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Meletius I Pegas

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Meletius I Pegas
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
ChurchChurch of Constantinople
Installed30 March 1597
Term endedMarch 1598
PredecessorTheophanes I of Constantinople
SuccessorMatthew II of Constantinople
Other post(s)Locum tenens (1596 – 1597) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Personal details
Born1549
Died12 September 1601
Alexandria, Ottoman Egypt
Sainthood
Venerated inEastern Orthodox Church

Meletius I Pegas (Greek: Μελέτιος Πηγᾶς; 1549 – 12 September 1601) served as Greek Patriarch of Alexandria between 1590 and 1601. Simultaneously from 1597 to 1598 he served also as locum tenens of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. He is honoured as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church,[1] with his feast day held on 13 September.[2][3]

Life

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Meletius was born in Candia (Heraklion) in the island of Crete, at the time capital of the Republic of Venice Kingdom of Candia in 1549,[4] and he studied classical philology, philosophy and medicine in Padua. He became protosyncellus of the Patriarch of Alexandria Silvester, at whose death he succeeded on 5 August 1590.[5]

Even if he supported the doctrine of transubstantiation, he was a fierce opponent of the Catholic Church and worked for the reunion of the Greek Church with the Coptic Church. In 1593, he participated in a synod in Constantinople which confirmed the establishment of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'.[1]

Without resigning as Patriarch of Alexandria, he served as locum tenens of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople between December 1596 and February 1597, and Patriarch of Constantinople from 30 March 1597 to March 1598, when he resigned to go on dealing only with his Egyptian see.[4]

He died in Alexandria on 12 September 1601.[4]

Notes and references

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  1. ^ a b "Meletios Pigas (1590–1601)". Official web site of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  2. ^ Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Μέλετος Πηγᾶς, 13 Σεπτεμβρίου, ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  3. ^ (in Greek) Άγιος Μελέτιος Πηγάς, Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής.
  4. ^ a b c Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate. Wildside Press. pp. 38, 46. ISBN 978-1-4344-5876-6.
  5. ^ "Μελέτιος Α´ ὁ Πηγᾶς". Ecumenical Patriarchate. Retrieved 7 September 2011. (in Greek)
Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
1597 – 1598
Succeeded by