Arabic Rite Christians

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Psaltos

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Are there any Arabic Rite churches? I was looking at churches in the Arab States and most of them look like they are not specifically for Arabs. Some are Coptic, some are Syrian (Indian). They seem to be mostly churches for foreigners. Are there any churches specifically for the Arab population? What churches do Arab Christians attend? What churches did they attend before people started immigrating into the Arab States. I would appreciate answers from people who live there.
 
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Arab Christians who are Catholic are likely to be Melkite. Arab Christians who are Eastern Orthodox are likely to be Antiochian Orthodox.
 
I considered listing the Maronites, but most Maronites are Lebanese, not Arabs, even though they may speak Arabic. On the other hand, no doubt there are a number of Maronites who actually are Arabs.
 
I was thinking about them to. As well as Chaldeans and the Assyrian Church of the East. I know these Churches cover a large geographical area.

ZP
 
Well Assyrians are a distinct ethnic group from Arabs. I’m not sure about West Syriac Christians.
 
Both of my parents were 1st generation Lebanese. My mother (and her family) was from Utica, NY, where many Lebanese immigrants settled. They attended St Louis Gonzaga Maronite Catholic Church there in Utica. The Mass is beautiful and many years ago all Masses were sung in Aramaic, today one Mass a week is in Aramaic.
When I googled Maronite Catholic Churches in the middle east I see there are many. Click on the link/picture for a list of where there are Catholic Churches.

en.wikipedia.org

Catholic Church in the Middle East - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Also, it has been debated for centuries whether the Lebanese people are Arabs or Phonetician. We have always considered ourselves Arabs. My grandparents spoke arabic and could read and write in arabic.
Good luck in your search.
 
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OP, as stated by other posters, the principal Orthodox church for Arab Orthodox is the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch. For Arab Catholics it’s mostly Melkite.
 
The reason that you are seeing non Arab Christian churches in the Mid-east is because they are the indigenous peoples of the reason while the Arabs are the interlopers.
 
Correctly said. The Maronite Church and the Syriac people are native to Lebanon. The people of the area of modern day Lebanon spoke Syriac as a first language up until the seventh century, when Muslim Arab armies coming out of Arabia spilled into the Byzantine Empire and imposed Arabic language and culture on the inhabitants of Byzantine Syria, which included modern day Lebanon. We never were nor have ever been Arabs or spoke Arabic as a first language. Syriac persisted in Lebanon up until the 1800’s.

The age of Arabization is coming to a close in Lebanon as many Lebanese are re-embracing their Syriac identity and demanding the Lebanese dialect be recognized as a language distinct from Arabic.

That’s not to say that all Lebanese are Syriac. Lebanon is a diverse country; it’s people are divided between Syriac, Greek, French, Arab, Druze, and Persian ethnicities. It’s a right mess, especially in politics, where each ethnicity tends to look to an outside country for support. (Maronites=France, Arabs=Saudi Arabia, Persians=Iran, etc)

Edit: I forgot to mention that we also have a sizable Armenian community.
 
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Thanks for the answers guys. But I don’t see a lot of Melkite/Antiochian churches listed online in those countries? Do they just keep off the internet? Or is the faith very rare amongst Arabs?
 
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I was looking online and the majority of Palestinian Christians are Greek Orthodox. I’m not knowledgeable on ethnic groups in the Middle East so I have always assumed that Palestinians are Arab. I finished a great book written by Eugene Rogan titled The Fall of the Ottomans and just received from Amazon another one of his books titled The Arabs: A History, so I’m looking forward to learning more.

ZP
 
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We also have a small Syrian population were I live and they go to the Greek Orthodox Church (GOA).

ZP
 
I wouldn’t find it implausible that they consider themselves Arab. The Greek Orthodox have traditionally been more supportive of Arabism than us Maronites.
 
I think before I would like to answer this question I would like you to define what you mean by Arab states and who you consider to be Arabic. Your definition may differ from that of the people to whom you refer.
 
Hello,
Arabs are not a monolithic people. They are spread over several countries that roughly share the same language. Culture differs radically between them, depending on how multiethnic a given state is.

I’m not really sure how Arabs define themselves. Probably Muslim, Arabic-speaking.
 
I presume this post was in answer to mine. However, even though my previous post followed one of yours it was not direct at you. If it was I would have used the ‘Reply’ function, as I have done with this post, or to make it clearer I would have quoted you or put @Salibi in my post. Because I did none of those things I was directing my post at the OP because until s/he defines the term used in the OP I think answering the question posed is difficult.
 
I originally rejected the Arab identity, but with time I came to appreciate it. Usually the Melkite Greek Catholic community has looked to Syria as its protector and supporter. I’ve never been a supporter of the Assad run regime in Syria myself, I myself wanted a secular revolution in Syria, but thats not what we got unfortunately many Muslim members of my family were also disappointed with the turn of events in Syria. Of course however I’m of Syriac origins and I’m proud to be Syriac, but the Arab identity has become an irreversible part of us, we read the scriptures in Arabic and our Church services are in Arabic so we don’t mind being called Arabs.
 
All Syriac Christians are called Syriacs, but only the Eastern Syriac Christians tend to be called Assyrians.
 
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