Melkite Greek Catholic Church

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church.

It is headed by Patriarch Youssef Absi, S.M.S.P., headquartered in Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition, Damascus, Syria.

The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, formerly part of Syria and now in Turkey, of the first century CE, where Christianity was introduced by Saint Peter.

The Melkite Church is related to the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, from which it separated de facto in the mid-eighteenth century.

It is mainly centered in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.

Melkite Greek Catholics are present, however, throughout the world by migration due to persecution.

Outside the Near East, the Melkite Church has also grown through intermarriage with, and the conversion of, people of various ethnic heritages as well as transritualism.

At present there is a worldwide membership of approximately 1.6 million.

While the Melkite Catholic Church's Byzantine rite liturgical traditions are shared with those of Eastern Orthodoxy, the Church has been part of the Catholic Church since the affirmation of its union with the Holy See of Rome in 1724.

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