Meletius the New

Venerable Meletius the New, also called Meletius of Myoupolis, lived the ascetic life in Greece, near Thebes, in the eleventh century, in the time of the emperor Alexios Komnenos. The Azbyka page reproduces his Life written by Bishop Nicholas of Methone and notes that his name is not found in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Childhood and calling

Meletius was born in Cappadocia, in the village of Mutalaska, the place from which Saint Sabbas the Sanctified had also come. His parents, John and Sophia, were pious people. He was a child slow at learning, but he found a way full of faith: he hid beneath the Holy Table while the priest celebrated the Liturgy and touched its cover with his head, as the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of the Lord's garment. From that day he learned by heart, in a single lesson, the second song of Moses.

At fifteen his parents began to prepare a marriage and to look for a bride, but Meletius resolved to give himself wholly to Christ. He left home, kinsfolk, property and country and, taking the cross as his only provision, set out for Constantinople. There he entered a monastery suited to silence, which had once been the dwelling of Saint John Chrysostom, and put himself under the abbot. After nearly three years he received the monastic habit, and his zeal and progress soon surpassed many who had come before him.

At Saint George near Thebes

Wishing to withdraw still further, Meletius left the city, came to Thessalonica and venerated the tomb of Saint Demetrius. He wished to reach Rome and Jerusalem, but as soon as he left Thessalonica a young man resembling a eunuch appeared to him and told him to put off the journey to Rome and to go first to the great martyr George, near Thebes. He obeyed and found a chapel of Saint George twenty stades from Thebes, where he settled.

The radiance of his virtues could not remain hidden. Many drew near and became monks, and the chapel soon became a monastery. He then went to Rome, travelled to Jerusalem and came back to his monastery. He was the first at work and the last to return, wore the same coarse robe and the same pair of sandals, which he mended. He carried heavy stones for the buildings and worked the gardens with his own hands. At the common table he ate little, setting wine in measure and one cooked dish with oil for the brethren, and taking for himself no more than would keep him from seeming to fast.

Trials and the gift of foresight

The devil sent him a grave illness in his legs. Boils appeared, then open sores in which worms bred, and he put them back if they fell out, counting them as pearls. Once a physician came to the monastery; Meletius did not speak to him of his illness but told him to set his house in order, because in three days he would no longer be alive, and so it happened. When the priest Mark, his disciple who used to say the blessing at the meal, died, one brother said through tears that Mark should be allowed to say the verse. The Father turned to the dead man and said, "Bless, my son Mark." The dead man opened his eyes, made the sign of the cross, said the verse and lay back as before.

A disciple, Nicodemus, was ordained a priest in secret by the bishop of Thebes, without the Father's knowledge. In a time of drought Meletius prayed with the people and rain came. When Nicodemus appeared in priestly vestments, the Father had him take them off and enter a pit. The crowd pulled him out and vested him again, and by the church of the Prophet Elijah at the entrance to the city lightning struck him. Two other monks, Stephen and Theodosius, slandered him and denounced him to the emperor. Theodosius went mad and died barking, and Stephen fell ill and died eating meat against the rule.

On Mount Myoupolis

In the eighth year after the founding of the monastery, crowds came ceaselessly for healing and counsel, and Meletius withdrew to Mount Myoupolis, leaving twelve monks at Saint George under Nicholas. The abbot Theodosius of the monastery of Symboulon received him and gave him a chapel of the Saviour, which his visitors later raised large and beautiful. Many came, up to a hundred monks, then more, and Meletius made twenty-⁠two paralavras, where the more perfect withdrew into cells, and he helped them in the building himself.

Once a fire broke out in the forest around the monasteries and the monks ran to him. He prayed without words, made the sign of the cross and the fire stopped. He foresaw a great earthquake a day before, naming even the hour, and strengthened his brethren. When the monks asked how the monasteries would be supported after his death, he told them not to be anxious, since God feeds the birds, and that if he found boldness before God they would never lack what they needed. Thirty-⁠six years after his death nearly three hundred monks were living there, without land or gain, and were not in want.

Wonders and foresight

A hare was spoiling the vegetables in the garden. The Father struck it with a small pebble and spoke to it, and the hare left in shame and the garden stayed untouched. To another monk, also called Nicodemus, who wanted to withdraw, he said that he would be moved before Pascha, and he fell asleep in Cheese Week. The abbot Theodosius of Constantinople, who came in a decorated robe and with thoughts of despair, he read as an open book, comforted him and foretold what he would find in the imperial city. To the emperor Alexios, at Anchialos, near a battle with the Cumans, he spoke from afar, making the sign of the cross, and the Cumans fell out among themselves and scattered. To John Doukas, sent against the tyrant Karykes of Crete, he said not to sail; Karykes died, and Doukas took the island without a fight. He saved the Kastamonites from the sword of a servant who meant to kill him. When the monasteries' oil ran low in a hard winter he blessed it, and it lasted many days; afterwards benefactors gave the monasteries a year's supply of oil. He sweetened a bitter pumpkin, strengthened those who came with blasphemous thoughts, and healed a servant of the praetor Constantine Hirosphaktes and a horse felled by a spasm, and, casting out the unclean spirit, the monk Jacob and a layman Theodosius.

Repose and relics

He fell asleep in peace at about seventy years of age. His relics are kept in the church of the Bodiless Powers, like a treasure from which, says the Life, grace flows. After his death the monk Jacob, paralysed from youth, was brought to the tomb and rose healthy, and Bardas of Thebes, ill with leprosy, was healed after seeing him in a dream. He is commemorated on 14 September, in the new style.