MENIAITES, ELIA. - Greek bishop and controversialist, b. 1669, d. 1714. At the age of ten he came from Cephalonia, his native land, to Venice, where he completed his studies and began teaching and preaching. In Constantinople he held political offices as secretary to the Venetian consul. In 1711 he was appointed bishop of Cernica and Calabria.
He wrote the book *Il terzo s'avevà d'u* (Leipzig 1718), in the first part of which, historical, he gave the current Byzantine version of the Photian schism, while in the second he dealt with the five disagreements discussed at the Council of Florence. The book was translated into Latin, German (1787), Romanian (1844), and Russian (1847). He also published a collection of sermons: *Adagio* (Venice 1720); in these M., against the opinion then prevalent in Constantinople, defended the Immaculate Conception.