Melkite Greek Catholic Church

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church (كنيسة الروم الملكيين الكاثوليك, Kanīsat ar-Rūm al-Malakiyyīn al-Kāṯūlīk; Μελχιτική Ελληνική Καθολική Εκκλησία; Ecclesia Graeca Melchitarum Catholica), also known as the Melkite Byzantine Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. Its chief hierarch is Patriarch Youssef Absi, who resides at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition in Damascus, Syria.

The Melkite Church follows the Byzantine Rite and traces its origins to the early Christian community of the Patriarchate of Antioch in the 1st century AD, where Saint Peter is traditionally held to have established a Christian community.

The Melkite Church shares its Byzantine liturgical, theological, and spiritual heritage with the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and other Eastern Orthodox churches. It is primarily centered in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine, though significant diaspora communities exist worldwide due to historical migration, persecution, and intermarriage.

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church formally re-entered communion with the Roman Pontiff under Patriarch Cyril VI Tanas in 1724, a move opposed by some members of the Church of Antioch, leading to the establishment of the separate Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch. Today, the Church numbers approximately 1.6 million members worldwide.