Melkite
（重定向自Melkites）
![](/Images/godic/202501/26/00058_christ_pantocrator_mosaic_hagia_sophia_656x8001210.jpg")
![11th-century Melchite Hirmologion written in Syriac Sertâ book script, from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, now part of the Schøyen Collection.](/Images/godic/202501/26/Syriac_Sertâ_book_script1210.jpg")
The term "Melkite" (/ˈmɛlkaɪt/), also written "Melchite", refers to various Byzantine Rite Christian churches and their members originating in the Middle East. The word comes from the Syriac word malkoyo (ܡܠܟܝܐ), and the Arabic word Malakī (Arabic:ملكي, meaning "royal", and by extension, "imperial"). When used in an ecclesiastical sense, it refers specifically to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church as an ethnoreligious group.