Melkite Greek Catholic Church

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church (Arabic: كنيسة الروم الكاثوليك‎, Kanīsät ar-Rūm al-Kāṯūlīk) is an Eastern Catholic sui juris particular Church in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. The church's origins lie in the Near East, but, today, Melkite Catholics are spread throughout the world. At present there is a worldwide membership of approximately 1.3 million.[ The Melkite Church has a high degree of ethnic homogeneity but its patriarch, its episcopate, its clergy and many of its faithful, are Arabic, French, English, and Spanish speaking. The church is a product of a schism within the Antiochian Orthodox Church in 1724 triggered when the pro-Western Seraphim Tanas was elected patriarch as Cyril VI in a move which was seen by the patriarch of Constantinople as a pro-Catholic coup. The Melkite Catholic Church retains its Byzantine roots and liturgical practices similar to those of the Eastern Orthodoxy while maintaining communion with Roman Catholicism.
==See also==
*Melkite
*List of Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch
*Patriarch of Antioch
*Eastern Catholic Churches
*Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton
*Gregory III Laham, current Patriarch
==References==
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==External links==
*Eparchy of Newton, the Melkite Church in the US.
*Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem
*L'Église Melkite/The Melkite Church.
*Melkite Catholic Web Ring.
*Extensive history of the Melkite Church
*Melkite Ambassadors Young Adult Website.
*Article on the Melkite Catholic Church by Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA website.
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Category:christianity