Father Mark Melone grew up in East Providence, Rhode Island in 1950. After college, he apprenticed to liturgical artist Ade Bethune, where he began his study of Christian art. Later he did graduate work in theology at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and in the Boston Theological Institute through St. Gregory the Theologian Melkite Catholic Seminary and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Theological School. He was ordained a priest in 1978 at St. Basil the Great Church in Central Falls and served as assistant at St. Ann in Paterson, N.J., and as Pastor, at St. George in Birmingham, St. Nicholas in Rochester, and currently at St. George in Sacramento. He studied iconography under Andrew C. Kovacs and Elias Katsaros. He is a practicing iconographer and has illustrated Religious Education texts for over thirty years. His work is in a number of churches throughout the United States and appears in numerous Eastern Christian publications.