsuestia, in Cilicia [Theodorus Mop- suestenus], probably in or about A. d, 427. He supported John, patriarch of Antioch [Joannes, No. 9], in his opposition to the hasty and unjust deposition of Nestorius by Cyril of Alexandria and his party [Cvrillus, St. of Alexandria], in the third general (Ephesian) council, a. d. 431 : and when John was induced to come to terms with Cyril and to join in condemning Nestorius, Mele- tius persisted in supporting the cause of the deposed patriarch, and refused to hold communion with either Cyril or John, denouncing such communion as diabolical ; and when the latter sent a con- ciliatory letter to him, he threw it in the mes- senger's face. Being forcibly expelled from his see by the emperor Theodosius II., at the desire of