Meletius Smotrytsky (; ; ; ), né Maksym Herasymovych Smotrytsky (c. 1577 – 17 or 27 December 1633), Archbishop of Polotsk (Metropolitan of Kyiv), was a writer, a religious and pedagogical activist of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a Ruthenian linguist whose works influenced the development of the Eastern Slavic languages. His book "Slavonic Grammar with Correct Syntax" (1619) systematized the study of Church Slavonic and became the standard grammar book in Russia right up till the end of the 18th century. He believed in the revival of the Orthodox religion in traditionally Slavic lands (see Slavic people) centered in the Tsardom of Muscovy. General Born in Smotrych, Podilia, Meletius was a son of the famous writer and pedagogue Herasym Smotrytsky. He received his first formal education at the Ostroh Academy, where his father was a rector. The academy is the oldest institution of higher learning in Eastern Europe. Later, he studied at Vilnius University, a Jesuit institution, between approximately 1596 and 1600. After that, Smotrytsky traveled through Europe, continuing his education at universities in Leipzig, Wittenberg and Nuremberg. In 1608, Meletius returned to Vilnius where he became a member of a local fraternity. Under his pen name Theophile Ortologue he wrote his famous polemic "Thrynos". Sometime in 1615-18 Smotrytsky was a teacher of Church Slavonic and Latin in the newly established Kyiv Fraternity School. Subsequently, he became one of its first rectors. In 1616, he published a Ruthenian translation of "Teacher's Gospel... of Calisto" and in 1615 in Cologne he published a Greek-language grammar. In 1618, Smotrytsky returned to Vilnius where at the Holy Spirit Monastery he took vows as a monk and assumed the name Miletius. There, in the city of Vievis, he participated in publishing Dictionary of the Slavic Language (1618). Later, in 1619, he published Slavonic Grammar with Correct Syntax. In 1620, Meletius Smotrytsky became the Archbishop of Polotsk (Metropolitan of Kyiv), bishop of Vitebsk and Mstyslaw. Around that time he published several anti-Union (see Union of Brest) works for which he was persecuted by the Polish authorities. During 1624 Smotrytsky traveled to Constantinople, Egypt, Palestine, after which in 1625 he returned to Kyiv. Eventually, by 1627. he sided with followers of the Union with Rome and became the Archimandrite of the . After receiving Smotrytsky's homage in Rome, Pope Urban VIII granted Smotrytsky the title of Titular Archbishop of Hierapolis. Smotrytsky is buried at the Derman Monastery.