| 177. Melito of Sardis. | ||||
(I.) Euseb. H. E. IV. 13, 26; V. 25. Hieron.: De Vir. ill. 24. The remains Of Melito in Routh, Reliq. acr. I. 113-153; more fully in Otto, Corp. Ap. IX. (1872), 375-478. His second Apology, of doubtful genuineness, in Cureton, Spicilegium Syriacum, Lond. 1835 (Syriac, with an English translation), and in Pitra, Spicil. Solesm. II. (with a Latin translation by Renan, which was revised by Otto, Corp. Ap. vol. IX.); German transl. by Welte in the Tueb. Theol. Quartalschrift for 1862. | ||||
(II) Piper in the Studien und Kritiken for 1838, p. 54 154. Uhlhorn in Zeitschrift fuer Hist. Theol. 1866. Donaldson, III. 221-239 Steitz in Herzog2 IX. 537-539. Lightfoot in Contemp. Review, Febr. 1876. Harnack, Texte, etc., I. 240-278. Salmon in Smith and Wace III. 894-900. Renan, Marc-Aurele, 172 sqq. (Comp. also the short notice in L' glise chret., p. 436). | ||||
Melito, bishop of Sardis,1 the capital of Lydia, was a shining light among the churches of Asia Minor in the third quarter of the second century. Polycrates of Ephesus, in his epistle to bishop Victor of Rome (d. 195), calls him a eunuch who, in his whole conduct, was full of the Holy Ghost, and sleeps in Sardis awaiting the episcopate from heaven (or visitation, ,) on the day of the resurrection. The term eunuch no doubt refers to voluntary celibacy for the kingdom of God (Matt. 19:12).. He was also esteemed as a prophet. He wrote a book on prophecy, probably against the pseudo-prophecy of the Montanists; but his relation to Montanism is not clear. He took an active part in the paschal and other controversies which agitated the churches of Asia Minor. He was among the chief supporters of the Quartadeciman practice which was afterwards condemned as schismatic and heretical. This may be a reason why his writings fell into oblivion. Otherwise he was quite orthodox according to the standard of his age, and a strong believer in the divinity of Christ, as is evident from one of the Syrian fragments (see below). | ||||
Melito was a man of brilliant mind and a most prolific author. Tertullian speaks of his elegant and eloquent genius. Eusebius enumerates no less than eighteen or twenty works from his pen, covering a great variety of topics, but known to us now only by name. He gives three valuable extracts. There must have been an uncommon literary fertility in Asia Minor after the middle of the second century. The Apology of Melito was addressed to Marcus Aurelius, and written probably at the outbreak of the violent persecutions in 177, which, however, were of a local or provincial character, and not sanctioned by the general government. He remarks that Nero and Domitian were the only imperial persecutors, and expresses the hope that, Aurelius, if properly informed, would interfere in behalf of the innocent Christians. In a passage preserved in the Paschal Chronicle he says: We are not worshipers of senseless stones, but adore one only God, who is before all and over all, and His Christ truly God the Word before all ages. | ||||
A Syriac Apology bearing his name1 was discovered by Tattam, with other Syrian MSS. in the convents of the Nitrian desert (1843), and published by Cureton and Pitra (1855). But it contains none of the passages quoted by Eusebius, and is more an attack upon idolatry than a defense of Christianity, but may nevertheless be a work of Melito under an erroneous title. | ||||
To Melito we owe the first Christian list of the Hebrew Scriptures. It agrees with the Jewish and the Protestant canon, and omits the Apocrypha. The books of Esther and Nehemiah are also omitted, but may be included in Esdras. The expressions the Old Books, the Books of the Old Covenant, imply that the church at that time had a canon of the New Covenant. Melito made a visit to Palestine to seek information on the Jewish canon. | ||||
He wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse, and a Key ( ), probably to the Scriptures. | ||||
The loss of this and of his books on the Church and on the Lord's Day are perhaps to be regretted most. | ||||
Among the Syriac fragments of Melito published by Cureton is one from a work On Faith, which contains a remarkable christological creed, an eloquent expansion of the Regula Fidei.1 The Lord Jesus Christ is acknowledged as the perfect Reason, the Word of God; who was begotten before the light; who was Creator with the Father; who was the Fashioner of man; who was all things in all; Patriarch among the patriarchs, Law in the law, Chief Priest among the priests, King among the kings, Prophet among the prophets, Archangel among the angels; He piloted Noah, conducted Abraham, was bound with Isaac, exiled with Jacob, was Captain with Moses; He foretold his own sufferings in David and the prophets; He was incarnate in the Virgin; worshipped by the Magi; He healed the lame, gave sight to the blind, was rejected by the people, condemned by Pilate, hanged upon the tree, buried in the earth, rose from the dead and appeared to the apostles, ascended to heaven; He is the Rest of the departed, the Recoverer of the lost, the Light of the blind, the Refuge of the afflicted, the Bridegroom of the Church, the Charioteer of the cherubim, the Captain of angels; God who is of God, the Son of the Father, the King for ever and ever. | ||||