MELKITE FAITH
Our Faith
Authentic Christian faith is always about the relationship we have with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. From the beginning local Churches have expressed that relationship differently in various liturgies, hymns, theologies, icons and more.
Melkites express their faith in the Byzantine tradition of the Greek Patriarchate of Antioch. Liturgically we follow the Byzantine rite. Our spirituality is that of the Christian East (healing, re-creation, theosis, etc.) in common with other Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox.
In addition, our particular identity is as Greek Catholics: Eastern in faith, worship and spirituality but united to the Church of Rome with all the problems and opportunities that relationship affords.

Spirituality
A glance through any Catholic publisher’s catalog will find titles on different spiritualities for men or women, religious or laypeople — as many “spiritualities” as Starbucks has coffees. Eastern Churches recognize one spirituality to which we are all called, with different degrees of intensity.
We are invited to live the very life of God, to become intimately related to God — “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4), to be physically united to Christ and to have the Holy Spirit dwell within us. Eastern Christian spirituality stresses:
- Awareness of our call to be divinized;
- The organic nature of our sacramental union with Christ;
- A “public life” of worship and communion;
- A “secret life” of prayer, fasting and almsgiving; and
- The need for “spiritual warfare.”
Read on below for a wealth of information all about the spirituality and history of the Melkite Church:
Melkite Identity
History and Recent Events
A Call for Unity—The Melkite Synod
Christianity in the Middle East: Ancient Yet Ever New
“Eastern” in a “Western” World
Pastoral Letter to Our Priests, Council of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs
Akathistos, Sharing the Akathist Hymn for Jubilee 2000
Alexandria, History of the Patriarchal See
The Disappearance of Christians in the Holy Land
People
Prayer and Worship
New English Translation of the Divine Liturgy
Passage to Heaven: An Appreciation of the Divine Liturgy
Feastday Reflections
- Nativity of the Theotokos
- Entrance of the Theotokos
- Nativity of our Lord and Savior
- Presentation in the Temple
- Annunciation
- Entrance Into Jerusalem
- Crucifixion of our Lord and Savior
- Great Lent and Holy Week
- Images of Holy Week
- Palm Sunday
- Great and Holy Wednesday
- Great and Holy Thursday
- Great and Holy Friday
- Great and Holy Saturday
- The Pascha Liturgy
- The Pascha Liturgy, continued
- Images of Baptism
The Melkite Church at the Council
The Melkite Church at the Council: Introduction
The Melkite Church at the Council: Preface
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 1
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 2
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 3
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 4
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 5
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 6
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 7
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 8
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 9
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 10
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 11
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 12
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 13
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 14
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 15
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 16
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 17
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 18
The Melkite Church at the Council: Chapter 19