Description
St. Meletios the New, or the Younger, was born in Cappadocia in about a.d. 1035, and later became a monk in Constantinople. Inspired by God, he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and then to Rome, finally settling near Thebes in a small monastic brotherhood. For 28 years he struggled there in piety, constantly repenting with tears, and living in extreme poverty, simplicity, and ascetic struggles against sleep and bodily comforts.
To escape the honor of others who began to be attracted to him for his exalted monastic life, St. Meletios moved again, this time to the Monastery of the Bodiless Powers by Myoupolis at Mt. Kithaeron near Athens. Soon a larger monastic community grew around him, and by God’s Providence, the Patriarch of Constantinople ordered that he be ordained a priest against his will, and made him their monastic superior. Scorning offered wealth from the Byzantine Emperor Alexander Comnenus, he only took a small amount to meet his monastics’ real needs, but thankfully prayed for the emperor for years. St. Meletios was a miracle-worker, a healer, a clairvoyant, and a prophet, dying at 70 in a.d. 1105.