What is different about the Antiochian Greek Orthodox Church & the Melkite Greek Catholic Church?
Answer: They are two churches but one people! The Antiochian Greeks (Levatine Rûm {Ρωμιός})!
But why are the Levatine Rûm divided into two churches?
A little backround: The Antiochian schism of 1724.
In 1724, under the influence of the Uniatism ecclesial movement, the Levatine Rûm community had divided into two distinct and conflicting parties.
One faction of the faithful leaned towards Constantinople (the Aleppines), while the other faction leaned towards Rome (the Damascians). During the election of Patriarch of Antioch in 1724, a controversy developed over the results.
Fearing for the preservation of Orthodoxy and their identity, Aleppine-parishioners and bishops appealed to the Phanar, which appointed a Romaic-conscious Patriarch, Sylvestros the Cypriot.
The defeat of the Damascian candidate Kyrillos VI Tanas by Sylvestros resulted in a double lineage of patriarchs, one Rûm-Orthodox and the other Rûm-Catholic Christians, of which the Rûm-Catholic Patriarchs were obliged to reside in Lebanon under the protection of local emirs.
READ MORE: Heroes of Syro-Hellenism: Antiochus III the Great.
