MELCHITES, in church history, the name given to the Syriac, Egyptian, and other Christians of the Levant. The Melchites, excepting some few points of little or no importance, which relate only to ceremonies and ecclesiastical discipline, are in every respect professed members of the Greek church; but they are governed by a particular patriarch, who resides at Damascus, and assumes the title of Patriarch of Antioch. They celebrate mass in the Arabian language. The religious amongst the Melchites follow the rule of St. Basil, which is common to all the Greek monks. They have four fine convents distant about a day's journey from Damascus, and never quit the cloister.