Melnyk graduated from Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, in 1969 with a BA in journalism. In 1981 he graduated from the School of Theology of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, with a Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church in 1982. Over a ministry career that followed in the next twenty-three years, he served parishes in South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. He writes about Celtic spirituality and its relationship to Christianity.In 1984 he assisted in the formation of the order of Julian of Norwich, a contemplative Order in the Episcopal Church, and is an Oblate of that order.