Arabic Culture of the Melchite Church in the early Middle Ages (7th–11th Centuries)

Christians that were loyal to the orthodoxy of the Chalcedony ecumenical Council (451) were named as “Melchites” by Heterodox monophysites, that is Copts in Egypt and Jacobits in Syria. Before the Moslem conquest the Melchite were mainly connected with Grecian culture, although they became influenced by the Arabic and Syriac environment. The Moslem conquest of Syria (636) took the Melkite homeland out of Byzantine control and placed it under the occupation of the Arab invaders. Although the Byzantine cultural influence, the Greek language and culture remained important for the Melkites, Melkite tradition became systematically fused with the Arabic language and culture.