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Melkites

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

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Aa group of about 110,000 Byzantine Uniats distributed in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and America. Originally the name signified all those who remained faithful to the Council of Chalcedon (451), when the greater part accepted the Monophysite heresy. These people and their patriarchs, having gradually become dependent on the Patriarch of Constantinople, joined him in the Greek Schism (9th to 11th century). After several attempts at reconciliation they were united to Rome in the 18th century under the Patriarch Cyril VI who, with his successors, represents the original line of Antioch. Since the 12th century they have used the Byzantine Rite, mostly in the Arabic language.