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==Early life==
He was born on [[September 21]], 1871, in the village of Parsas on the island of Crete. He entered the [[Seminary of the Holy Cross]] in [[Jerusalem]] in 1889. He was [[tonsure]]d with the name ''Meletius'' and [[ordination|ordained]] a [[hierodeacon]] in 1892. He completed the theological courses at Holy Cross and was assigned as secretary to the [[Holy Synod]] in Jerusalem by Patriarch [[Damianos Damianus of Jerusalem|DamianosDamianus]] in 1900.
Meletius was evicted from the Holy Land by Patriarch Damianos, along with the then-administrator [[Chrysostomos (Hadjistavrou)|Chrysostomos]], later [[Archbishop of Athens]], in 1908 for "activity against the Holy Sepulchre." Meletius Metaxakis was then elected [[Metropolitan]] of Kition in Cyprus in 1910. In the years before the war, Metr. Meletius began successful talks in New York with representatives of the [[Episcopal Church of America]], with the intention of "expanding relations between the two Churches."