Melkite

I travel.

I know the Maronites, I know the Melkites, I know the Ruthenians, and I know the Soloviev immigrants that are Russian, Byzantine right.

I know a lot of people, Michael.

I've been at this since 1987, okay? And it's just a matter of...

... there's 22 rites in the Church.

I've been to Melkites, Maron- ...

I've been to different rites.

The Carmelites.

I'd say, you know, majority were Christian.

Um, Maronite and Melkite and other sort of Christian communities and denominations.

There were Muslims, there were Druze, there were-

Mm-hmm

And for the next couple of centuries, Egypt had two rival patriarchs, one backed by the Roman state in Constantinople, and the other backed by the local Coptic-speaking Christian population.

The imperial pro-Chalcedonian faction came to be known as the Melkites, from the Syriac word malqa, meaning king, because they supported the emperor's church.

The Coptic Christians, though, deeply rooted in their local culture and native language, refused, despite waves of persecution from the state.

Now, in practical terms today, these theological differences don't play a major role in daily Christian life.

You're with the Latin parish.

There's a Melkite parish.

There's a Greek Orthodox parish.

What are your ecumenical relationships like with the other clergy? Are you kind of a team together? How does this life together as priests work? We work together.