Melkite
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See also: melkite
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Latin Melchita, from Byzantine Greek Μελχίτης (Melkhítēs), from Classical Syriac ܡܠܟܝܐ (malkāyāʾ, “royal; royalist”) + Byzantine Greek -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs). See these for more.
Pronunciation
Noun
Melkite (plural Melkites)
- (historical) In 5th-century Syria and Egypt, a sobriquet applied to Chalcedonians by their opponents, denoting the Chalcedonians' fidelity to the Byzantine emperor.
- 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, page 233:
- [...] increasingly a majority in the Egyptian Church as well as other strongholds of Miaphysitism denounced Chalcedonian Christians as ‘Dyophysites’ and sneered at them as ‘the emperor's people’ – Melchites.
- (since the Great Schism) A member of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch or the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem; ellipsis of Orthodox Melkite.
- (since 1724) A member of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church; ellipsis of Catholic Melkite.