The name given to the Syriac, Egyptian, and other Christians of the Lovant. The Melchites, excepting some few points of little or no importance, which relate only to ceremonies, and ecclesiastical discipline, are, in every respect, professed Greeks; but they are governed by a particular patriarch, who assumes the title of Patriarch of Antioch. They celebrate mass in the Arabian language. The religious among the Melchites follow the rule of St. Basil, the common rule of all the Greek monks.