Melkite

or Mel·chite

[ mel-kahyt ]

noun

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

adjective

1. of or relating to the Melkites.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Melkite¹

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

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

From Washington Post

And as they talked, it emerged that she comes from a Sephardic Jewish family while his is Palestinian and Melkite Greek Catholic.

From New York Times

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

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

Melkites and Maronites were especially imperiled, since they were perceived—perhaps unfairly—as rejecting the values of the newly founded Turkish state.

From The New Yorker