Meletius of Galesios

Holy Venerable Meletius of Galesios, also called the Confessor, was a Byzantine monk of the thirteenth century, an ascetic on Mount Galesios near Ephesus, who opposed the union with Rome imposed by the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and wrote against the Latins.

According to a Greek synaxarion, he was born in 1206 at Theodotos in Pontus, named Michael, to parents George and Maria; his father was a soldier. From childhood he loved the monastic life. Leaving the world, he became a monk on Mount Sinai, then visited the Holy Places, Egypt and monasteries of Damascus, and finally settled at the Monastery of Saint Lazarus on Mount Galesios in Asia Minor, where he spent his life in asceticism, prayer and fasting.

After 1261 he came to Constantinople and practised asceticism on the mount of Auxentios. At the same time he went through the towns and villages strengthening Christians in the Orthodox faith. He belonged to the party opposed to union, on the side of the future Patriarch George of Cyprus (1283-1289), and fought against the unionist acts of the Emperor Michael Palaiologos at the Council of Lyons (1274). Between 1271 and 1274 he founded, on a small island off the place called Akritas, a monastery dedicated to the holy Apostle Andrew the First-⁠called.

The emperor exiled him to the island of Skyros, together with the monk Galaction of Galesios, and after a few years he returned to Constantinople. Patriarch Joseph wished to ordain him a priest, but the saint refused. He wrote much against the Latins and suffered greatly for the Orthodox faith, which is why he is called Confessor. His most important work is the "Alphabetalphabetos", a poem of about 13,000 verses with theological reflections; he also wrote on the teaching of the Holy Trinity.

He fell asleep in peace in 1283, according to the Greek source (other sources give 1286), at the age of 77, and was buried at the Monastery of Saint Lazarus. He is commemorated on 19 January.