Meletius of Antioch Our father among the saints Meletius of
Antioch (Greek: Μελέτιος) was the Orthodox bishop of Antioch
from 361 until his death in 381. His staunch support of the
Orthodox Nicene faction of the church led to his exile three
times under Arian emperors. One of his last acts was to preside
over the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. His feast day is
February 12. Meletius was born at Melitene in Lesser Armenia, an
area now part of northeast Turkey, of wealthy and noble parents.
Meletius apparently began an ascetic life in his youth. He was
the bishop of Sebaste, the capital of Armenia Prima, from about
358, but he did not remain there very long as his predecessor
who had been deposed, Eustathius of Sebaste, had been a strong
Nicene advocate and very popular. Through the years following
the Council at Nicea, the Church of Antioch was rented by
disputes between and among the various sects of the Arians and
the Orthodox with the see often controlled by Arians. In 360,
when Eudoxius, an Arian, became