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.
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T.P. Halton & R.D. Sider, "A Decade
of Patristic Scholarship 1970-1979," The Classical World, Vol. 76
(1982-1983): 125-127. |
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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. |
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Henry Chadwick, "A Latin Epitome of
Melito's Homily on the Pascha," Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 11
(1960): 76-82. |
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Lynn H. Cohick, "Melito of Sardis's
Peri Pascha and Its Israel," Harvard Theological Review 91.4 (1998):
351-372. |
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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. {Amazon.com} |
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F.L. Cross, The Early Christian
Fathers. Studies in Theology 1. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.,
1960. Hbk. pp.103-109. |
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J. Ligon Duncan, "The Covenant Idea in
Melito of Sardis: An Introduction and Survey," Presbyterion 28.1 (2002):
12-33. |
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Stuart G. Hall, "The Melito Papyri,"
Journal of Theological Studies 19.2 (1968): 476-508. |
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Stuart G. Hall, "Melito in the Light of
the Passover Haggadah," Journal of Theological Studies 22.1 (1971):
29-46. |
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Thomas Halton, "The Death of Death in
Melito, Peri Pascha," Irish Theological Quarterly 36.3 (1969):
169-173. |
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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. {Amazon.com} |
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Fragments
of Melito of Sardis (Peter Kirby) |
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R.A. Kraft, Barnabas' Isaiah Text and
Melito's Paschal Homily," Journal of Biblical Literature 80 (1961):
371-373. |
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Henry M. Knapp, "Melito's Use of
Scripture in Peri Pascha: Second Century Typology," Vigiliae Christianae
54.4 (2000): 343-374. |
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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 |
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J.I.H. McDonald, "Some Comments on the
Form of Melito's Paschal Homily," Studia Patristica 12 (1975):
104-12. |
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Andrew Michael Manis, "Melito of
Sardis: Hermeneutic and Context," Greek Orthodox Theological Review 32.4
(1987): 387-401. |
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F.W. Norris, "Melito's Motivation,"
Anglican Theological Review, Vol. 68 (1986): 16-24. |
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Alistair Stewart Sykes, "Melito's
Anti-Judaism," Journal of Early Christian Studies 5.2 (1997):
271-283. |
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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. |
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B.G. Tsakonas, "The Usage of the
Scriptures in the Homily of Melito of Sardis on the Passion," Theol (A)
38 (1967): 609-20. |
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E. Werner, "Melito of Sardes, the First
Poet of Deicide," Hebrew Union College Annual, Vol. 37 (1966):
191-210. |
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Richard C. White, "Melito of Sardis:
Earliest Christian Orator?" Lexington Theological Quarterly 2.3 (1967):
82-91. |
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Richard C. White, "Melito of Sardis -
An Ancient Worthy Reappears," Lexington Theological Quarterly 14.1
(1979): 6-18. |
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Robert L. Wilken, "Melito, the Jewish
Community in Sardis, and the Sacrifice of Isaac," Theological Studies,
37.1 (1976): 53-69. |
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D.F. Winslow, "The Polemical
Christology of Melito," Studia Patristica 17 (1982): 765-76. |
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Alexander of 
