Melkite

American  

[mel-kahyt] / ˈmɛl kaɪt /

Or Melchite

noun

1. a Christian in Egypt and Syria who accepted the definition of faith adopted by the Council of Chalcedon in a.d. 451.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Melkites.

Etymology

Origin of Melkite

First recorded in 1610–20; from Medieval Latin Melchīta, from Medieval Greek Melchī́tēs, from Syriac malkākyā “royalist” (i.e., a supporter of the Byzantine emperor), from Syriac malkā “king” + Greek noun suffix -ītēs -ite ¹

Example Sentences

It may sound like a small number, but it is a loss the village can ill afford, said Father Jack-Nobel Abed of Taybeh’s Greek Melkite Catholic Church.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2025

He also was a former president of the parish council of Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Vienna, Va.

From Washington Post • Dec. 3, 2021

Altonji, whose grandparents on his father’s side are Syrian Christians in the Melkite tradition, could have been a Catholic priest in that tradition, with the option of getting married.

From Washington Times • Jul. 2, 2017

The flight is so pronounced that, in 2013, Gregory III, the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, wrote an open letter to his flock: “Despite all your suffering, stay here! Don’t emigrate!”

From The New Yorker • Apr. 14, 2017

The orthodox or Melkite party, consisting mostly of Byzantine Greeks, was swept away, and the double succession of patriarchs practically ceased.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 "Convention" to "Copyright" by Various