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HE next group of Byzantine Uniates is that of the Melkites. These are the Catholics of this rite in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, who all now speak Arabic. They are the most closely organized of the Byzantine Uniates; they alone in this rite have a Patriarch of their own. Perhaps the most striking fact about them is that it is their Patriarch who, by direct descent and undoubted historical continuity, represents the original line of Antioch. It is the same case as that of the Chaldees and Malabar Christians. The Uniates are the old line, which after several vicissitudes has at last come back definitely to union with the Holy See. The Orthodox of Syria, who pretend to be the old Church, are a schism away from that Church, formed in the eighteenth century, when she returned to her original Catholic obedience.


 * 1. Before Cyril VI (1724)

The word "Melkite" is now commonly used for Uniates of the Byzantine rite in Syria and Egypt. Originally it meant