1Four imprisoned Egyptian bishops rebuke Meletius for ordaining clergy in parishes not his own, against the ancient law, the honour of their bishop Peter, and Paul's warning to Timothy, while they and Peter suffered persecution.
2An anonymous narrative: Meletius ignored the letter, entered Alexandria after the bishops' martyrdom, and with the help of Isidore and Arius set aside Peter's presbyters and ordained his own, so that Peter wrote to the people.
3Peter of Alexandria warns his people not to hold communion with Meletius, who has invaded his see and ordained clergy, until the matter is examined.
About this work
Author
Anonymous
Attribution
authentic · Documents of the Meletian schism at Alexandria (ca. 306): the letter of four imprisoned Egyptian bishops (Hesychius, Pachomius, Theodorus, Phileas) to Meletius of Lycopolis, a connecting narrative by an anonymous compiler, and Peter of Alexandria's letter to the people. All survive only in an old Latin version found in the Verona codex (Maffei 1738); the Greek originals are lost.
Standing
Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Anonymous or pseudonymous work read and used in the church of its time.
Date
ca. 306 (probable) · Written during the persecution under Diocletian, before the martyrdom of Phileas (306-307) and of Peter (311).
Written at
Alexandria, Egypt (probable)
Language
Latin
Genre
letter
Reference system
three documents, cited 1-3
SBL abbreviation
Melet. doc.Not yet checked
Text from
Martin Joseph Routh, ed., Reliquiae sacrae, 2nd ed., vol. 4 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1846), 91-94, after Scipione Maffei, Osservazioni letterarie 3 (Verona, 1738) (Printed edition in the public domain)
Critical editions
H. I. Bell, Jews and Christians in Egypt (London, 1924), 38-99 (cited only) (cited, not reproduced)