Melito of Sardis

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Melito of Sardis

Saint Melito of Sardis (died c.180) was the bishop of Sardis

See of Sardis

The See of Sardis was an episcopal see in Sardis. It was one of the Seven churches of Asia, held by metropolitan bishops since the middle to late 1st century, with jurisdiction over the province of Lydia ....
, near Smyrna

Smyrna

Smyrna is an ancient city in Izmir in Turkey. Located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean Sea coast of Anatolia and aided by its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence before the Classical Era....
in Asia Minor, and a great authority: Jerome

Jerome

Saint Jerome was a Christian priest and Christian apologetics best known for translating the Vulgate. He is recognized by the Catholic Church as a canonized saint and Doctor of the Church, and his version of the Bible is still an important text in Catholicism....
, speaking of the Old Testament

Old Testament

In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christianity Bible Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions....
canon

Biblical canon

A Biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list or set of Bible books considered to be authoritative as scripture by a particular religious community, generally in Judaism or Christianity....
established by Melito, quotes Tertullian

Tertullian

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature....
to the effect that he was esteemed a prophet by many of the faithful. His feast is celebrated on April 1.

Aside from a homily

Homily

A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In the Catholic Churches, the Anglican Communion, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word....
Peri Pascha (On the Passover
Passover

Passover is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating God sparing the Israelites when He killed the first born of Egypt, and is followed by the seven day Feast of the Unleavened Bread commemorating the Exodus from Ancient Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from Judaism and slavery....
) in the Bodmer Papyri

Bodmer Papyri

The Bodmer Papyri are a group of twenty-two papyri discovered in Egypt in 1952. They are named after Martin Bodmer who purchased them. The papyri contain segments from the Old and New Testaments, early Christian literature, Homer and Menander....
, only fragments of his works survive. Melito was a prolific early Christian writer, judging from lists of them preserved by Eusebius and Jerome

Jerome

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Encyclopedia

Saint Melito of Sardis (died c.180) was the bishop of Sardis

See of Sardis

Smyrna

Jerome

Old Testament

Biblical canon

Tertullian

Homily

Bodmer Papyri

Jerome

Apology

An apology is a justification or defense of an act or idea, from the Greek apologia . An apology can also be an expression of contrition and remorse for something done wrong....
for Christianity which he sent to Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important stoicism philosophy....
.

Melito provides us with what is probably the earliest known Christian canon of the Old Testament (accounting for the uncertainty with regards to the precise date of the Muratorian fragment

Muratorian fragment

The Muratorian fragment is a copy of perhaps the oldest known list of the books of the New Testament. The fragment is a seventh-century Latin manuscript bound in an eighth or seventh century codex that came from the library of Columban's monastery at Bobbio; it contains internal cues which suggest that the original was written about 170 , alt...
). The Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English language encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia Press....
states that "Melito's Canon consists exclusively of the protocanonicals minus Esther

Book of Esther

The Book of Esther is one of the books of the Ketuvim of the Tanakh and of the Historical Books of the Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim....
". However, Melito includes Wisdom

Book of Wisdom

Book of Wisdom or Wisdom of Solomon or simply Wisdom is one of the deuterocanonical books of the Bible. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books of the Septuagint Old Testament, which includes Book of Job, Psalms, Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon , and Ecclesiasticus ....
, which is part of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Deuterocanon.

Melito's Peri Pascha ("Concerning the Passover") is a text that was assembled from surviving fragments in the 1930s, and translated into English in the 1940s. Prior to the recovery of the full text less the opening folio among the Bodmer Papyri the order in which the fragments had been assembled was a possible reconstruction. It is clear from Eusebius that Melito celebrates Passover on the fourteenth of Nisan, rather than the Sunday following, hence he was a Quartodeciman.

In this homily, Melito formulated the charge of deicide

Deicide

The responsibility for the Death and resurrection of Jesus has, in Christianity, both historical and theological aspects. In addition, the deicide charge against Jews is among the cornerstones of antisemitism....
, namely that Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus

Crucifixion of Jesus

The crucifixion of Jesus is an event described in all four gospels which takes place immediately after Arrest of Jesus and Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus....
. He proclaimed that "God has been murdered; the king of Israel has been slain by an Israelite hand." His preaching would later inspire pogrom

Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of riot directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious, or other, and characterized by the killing and destruction of their homes, businesses, and religious centers....
s against the Jews. Other scholars have questioned this conclusion, and do not consider that Melito encouraged any form of anti-semitism, especially since he advocated Quartodeciman beliefs.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia Melito believed in a Millennial reign

Millennialism

This article covers all forms of Christian and non-Christian Millennialism. You may be looking for the specific articles on Christian Premillennialism, Amillennialism or Postmillenialism....
of Christ on Earth. He wrote against idolatry or relying on teachings of fathers to condone it (Melito's Apology addressed to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus). He presented elaborated parallels between the Old Testament, the form or mold, and the New Testament, as 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; a passage cited by Eusebius contains Melito's famous canon of the Old Testament.

Origen

Origen

Origen was an Early Christianity scholar, theology, and one of the most distinguished of the early Church father of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Ancient Egypt who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had taught....
, in a brief note, relates that Melito ascribed corporeality to God

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
, 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

Polycrates of Ephesus

Polycrates of Ephesus was an early Christian leader who resided in Ephesus. He should not be confused with Polycrates of Samos.Roberts and Donaldson noted that Polycrates "belonged to a family in which he was the eighth Christian bishop; and he presided over the church of Ephesus, in which the traditions of St....
to Pope Victor I

Pope Victor I

Pope Saint Victor I was a Pope from 189 to 199 .Victor I was the first bishop of Rome born in the Roman Province of Africa . He was later canonization....
about 194, mentioned by Eusebius

Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima c 314. He is often referred to as the Father of Church History because of his work in recording the history of the early Christianity church, especially Chronicon and Church_History_....
, (H.E. 5.24) states that "Melito the eunuch

Eunuch

A eunuch is a castrated man, in particular one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past....
" was interred at Sardis.

Melito's reputation as a writer remained strong into the Middle Ages: numerous works were pseudepigraphically ascribed

Pseudepigraphy

Pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded; a work, simply, "whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past." For instance, no Hebrew scholars would ascribe the Book of Enoch to Enoch , a character mentioned in Generations of Adam....
to him.

External links

Melito of Sardis
from Kerux: The Journal of Northwest Theological Seminary
Kerux: The Journal of Northwest Theological Seminary

Kerux: The Journal of Northwest Theological Seminary is the List of theological journals published by Northwest Theological Seminary. This journal prints biblical-theological material in the Reformed/Calvinistic tradition....
(Binitarianian perspective)