The Melkite Greek Catholic Church, also known as the Melkite Byzantine Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. Its chief hierarch is Patriarch Youssef Absi, whose see is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition in Damascus, Syria.
The Melkite Church follows the Byzantine Rite and traces its origins to the early Christian community of the Patriarchate of Antioch in the 1st century AD, traditionally founded by the apostle Saint Peter. Today, the Melkite Church has approximately 1.6 million members worldwide.
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East split from the original Chalcedonian Patriarchate of Antioch when the former entered into communion with Rome under Patriarch Cyril VI Tanas in 1724, a move opposed by most members of the Church of Antioch who formed the separate Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch. Thus, the two share the same liturgical, theological, and spiritual heritage, and both are centered in Syria (the Levant), with significant diaspora communities found worldwide due to historical emigration.
Name
The term Melkite – from the Syriac word malkā for 'king' and the Arabic word malakī (, meaning 'royal', and by extension, 'imperial') – was originally a pejorative term for Middle Eastern Christians who accepted the authority of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) and the Byzantine Emperor, a term applied to them by non-Chalcedonians. Of the Chalcedonian churches, Greek Catholics continued to use the term, while Eastern Orthodox did not.
The Greek element signifies the Byzantine Rite heritage of the church, the liturgy used by all the Eastern Orthodox churches.
The term Catholic acknowledges communion with the Church of Rome and implies participation in the universal Christian church. According to Church tradition, the Melkite Church of Antioch is the "oldest continuous Christian community in the world".
In Arabic, the official language of the church, it is called ar-Rūm al-Kāṯūlīk (). The Arabic word Rūm means 'Romans', from the Greek word Romaioi by which the Greek-speaking Eastern Romans (called "Byzantines" in modern parlance) had continued to identify themselves even when the Western Roman empire had ceased to exist. The name literally means 'Roman Catholic', confusingly for the modern English-speaker, but that refers not to the Latin Church but to the Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox "Byzantine" Roman heritage, the centre of gravity of which was the city of "New Rome" (, ), Constantinople.
History According to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, its origins go back to the establishment of Christianity in the Near East. As Christianity began to spread, the disciples preached the Gospel throughout the region and were for the first time said to be called "Christians" in the city of Antioch (Acts 11:26), the historical See of the Melkite Catholic Patriarchate. Scholars attribute the actual writing of the gospels in Koine Greek to the Hellenized Christian population of Antioch, with authors such as St. Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and The Acts of the Apostles.Microsoft Word - ANTIOCHhistoryencyclopedia.doc (najim.net) By the 2nd century, Christianity was widespread in Antioch and throughout Syria. Growth of the church did not stop during periods of persecution, and by the end of the 4th century Christianity became the official state religion.
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church traces its origins to the Christian communities of the Levant and Egypt. The term Melkites was originally referred to those Christians in Egypt who were loyal to the Council of Chalcedon, and later referred to those in the Levant region as well. The church's leadership was vested in the three apostolic patriarchates of the ancient patriarchates: Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.
Fallout of the Fourth Ecumenical Council After the Fourth Ecumenical Council (the Council of Chalcedon) in AD 451, fifth-century Middle-Eastern Christian society became sharply divided between those who did and those who did not accept the outcome of the council. The Chalcedonians, those who accepted the decrees of the council, were mainly Greek-speaking city-dwellers; they were called Melkites ("imperials") by the anti-Chalcedonians, who were predominantly Armenian or Coptic-speaking provincials.
Fusion with Arabic language and culture The Battle of Yarmuk (AD 636) took the Melkite homeland out of Byzantine control and placed it under the occupation of the Arab invaders. While the Greek language and culture remained important, especially for the Melkites of Jerusalem, Antiochene Melkite tradition merged with the Arabic language and culture. Although there was Arabic Christian poetry before the arrival of Islam, the newly extensive Antiochene blending with Arabic culture led to a degree of distancing from the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Despite the Arab invasion, the Melkites continued to exercise an important role in the Universal Church. The Melkites played a leading role in condemning the iconoclast controversy when it re-appeared in the early 9th century, and were among the first of the Eastern churches to respond to the introduction of the clause in the West.
Communion with the Catholic Church
In 1724, Cyril VI Tanas was elected the new patriarch of Antioch. As Cyril was considered to be pro-Western, the Patriarch Jeremias III of Constantinople feared that his own authority would be compromised by the former's ascent; Jeremias therefore declared Cyril's election to be invalid, excommunicated him, and ordained the Greek hierodeacon Sylvester of Antioch as a priest and bishop, so that the latter might take Cyril's place.
Sylvester, considered "unyielding and uncompromising" by both supporters and opponents, exacerbated divisions within the Church with his heavy-handed rule, and many Melkites reacted by instead acknowledging Cyril's claim to the patriarchal throne. Sylvester began a five-year campaign of persecution enforced by Ottoman Turkish troops against Cyril and the Melkite faithful who supported him, forcing him to find refuge in Lebanon.
Five years after the election of Cyril VI, in 1729, Pope Benedict XIII recognized him as patriarch of Antioch, and recognized his followers as being in full communion with the Catholic Church and the pope of Rome. From this time onward, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church has existed separately from and in parallel with the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Western Asia; the latter is no longer referred to as Melkite.
Melkite Bishop Nicholas Samra notes that the feast of Corpus Christi, which he calls "a distinct[ly] Latin feast", was adopted by the Melkite Church soon after its admission to full communion.Samra, N., Eastern Catholicism in the Middle East, Melchite Catholic Eparchy of Newton, published on 18 October 2014, accessed on 27 July 2026
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church has played an important role in the leadership of Arab Christianity; it has always been led by Arabic-speaking Christians, whereas its Orthodox counterpart had Greek patriarchs until 1899. Indeed, at the very beginning of its separate existence, around 1725, one lay leader and theologian—Abdallah Zakher of Aleppo (1684–1748)—set up the very first printing press in the Arab world. In 1835, Maximos III Mazloum, Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, was recognized by the Ottoman Empire as the leader of a millet (a distinctive religious community within the Empire). Pope Gregory XVI gave Maximos III Mazloum the triple patriarchate of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, a title which is still held by the leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.
Expansion and participation at the First Vatican Council
In 1806, Germanos Adam, the Archbishop of Aleppo, convened the Synod of Qarqafe which adapted and ratified propositions of the 1786 Synod of Pistoia. It was formally accepted by the Melkite church, but was formally condemned in 1835 by Pope Gregory XVI in the bull Melchitarum Catholicorum Synodus.
In 1847, Pope Pius IX (1846–1878) reinstituted the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the person of the 34-year-old Giuseppe Valerga (1813–1872), whom the indigenous hierarchy nicknamed "The Butcher" because of his fierce opposition to the Eastern Orthodox churches of the Holy Land. When he arrived in Jerusalem in 1847, there were 4,200 Latin Catholics and when he died in 1872, the number had doubled.
In 1856, Clement Bahouth became patriarch. Under pressure from the Roman Curia to adopt Latin Church practices, he introduced the Gregorian calendar used by the Latin and Maronite Churches in 1857. The act caused serious problems within the Melkite community, resulting in a short-lived schism. At one point, the Metropolitan of Beirut, Agapios Riashi, refused to comply and supported two priests, Gabriel Gibara and John Massamiri, who openly revolted and formed dissident groups in Damascus and Egypt. Three bishops – Theodosius Qayoumgi, Basil Chahiat, and Meletius Findi – representing the archeparchies of Sidon, Zahlé, and Baalbek, respectively, sided with the dissidents. In the face of the growing conflict, Clement attempted to abdicate his position as patriarch, but the pope, Pius IX, rejected his resignation. Pius IX summoned Riashi, but was rebuffed, instead sending a letter with the other three bishops. The Vatican condemned the letter and called on Bahouth to claim the support of the Sublime Porte. Riashi continued to resist and was, as a result, excluded from the First Vatican Council. The other three bishops eventually resubmitted to the patriarch. Although Massamiri – who had been consecrated as the Orthodox Bishop of Palmyra – was brought back by the next patriarch, Gregory II Youssef, Gibara died in dissidence. In 1864, Bahouth again requested to be allowed to resign, hoping to retire to monastic life. This time, the pope assented and his resignation was officially accepted on 24 September 1864. On 29 September, the Bishop of Acre, Gregory II Youssef, was chosen as patriarch.
Officially confirmed in 1865, Gregory initially focused on improving church institutions. During his time as patriarch, Gregory founded both the Patriarchal College in Beirut in 1865 and the Patriarchal College in Damascus in 1875 and he re-opened the Melkite seminary of Ain Traz in 1866. He also promoted the establishment of Saint Ann's Seminary, Jerusalem, in 1882 by the White Fathers for the training of the Melkite clergy.
Following the Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856, decreed by Sultan Abdülmecid I, the situation of Christians in the Near East improved. This allowed Gregory to successfully encourage greater participation by the Melkite laity in both church administration as well as public affairs. Gregory also took an interest in ministering to the growing number of Melkites who had emigrated to the Americas. In 1889 he dispatched Father Ibrahim Beshawate of the Basilian Salvatorian Order in Saida, Lebanon, to New York in order to minister to the growing Syrian community there. According to historian Philip Hitte, Beshawate was the first permanent priest in the United States from the Near East from among the Melkite, Maronite, and Antiochian Orthodox churches.