Melitians
Early Christian denomination / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Church of the Martyrs" redirects here. For other uses, see Church of the Martyrs (disambiguation).
"Melitian" redirects here. For the breed of dog, see Maltese dog.
"Melitian schism" redirects here. For the schism in the church of Antioch, see Meletian schism.
The Melitians,[lower-alpha 1] sometimes called the Church of the Martyrs,[lower-alpha 2] were an early Christian sect in Egypt. It was founded soon after the end of the Great Persecution (313) by Bishop Melitius of Lycopolis. It survived as a small group into the eighth century. The point on which they broke with the larger church was the same as that of the contemporary Donatists in the province of Africa: the ease with which lapsed Christians were received. The resultant division in the church of Egypt is known as the Melitian Schism,[lower-alpha 3] to be distinguished from the Meletian Schism later that same century.