Saint Meletius of Alexandria (Meletius Pigas, Piga; Greek: μελέτιος πηγάς) was born on the island of Crete in 1549.
He studied in Venice and Padua; after becoming a monk in his homeland, he opened a school of the ancient Greek language at the monastery, which became very famous.
Subsequently, he was the rector of this monastery, Metropolitan of Cyrene.
During the reign of Sylvester Meletius on the throne of Alexandria, he was secretary of the Patriarchate, after which he was elected the new patriarch in 1590.
Having occupied the pontifical chair, Vladyka Meletius faced the problem of huge debts to the sultan, as well as proselytism on the part of the Jesuits, against which he took a firm stand. Patriarch Meletius also made efforts to reunite Copts in Egypt and Abyssinia with the Orthodox Church.
Meletius Pigas spent his whole life fighting the papacy and the union that was being prepared; he delivered a lot of sermons and teachings that made up a collection of conversations – στρόματα; participating in the Council of Constantinople in 1593, he greatly contributed to the establishment of the patriarchate in Moscow.
He was also at one time the guardian of the Ecumenical Patriarchal Throne.
Meletius Pigas took a particularly active part in the affairs of Orthodoxy in Western Russia and Poland, about which he wrote most of the letters and messages. Urging them to remain firm in Orthodoxy, Meletius Pigas wrote to many adherents of the Enlightenment, for example, Prince Ostrogsky, Vishnevetsky, Chetvertinsky, as well as to King Sigismund III of Poland and the Western Russian fraternities. Regarding the establishment of the patriarchate in Moscow, Meletius Pigas wrote to Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, Boris Godunov, and Patriarch Job.
Patriarch Meletios (Pigas) died at the age of 52 in 1601.
Saint Meletius was glorified by the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, after which, by the decision of the Holy Synod of May 7, 2003, his memory was included in the diptych of saints of the Russian Orthodox Church.