Melkite

Common card · No. 263935

Melkite () or Melchite churches are various Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite, and their members. The name comes from the Central Semitic root m-l-k 'royal', referring to the loyalty to the Byzantine emperor, and became a denominational designation for Christians who accepted imperial religious policies, notably the Council of Chalcedon (451). Originally, during the Early Middle Ages, Melkites used both Medieval Greek and Aramaic languages in their religious life, and initially employed the Antiochian rite in their liturgy, but later (10th–11th century) accepted the Constantinopolitan rite, and incorporated Arabic alongside present-day surviving Western Neo-Aramaic in parts of their liturgical practices. In modern times, there are two denominations called Melkite: Orthodox Melkites, the Greek Orthodox Christians of the Near East, and Catholic Melkites, members of the Melkite Catholic Church. Melkites can be of various ethnic origins, and Melkite can be the denominational...

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