Melito of Sardis
(Late 3rd of 2nd Century)

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Synopsis

MELITO OF SARDES (Sardis), the only bishop of that place mentioned in the literary monuments of the first three centuries, flourished in the middle of the second century, and acquired great fame by his activity in the church and in literature. Of his numerous works, only fragments have come down to us, collected by Routh, in his Reliquiae Sacrae, i.; but both Eusebius and Jerome have given complete lists of them. Besides the celebrated Apology of Christianity as the true philosophy, which he dedicated to Marcus Aurelius, and of which fragments have been preserved by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., iv. 26), there is ascribed to him another apology, of which a Syrian translation was discovered by Tattam in a monastery in the Nitrian desert, and edited by Cureton, in Spicil Syr. and by Pitra-Renan, in Spicil. Solesmense; but its authorship is very doubtful. In the introduction to his commentaries he has given the first Christian list of the canon of the Old Testament: he excludes the Books of Esther and Nehemiah, and the Apocrypha. The curious notice by Origen, that he ascribed corporality to God, and found the likeness of God in the human body, is, on account of its brevity, very difficult to explain. Perhaps he, like Tertullian, considered corporality and substantiality as identical ideas, a view which might arise very naturally as an opposition to the spiritualistic vagueness of the Gnostics. Many works have been falsely ascribed to him, as, for instance, the Clavis Melitonis, edited by Cardinal Pitra, in the Spicil. Solesmense, ii. and iii. It probably belongs to the latter part of the eleventh century. A sect of Melitonians is probably a later fiction. [For an excellent study of Melito and his writings, see HARNACK: Texte u. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchrist. Lit., Bnd i. (Leipzig, 1882), pp. 240-278.]

Steitz, "MELITO OF SARDES," Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol. 3. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. p.1464.

Bibliographies

T.P. Halton & R.D. Sider, "A Decade of Patristic Scholarship 1970-1979," The Classical World, Vol. 76 (1982-1983): 125-127.

Primary Sources

	Eusebius, Church History 4.26.1-14; 5.24.5; 5.28.5; 6.13.9.
	Stuart G. Hall, Melito of Sardis, On Pascha and Fragments. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Hbk. ISBN: 0198268114. pp.150.
	Jerome, Lives of Illustrius Men 24.

Secondary Sources

	C. Bonner, "The Homily on the Passion by Melito, Bishop of Sardis, and some Fragments of the Apocryphal Ezechiel," Verbum Domini 27 (1950): 254 n. 247.
	Henry Chadwick, "A Latin Epitome of Melito's Homily on the Pascha," Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 11 (1960): 76-82.
	Lynn H. Cohick, "Melito of Sardis's Peri Pascha and Its Israel," Harvard Theological Review 91.4 (1998): 351-372.
	Lynn H. Cohick, The Peri Pascha Attributed to Melito of Sardis: Setting, Purpose, and Sources. Brown Judaic Studies, 327. Providence: Brown University, 2000. Hbk. ISBN: 1930675038. pp.187.
	F.L. Cross, The Early Christian Fathers. Studies in Theology 1. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., 1960. Hbk. pp.103-109.
	J. Ligon Duncan, "The Covenant Idea in Melito of Sardis: An Introduction and Survey," Presbyterion 28.1 (2002): 12-33.
	Stuart G. Hall, "The Melito Papyri," Journal of Theological Studies 19.2 (1968): 476-508.
	Stuart G. Hall, "Melito in the Light of the Passover Haggadah," Journal of Theological Studies 22.1 (1971): 29-46.
	Thomas Halton, "The Death of Death in Melito, Peri Pascha," Irish Theological Quarterly 36.3 (1969): 169-173.
	Gerald F. Hawthorne, "Christian Baptism and his Contribution of Melito of Sardis," David E. Aune, ed. Studies in the New Testament and Early Christian Literature: Essays in Honor of Allen P. Wikgren. Leiden: Brill, 1997. Hbk. ISBN: 9004035044. pp.241-251.
	Fragments of Melito of Sardis (Peter Kirby)
	R.A. Kraft, Barnabas' Isaiah Text and Melito's Paschal Homily," Journal of Biblical Literature 80 (1961): 371-373.
	Henry M. Knapp, "Melito's Use of Scripture in Peri Pascha: Second Century Typology," Vigiliae Christianae 54.4 (2000): 343-374.
	A.T. Kraabel, "Melito the Bishop and the Synagogue at Sardis: Text and Context," D.G. Mitten, et al, eds. Studies Presented to George M.A. Haufmann. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1971. pp.77-85
	J.I.H. McDonald, "Some Comments on the Form of Melito's Paschal Homily," Studia Patristica 12 (1975): 104-12.
	Andrew Michael Manis, "Melito of Sardis: Hermeneutic and Context," Greek Orthodox Theological Review 32.4 (1987): 387-401.
	F.W. Norris, "Melito's Motivation," Anglican Theological Review, Vol. 68 (1986): 16-24.
	David Ivan Rankin, From Clement to Origen. The Social and Historical Context of the Church Fathers. London: Routledge, 2016. ISBN: 9781317132424. pp.182. [Sign-up to Perlego and access book instantly]
	Alistair Stewart Sykes, "Melito's Anti-Judaism," Journal of Early Christian Studies 5.2 (1997): 271-283.
	Thomas Forsyth Torrance, "Dramatic Proclamation of the Gospel: Homily on the Passion by Melito of Sardis," Greek Orthodox Theological Review 37.1-4 (1992): 147-163.
	B.G. Tsakonas, "The Usage of the Scriptures in the Homily of Melito of Sardis on the Passion," Theol (A) 38 (1967): 609-20.
	E. Werner, "Melito of Sardes, the First Poet of Deicide," Hebrew Union College Annual, Vol. 37 (1966): 191-210.
	Albert Wifstrand, "The homily of Melito on the Passion," Vigiliae christianae 2.4 (Oct. 1948): 201-223.
	Richard C. White, "Melito of Sardis: Earliest Christian Orator?" Lexington Theological Quarterly 2.3 (1967): 82-91.
	Richard C. White, "Melito of Sardis - An Ancient Worthy Reappears," Lexington Theological Quarterly 14.1 (1979): 6-18.
	Robert L. Wilken, "Melito, the Jewish Community in Sardis, and the Sacrifice of Isaac," Theological Studies, 37.1 (1976): 53-69.
	D.F. Winslow, "The Polemical Christology of Melito," Studia Patristica 17 (1982): 765-76.