Discourses and Fragments of Melito

Saint Melito of Sardis · c. 170 AD

Ante-Nicene Fathers (Roberts–Donaldson), Roberts, Donaldson, and Coxe (eds.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1885–1887; digitized by CCEL.

Bishop of Sardis in Asia Minor, called by Eusebius a prophet and one of the lights of Asia. His paschal homily (Peri Pascha) is the foundational pre-Nicene treatment of Christ as the Passover Lamb and the typological reading of the Exodus. (The full text of Peri Pascha was lost in antiquity and only rediscovered in 1936; the public-domain ANF edition preserves only the fragments known in the 19th century.)

Contents

1. Introduction.
2. A Discourse Which Was in the Presence of Antoninus Cæsar, and He Exhorted The Said Cæsar to Acquaint Himself with God, and Showed to Him the Way of Truth.
3. From the Discourse on Soul and Body.
4. From the Discourse on the Cross.
5. On Faith.
6. Part V.
7. Part VI.
8. From the Work on the Passover.
9. From the Apology Addressed to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
10. From the Same Apology.
11. From the Book of Extracts.
12. From the Catena on Genesis.
13. Two Scholia on Genesis XXII. 13.
14. On the Nature of Christ.
15. From the Oration on Our Lord's Passion.
16. From 'The Key.'