Antioch Patriarchal See

The ancient patriarchate of Antioch, where disciples were first called Christians, was fractured by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In 512 the Miaphysite Severus became patriarch, only to be deposed six years later; his Syriac followers were organized by the sixth-century bishop Jacob Baradaeus, after whom they were called Jacobites, while the Greek-speaking Melkites held the Chalcedonian patriarchate.

In 1165 Emperor Manuel I forced Prince Bohemond III to restore the Orthodox hierarchy, allowing Patriarch Athanasius I to reside at the cave Cathedral of Saint Peter. Mamluk conquests scattered both flocks: in 1293 the Syriac Orthodox patriarchs settled at Mor Hananyo monastery near Mardin, and in 1342 the Greek patriarch moved to Damascus.

The disputed election of Cyril VI Tanas split the Greek patriarchate in 1724. Pope Benedict XIII recognized his Catholic line in 1729 as the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.