Mikhail Zaborovsky was born on July 7, 1869 in Tomsk Province, in western Siberia, into a family of a priest. Mikhail attended Tomsk Seminary, graduating in 1889. After having married he became a member of the clergy and was ordained a priest on October 8, 1889. In 1891, his wife died. He had become a student at the Kazan Theological Academy in Kazan, Russia and was graduated in 1899 with a PhD in Theology. While attended the Kazan Academy, Fr. Mikhail entered the monastic life and was tonsured a monk with the name Meletius in 1898. Upon graduation from the academy Fr. Meletius was appointed deputy overseer of the Sarapulsk Theological School. The following year, 1900, he was promoted to the position of headmaster of the Biysk Missionary Catechetic School.