Melitians

The Melitians,^[a] sometimes called the Church of the Martyrs,^[b] 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,^[c] to be distinguished from the Meletian Schism later that same century.

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