| Melito of Sardis | |
|---|---|
| Apologist and Bishop of Sardis | |
| Died | 180 |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church |
| Canonized | Pre-congregation |
| Feast | 1 April |
Melito of Sardis (died c. 180 C.E.) was the bishop of Sardis near Smyrna in western Anatolia, and a great authority in Early Christianity: Jerome, speaking of the Old Testament canon established by Melito, quotes Tertullian to the effect that he was esteemed a prophet by many of the faithful. His feast is celebrated on April 1.
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Melito was a prolific early Christian writer, judging from lists of his works preserved by Eusebius and Jerome. Aside from a homily Peri Pascha (On the Passover) in the Bodmer Papyri, only fragments of his works survive.
About 161 Melitus wrote a celebrated apology for Christianity which he sent to Marcus Aurelius,[1] begging him "not overlook us in the midst of such lawless plundering by the mob."
Melito was a Quartodeciman (Fourteenther)[2], observing Easter on the Jewish Passover date of 14 Nisan, as did Polycrates of Ephesus et al., writing On the Passover[3] and other works, which were destroyed after Easter observance was fixed on Sunday and they were declared heretics.
Around 170 after traveling to Palestine, and probably visiting the library at Caesarea Maritima, Melito compiled the earliest known Christian canon of the Old Testament, a term he coined. A passage cited by Eusebius contains Melito's famous canon of the Old Testament. Melito presented elaborate parallels between the Old Testament or Old Covenant, which he likened to the form or mold, and the New Testament or New Covenant, which he likened to the truth that broke the mold, in a series of Eklogai, six books of extracts from the Law and the Prophets presaging Christ and the Christian faith.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Melito was a Chiliast, and believed in a Millennial reign of Christ on Earth, and followed Irenaeus in his views. Jerome [Comm. on Ezek. 36 ] and Gennadius [De Dogm. Eccl., Ch. 52] both affirm that he was a decided millennarian.
Melito wrote against idolatry, or relying on teachings of Church fathers to condone it (Melito's Apology addressed to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus).
Origen, in a brief note, relates that Melito ascribed corporeality to God, and believed that the likeness of God is preserved in the human body. The note is too brief to tell exactly what Melito might have meant by this.
A letter of Polycrates of Ephesus to Pope Victor I written in about 194, mentioned by Eusebius, (H.E. 5.24) states that "Melito the eunuch" was interred at Sardis.
Melito's reputation as a writer remained strong into the Middle Ages: numerous works were pseudepigraphically ascribed to him.