Background
Meletius was born in Candia (Heraklion) in the island of Crete, at the time capital of the Venetian Kingdom of Candia in 1549, and he studied classical philology, philosophy and medicine in Padua.
priest Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Meletius was born in Candia (Heraklion) in the island of Crete, at the time capital of the Venetian Kingdom of Candia in 1549, 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. In 1593 he participated in a synod in Constantinople which confirmed the establishment of the Patriarchate of Moscow. He died in Alexandria on 12 September 1601.