ST MELAS, BISHOP OF RHINOCOLURA - 16 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 16th of January

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST MELAS, BISHOP OF RHINOCOLURA 

Saint Melas (Melones, Melantius) was bishop of Rhinocolura (Rhinocorura) in Egypt (near the Syrian border, approximately at the location of today's El Arish, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and often also counted as part of Syria). 

HE PROBABLY WAS ORDAINED BY ST ATHANASIUS

Under Emperor Valens (376-379), i.e. at the end of the fourth century, he lived and fought for the faith in the spirit of his patriarch, St Athanasius, from whom he probably had received holy orders. 

IN DEFENCE OF THE HOLY TRINITY

A zealous defender of the decrees of the Council of Nicaea, and especially of the equal nature of the Son of God with the Father, he earned the hatred of the Arians, and was expelled from his seat.

HE WAS KIDNAPPED

He was kidnapped, and when the captors asked him where the bishop was, he did not identify himself straight away, but offered to take them to him. Arriving at his house, he treated them hospitably by serving them at table. Only at the end of the meal, after he had given them the customary water to wash the hands, did he reveal himself as bishop. 

THEY OFFERED HIM THE OPPORTUNITY TO ESCAPE

Amazed at this greatness of mind, they offered him the opportunity to escape. But he did not accept the offer, but replied instead that he would be very willing to share in the sufferings of his fellow bishops. 

HIS RETURN

The historian Sozomen adds that his brother Solon succeeded him in the episcopal office. The place of his exile is unknown. After the death of Emperor Valens in 377, he returned to his home town and, at the beginning of the fifth century, died happily in the Lord.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)