Melito of Sardis

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Melito ( ancient Greek Μελίτων Σάρδεων Melítōn Sárdeōn , died around 180 AD) was bishop in Sardis near Smyrna . The oldest surviving compilation of a canon of the Christian Old Testament has come from him . Melito is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches . His feast day is April 1st .

Life

Details about Melito have only come down to us from Eusebius of Caesarea . As one of the early apologists , he defended Christianity against Emperor Mark Aurel .

Eusebius reports that Melito traveled to the Holy Land to sift through the writings of the Jewish Bible. His compilation of the Old Testament contains only the Hebrew scriptures and is therefore very similar to the Jewish canon of the Tanakh .

In the Easter dispute he was one of an important representative of the Quartodecimans , who demanded a celebration of Easter on Nisan 14 .

Fonts

Melito is assigned a homily for Easter Peri pascha , which has been handed down in three manuscripts. This shows strong anti-Judaism features. The thesis of the murder of God is mentioned for the first time. In the remarks about Israel's exodus from Egypt , his guilt for the death of Jesus is declared a mythological world crime:

“Hear it, all generations of nations, and see it: an unprecedented murder happened in Jerusalem ... he who fastened the universe was nailed to the wood! God is killed, the King of Israel has been eliminated by Israel's right! "

From this he explained the present suffering of the Jews after their dispersion in the Roman Empire .

Editions and translations

  • Melito Sardianus: Sur la pâque et fragments . Published by Othmar Perler, Paris 1966.
  • Melito of Sardis: From the Passover. The oldest Christian Easter sermon . Translated by Josef Blank, Freiburg 1963.

literature

  • Lynn H. Cohick: The peri pascha attributed to Melito of Sardis. Setting, Purpose and Sources . (= Brown Judaic Studies. Volume 327). Providence, Atlanta 2000.
  • Harald Buchinger : Melito, "Israel" and the Bible of both Testaments . In: R. Roukema (Ed.): The Use of "New Testament" Writings in Ancient Christian Anti-Jewish Polemics . ( Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2016
  • Hansjörg on the wall : Easter celebrations in the old church . From the estate, ed. by Reinhard Meßner and WG Schöpf. LIT, Münster 2003. ISBN 3825860485 , pp. 59ff.
  • Andrew MacErlean:  St. Melito . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Robert Appleton Company, New York 1913.

Remarks

  1. ^ Papyrus Chester Beatty XII , Papyrus Bodmer XIII , Papyrus Oxyrhynchos 6000
personal data
SURNAME Melito of Sardis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meliton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Sardis
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century
DATE OF DEATH at 180