Syriac `royalist' member of a Christian
church in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Israel.
The Melchite Church was founded in Syria in
the 6th-7th centuries and is now part of the
Eastern Orthodox Church. The Melchites
accepted Byzantine rule at the council of
Chalcedon 451 (unlike the Maronites). In 1754
some Melchites broke away to form a Uniate
Church with Rome.