Early Life and Monastic Beginnings
The future bishop was born Michael Koz'mich Yakimov on October 29, 1835, in the Viatka Diocese, the son of a village priest. His father died when he was about a year old, and his mother raised the children in financial hardship. Despite poverty and fragile health he did well in his studies, completing seminary and then the Academy.
After his studies he sought to enter monastic life under Archimandrite Ambrose, serving as a novice for about a year before he was tonsured a monk with the name Meletios on February 1, 1859. He was ordained deacon the following month.
Missionary Labors in Siberia
In 1862 Meletios was sent to Posol'sk Monastery at Lake Baikal, where he was ordained priest and began the missionary work among the Buryat, Tungus, and Yakut peoples that would occupy most of his life. He worked with the scholar Nicholas Il'minsky to translate Christian teaching into the Buryat language, producing the first Christian text in that tongue, and under his leadership many thousands of the native peoples were baptized.
He was raised to the rank of archimandrite in 1874 and afterward served as a vicar bishop in the Irkutsk Diocese, overseeing the territories east of Lake Baikal. In 1889 he was appointed to the Yakutsk Diocese, where the number of churches and chapels increased greatly during his tenure; he founded a church brotherhood and organized relief for those suffering from leprosy, work that drew recognition even from the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury.
Bishop of Ryazan and Veneration
In 1896 Meletios was named Bishop of Ryazan and Zaraysk, arriving in his new see early in 1897. There he revived missions to the Old Ritualists and to Muslims and published extensively on missionary and historical subjects until the end of his life. He reposed on January 14, 1900, and was buried in the cathedral at Ryazan.
Honored as the 'Apostle to the Yakuts' and enlightener of the peoples of Siberia, Meletios was numbered among the Synaxis of Siberian Saints in 1983. His relics were uncovered in 1998 and translated to a monastery. He is commemorated on January 14.
