Today is the feast of our father among the saints Meletius, Archbishop of Antioch, A.D. 360–81, for whom see my blog entry for this day in 2014.
His kontakion is:
‘The apostate Macedonius fled in fear before your spiritual courage, but we your servants run to you to gain your intercession. Father Meletius, converser with the angels and fiery sword of Christ our God, we praise you as a star bringing light to all.’
Macedonius was a semi-Arian who was Partriarch of Constantinople in 342–46 and 351–60. He died c. 364. His followers formed a sect known as the Pneumatomachi, ‘fighters against the Spirit,’ who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This heresy was condemned at the 2nd Œcumenical Council held in Constantinople in 381, over whose opening St Meletius presided, and the words ‘the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets’ were added to the basic ‘we believe in the Holy Spirit’ of the Creed of the 1st Œcumenical Council held at Nicæa.
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