The Melitian ‘Church of the Martyrs’ Christian Dissenters in Ancient Egypt

The Melitian Schism ¹ , named after Melitius, a zealot bishop and confessor from Upper Egypt, arose in the course of the year 305/306, ² at the peak of the Great Persecution (303–312). At that stage, the leadership of the Church in Egypt was in the hands of Peter I, bishop of Alexandria, who, as one of the last victims of Maximinus Daia, was martyred on 25 November 311. Melitius had been ordained in 304, after his predecessor’s apostasy and removal, ³ by the man whose irreconcilable opponent he later became. He had his see at Lycopolis, modern Asyut, nowadays still a centre of fervent Christian faith and, concomitantly, of strong Islamic fundamentalism. In 306, he was jailed by the Roman authorities and afterwards, probably in 307 or 308, sent to the copper mines of Palestine, ⁴ from where he would not return before the Edict of Galerius (30 April 311). ⁵