On January 13, the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Melania the Younger of Rome (of Bethlehem, Palestine), who reposed in the Lord in 439.
St. Melania of Rome St. Melania was born in 383 in Rome into a noble aristocratic family. As the only child of her wealthy parents, at the age of fourteen she was married to the eighteen-year-old aristocrat named Pinianus. This happened against the maiden’s will, but her parents convinced their daughter of the need for marriage, as she was to continue their noble lineage and inherit many estates in various countries. But St. Melania wanted to dedicate her life to the Lord. Right after the wedding, the saint suggested to her husband that they live in chastity. Pinianus answered her:
“Let us give our parents an heir and an heiress, and then we will do as you wish.”
First, they had a daughter. St. Melania vowed to dedicate her to God, but soon the baby girl died.
St. Melania only created the appearance of a life of a noble aristocrat. In reality, she lived a different life: She prayed at night, wore a horsehair tunic under her beautiful silk garments, and fasted often.
In 403, their newborn son died immediately after being baptized. St. Melania herself barely survived. Frightened, Pinianus, who loved his wife dearly, told her:
“Let us not delay the decision you made any longer. Let us live in continence, doing good works for the glory of God.”
St. Melania replied:
“By taking our son from us, the Lord Himself is encouraging us to devote ourselves to Him.”
From that moment on, St. Melania’s life changed completely. The former husband and wife, now brother and sister in Christ, wholly gave up themselves to caring for all those in need. St. Melania sewed Pinianus a tunic of coarse cloth to help him mortify the flesh. After all, they were still very young—St. Melania was twenty, and Pinianus was twenty-four.
St. Melania had a grandmother, also named Melania, who was pious and strict. She gave her granddaughter the following advice:
“My children, sell your treasures, and let the money you receive be spent on charity.”
In order to help the sick, prisoners, and wanderers, St. Melania decided to sell her numerous estates, because by that time her father was dead. Before making this decision, she had had a dream that she shared with Pinianus:
“I saw a high wall in my dream last night. It had to be surmounted somehow, and I was overwhelmed by fear, since the wall seemed infinitely long. Finally, I found a narrow passage in one place. Once I had squeezed into it, I found myself in front of a narrow bridge. It led to the Heavenly Kingdom.”
After listening attentively to St. Melania’s words, Pinianus exclaimed:
“I saw the same thing in my dream last night!”
St. Melania and Pinianus resolved to start selling their family estates scattered throughout the Roman Empire: in Britain, Spain, Italy, and Africa. But when selling their beautiful estates surrounded by enormous plots of land and orchards, the young ascetics faced a difficulty—only very rich people could afford to buy such luxurious estates. Help came from the Roman Empress, who began to assist them in the sale of possessions. As a result, St. Melania first of all freed her 8,000 slaves of both sexes, each of whom received from her three gold coins to arrange a new, free life.
And, with the help of trusted people, abundant donations flowed from St. Melania’s hands to all the corners of the empire; new churches and monasteries began to be built, alms were distributed to widows, orphans and beggars, and innocent prisoners were ransomed from confinement. St. Melania, her widowed mother, and Pinianus left Rome and moved first to Sicily, and then to the city of Tagasta (Thagaste) in North Africa, because the Visigoths led by King Alaric attacked Rome in 410 and plundered the city.
St. Melania of Rome In Tagasta, St. Melania fully dedicated her life to the Lord. She lived like a true nun, devoting her time to prayer and fasting. At first, she abstained from food for two days, then for three, and finally, she managed without food five days a week, allowing herself a little food only on Saturdays and Sundays.
Once St. Melania fasted for three days even after Pascha. Albina, her mother, told her:
“Melania, you have refused food, but at least have some oil.”
It was only at her mother’s request that St. Melania consumed some olive oil.
Reading the Bible, the Lives of saints, and the teachings of the Church Fathers became a great joy for St. Melania. The saint read these books in Latin and Greek, and read all of the Holy Scriptures three times a year. She spent her nights in prayer, allowing herself only a short two-hour nap in the late evening. For night prayers, she locked herself in a tiny room, more like a box, where she couldn’t even stand up straight. During the day, St. Melania performed charitable acts and took care of her spiritual children. St. Melania treated people around her with great humility. The young ascetic would mockingly and contemptuously drive away the demon of vanity, who tempted her.
St. Melania’s ascetic life attracted many young maidens to her; they followed her already during her lifetime and participated in prayer vigils with her. Seeing St. Melania’s righteous life, many Jews and pagans became Christians as well.
St. Melania, her mother, and Pinianus spent seven years in North Africa. Then they went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They arrived in Alexandria, where they met with St. Cyril of Alexandria and Elder Nestorius.
In Jerusalem, St. Melania spent all her time at the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord. Only at sunset did she go to Golgotha and stayed there all night long. St. Melania prayed fervently to the Lord. She had a desire to remain in the Holy Land for a long time. And after visiting Egypt and especially the elders of the Nitrian Desert, St. Melania began to live on the Mount of Olives in a tiny house that her mother had built while her daughter had traveled to Egypt. Here, on the Mount of Olives, the saint lived in seclusion from 417 until 431. Her mother, her brother in Christ Pinianus, and a relative named Paula were close to her. St. Melania did not allow herself to chat idly with anyone. Although she was a strict recluse, she nevertheless actively participated in the life of the Church.
The Mount of Olives
In 431, St. Melania’s mother Albina died, and the saint left her seclusion and founded a convent on the Mount of Olives. Soon there were ninety maidens in it. At the same time, Pinianus set up a monastery for monks and became the abbot of thirty brethren. The convent sisters turned to St. Melania and told her:
“Our beloved sister in Christ, be our spiritual mentor and mother of our convent.”
The humble and meek Melania declined, saying:
“You, my sisters, will have another abbess,” and she gave her name, then said, “and I will love you and take care of you.”
And St. Melania helped all the sisters tirelessly, visited and comforted those who were ill, and did the hardest work at the convent.
St. Melania taught her sisters to renounce their will, taught them obedience, to live virtuously, and to take care of their souls. She constantly gave the sisters examples from the Lives of the Holy Fathers, told them about the need to be zealous in spiritual life, about the ability to resist the attacks of the evil one, and instructed them to concentrate their minds in night prayer. St. Melania would tell her sisters:
“Any virtue and any spiritual labor is futile without love. The devil is able to imitate any of the virtues, but the only way to defeat him is through humility and love.”
In 432, Pinianus departed to the Lord. St. Melania buried him next to her mother, near the cave where our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples that Jerusalem would soon be destroyed. The saint built a new windowless cell for herself beside the graves of those closest to her. She spent four years in unceasing prayer there. After that, St. Melania told her disciple who later wrote her biography:
“You must found a monastery on the site of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Her disciple fulfilled his mentor’s request to the letter.
In 436, St. Melania hesitated for a long time as to whether she should go to Constantinople where she had been invited by her uncle, a pagan nobleman named Volusianus. The saint made up her mind to go only because her uncle was ill and she hoped that he would receive Holy Baptism and pass into eternity as a Christian. And so it happened. When St. Melania saw her seriously ill relative, she began to convince him to get baptized. The holy Patriarch Proclus of Constantinople (434–446) helped her in this. In the end Volusianus became a Christian before his death, and St. Melania returned to the convent on the Mount of Olives.
In 437, the Byzantine Empress consort Eudocia arrived in Jerusalem. St. Melania had advised her to go on a pilgrimage during her stay in Constantinople. Eudocia spoke for a long time with St. Melania, whom she highly esteemed and regarded as her spiritual mother. On St. Melania’s advice, the Empress founded new churches and monasteries and contributed to the existing ones in the Holy Land.
The Mount of Olives
St. Melania spoke more and more about her final, burning desire to be with Christ in His Heavenly Kingdom. In 439, the saint was in Bethlehem for the feast of the Nativity of Christ. She fell ill there. When St. Melania returned to Jerusalem, she assembled the convent sisters and told them:
“My beloved sisters, I am giving you my final spiritual instruction. I promise to help you always, because I will be constantly among you invisibly, so you must carefully observe all the rules established at the convent. With the fear of God, like the wise virgins from the Gospel, you must be ready to meet the Lord at any time and keep ardent faith in God.”
St. Melania was ill for less than a week. She had time to instruct the nuns and appoint Gerontius abbot and spiritual father of two monasteries—one for monks and one for nuns. Then St. Melania joyfully fell asleep in the Lord. Her last words were:
“As it has pleased the Lord, so it has come to pass” (cf. Job 1:21).
Monks from all the monasteries and deserts of Palestine came to bid farewell to St. Melania and attend her funeral.
