St. Meletius of Antioch

Meletius is one of the patient sufferers of the fourth-century Arian crisis. He is chosen to Antioch in circumstances that at first seem to satisfy opposed parties, then almost immediately disappoints the Arians by teaching the faith clearly. From there the life becomes a long endurance of exile, recall, renewed dispute, and the tangled pain of the Antiochene schism. Yet the portrait is never bitter. Meletius is a bishop of gentleness and firmness, widely loved even when his canonical and political situation was costly and confused.

His life closes with the honor of presiding at Constantinople and with the reverence later shown him by men like Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom. What stands out most is his patience. Meletius does not dazzle. He simply keeps the faith through a conflict that might easily have consumed a smaller man.