Melito of Sardis
2nd century · AD 180 · Early Fathers (before Nicaea) · 5 passages
Background on Melito of Sardis
In his own words on Ephesians
- Ephesians 4:8-9
Who is my opponent? I, he says, am the Christ. I am the one who destroyed death, and triumphed over the enemy, and trampled Hades under foot, and bound the strong one, and carried off man to the heights of heaven, I, he says, am the Christ.
On the Passover, 102
- Ephesians 4:8-9
By the cross death is destroyed, and by the cross salvation shines; by the cross the gates of hell are burst, and by the cross the gates of paradise are opened... the cross is the destroyer of hell.
New Fragment #3:4-5, lines 24-36, as quoted by Stuart George Hall in 'Melito of Sardis: On Pascha and Fragments' (2012 revised edition), pp. 62-96
Quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations of the fathers — Aquinas's Catena Aurea, the Ante-Nicene and Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers, and related editions. Each quotation links to its source.