Melania the Elder

Not to be confused with Macrina the Elder.
Saint

Melania the Elder
Bornca. 350
Spain
Diedbef. 410 or ca. 417
Jerusalem
Venerated inEastern Orthodox Church
Anglican Communion
FeastJune 8

Melania the Elder, Latin Melania Maior (c. 350[1] - before 410[2][1] or c. 417[3]) was a Desert Mother who was an influential figure in the Christian ascetic movement (the Desert Fathers and Mothers) that sprang up in the generation after the Emperor Constantine made Christianity a legal religion of the Roman Empire. She was a contemporary of, and well known to, Abba Macarius and other Desert Fathers in Egypt, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, Paulinus of Nola (her cousin or cousin-in-law; he gives a colorful description of her visit to Nola in his Letters), and Evagrius of Pontus, and she founded two religious communities on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.[4][1] She stands out for the convent she founded for herself and the monastery she established in honour of Rufinus of Aquileia, which belongs to the earliest Christian communities, and because she promoted the asceticism which she, as a follower of Origen, considered indispensable for salvation.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d William Greenwalt: Melania the Elder (c. 350-c. 410), in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, Gale Research Inc., 2002, via Encyclopedia.com
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Augustine was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference dietz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Ferdinand Holböck Married Saints and Blesseds: Through the Centuries 2002 0898708435 Page 85 ..404), who was the son of Saint Melania the Elder, and of Albina, who came from a pagan family and whose father even held a high office as a pagan priest. The high-ranking noble family into which Melania was born possessed enormous..."