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History of
the Melkite Catholic Church |
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The official title of our Church is the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Our
Patriarch Gregory III Laham is the 181st direct successor of St. Peter over the
See of Antioch. His title is Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. "Of
Alexandria and Jerusalem," is added as a personal title. The word Greek in our
name, in Arabic Room, that is Eastern Roman or Byzantine, refers to the Greek
language and culture brought to the Middle East by Alexander the Great. The New
Testament was all written in Greek, with the exception of the original Gospel of
Matthew. Greek was spoken mainly in the cities, while local languages were
preserved in the countryside. Other churches are designated by countries: Greek
Orthodox in or from Greece, Coptic in or from Egypt, Chaldean or Assyrian in or
from Iraq, Armenian in or from Armenia, Maronite in or from Lebanon; but Melkite
is universal i.e. catholic. Greek in our name refers to a general culture, not
to a country.
The word Melkite was a nickname-given in the sixth and seventh century to the
Christians who followed the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, mainly the
Council of Chalcedon convened in 451 A.D. which proclaimed the unity and
distinctiveness of the divine and human natures in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Emperor of Constantinople, eager to keep unity in his Empire, defended the
decrees of the Ecumenical Council and persecuted those who opposed it. These
were called heretics, while the followers of the Council were called Orthodox.
The opponents of the Council of Chalcedon nicknamed the followers of the Council
"Melkites", from the Semitic root "Melko" (In
Arabic: Malek) which means king. The word implied that the Melkites were
royalists, followers of the foreign king, instead of siding with their own
compatriots.
The Melkites didn't mind the name. They were proud to stand with the king, for
the sake of unity in the Empire and universality throughout the world.
This has been one distinctive trait of the Melkites: standing for unity and
understanding among the churches and striving for universality. In the Middle
Ages, the Emperor was the symbol of that unity in the East. After the fall of
the Byzantine Empire, the Pope in Rome remained alone the symbol of unity and
universality. So, when the Church of Antioch separated into two branches in
1724, the word "Melkite" was appropriated exclusively by the Catholic branch.
The word Melkite became synonymous with Catholic. The word Catholic in our name,
as distinguished from Orthodox, indicates that we belong to the Catholic,
universal church headed by the Supreme Pontiff, the Pope of Rome. |
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