Bishop Melentije is mentioned among the renovators and restorers of the Serbian state.
He distinguished himself in the First Serbian Uprising, and in 1813 he fled to Srem and lived as archimandrite for some time in the Fenek monastery, Vraćevšnica monastery and Studenica where he brought the golden cross with the scene of the Crucifixion, a gift of the Russian Emperor Alexander.
[3] Later, Prince Miloš Obrenović sent him and voivode Aksentije Miladinović as envoys on a mission to Constantinople, where he was consecrated bishop of Šabac.
Melentije Nikšić was very proud and wrote about himself: "Bishop of Užice-Valjevo-Rudnik and Archbishop of Šabac".
[4] Prince Miloś was afraid of that respectable, rich and ambitious bishop, so Marko Štitarac had him killed under Miloš's instructions at a time when a coup d'état was being planned where Bishop Melentije, Petar Nikolajević Moler and others were implicated.