Members of the Eastern Orthodox Church or the Greek Catholic Rite in Syria and theHatay province of Turkey (formerly part of Northern Syria), still call themselvesRūm which means "Eastern Romans" or "Asian Greeks" inArabic, both referring to the Byzantine inheritance, and indeed they follow its central Greek-language version of the Constantinian orByzantine Rite.
In that particular context, the term "Rūm" is used in preference to "Yūnāniyyūn" which means "EuropeanGreeks" inClassical Arabic (ultimately derived from theIonians).
Members of these communities also call themselves"Melkites", which literally means"monarchists" or"supporters of the emperor" in Semitic languages (a reference to their ancient allegiance toMacedonian andRoman imperial rule), but, in the modern era, the term tends to be more commonly used by followers of theGreek Catholic Church of Antioch.
These churches also exist in other parts of the Middle-East, notably SouthernTurkey,Lebanon and NorthernIsrael and someGreek Orthodox intellectuals have been noted in the past for theirsecularist "pan-Arab" or "pan-Syrian" leanings, notably during the colonial and post-colonial eras. The Greek Orthodox Christians also have a long and continuous association with Orthodox Christian European nations such asGreece,Cyprus,Russia,Ukraine,Bulgaria,Serbia andRomania.
^The ROCsevered full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018, and later severed full communion with theprimates of the Church of Greece, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Church of Cyprus in 2020.
^abcdefghiAutocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.
^UOC-MP has moved to formally cut ties with the ROC as of 27 May 2022.
^Semi-autonomous part of theRussian Orthodox Church whose autonomy is not universally recognized.
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