Dual self-designation: "Melkites" and "Eastern Romans"
Members of the Eastern Orthodox Church or the Greek Catholic Rite in Syria and the
Hatay province of Turkey (formerly part of Northern Syria), still call themselves
Rūm which means "Eastern Romans" or "Asian Greeks" in
Arabic, both referring to the Byzantine inheritance, and indeed they follow its central Greek-language version of the Constantinian or
Byzantine Rite.
In that particular context, the term "Rūm" is used in preference to "Yūnāniyyūn" which means "European
Greeks" or
IoniansClassical Arabic.
Members of these communities also call themselves "Melkites", which literally means "monarchists" or "supporters of the emperor" in Semitic languages (a reference to their ancient allegiance to
Macedonian and
Roman imperial rule), but, in the modern era, the term tends to be more commonly used by followers of the
Greek Catholic Church of Antioch.
Presence in neighboring countries
These churches also exist in other parts of the Middle-East, notably Southern
Turkey,
Lebanon and Northern
Israel and some
Greek Orthodox intellectuals have been noted in the past for their
secularist "
pan-Arab" or "
pan-Syrian" leanings, notably during the colonial and post-colonial eras. The Greek Orthodox Christians also have a long and continuous association with Orthodox Christian European nations such as
Greece,
Cyprus,
Russia,
Ukraine,
Bulgaria,
Serbia and
Romania.
^The ROC
severed full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018, and later severed full communion with the
primates of the Church of Greece, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Church of Cyprus in 2020.
^
abcdefghAutocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.
^UOC-MP was moved to formally cut ties with the ROC as of May 27th 2022.
^
abSemi-autonomous part of the
Russian Orthodox Church whose autonomy is not universally recognized.