Melkite

• Melchite

From Latin Melchita, from Byzantine Greek Μελχίτης (Melkhítēs), from Classical Syriac ܡܠܟܝܐ‎ (malkāyāʾ, “royal; royalist”), from ܡܠܟܐ‎ (malkāʾ, “king”), from Proto-Semitic *malk-.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛlkʌɪt/

Melkite (plural Melkites)

1. (Christianity) An Eastern Christian who adhered to the doctrines agreed by the First Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon (originally as labelled by opponents); later, an Orthodox Christian using the Byzantine rite and part of the patriarchate of Antioch, Jerusalem or Alexandria.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 233:

     increasingly a majority in the Egyptian Church as well as other strongholds of Miaphysitism denounced Chalcedonian Christians as ‘Dyophysites’ and sneered at them as ‘the emperor's people’ – Melchites.