ABSTRACT
The eastern Mediterranean area, more precisely in Arabic, Bilad al-Sham, frequently termed Historic Syria or Greater Syria, comprises several extremely diversified Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities. It is only natural that both Judaism and Christianity originated in this region and that Islam first extended outside the Arabian Peninsula within two decades after its beginning. A typical case is Lebanon. The Lebanese government officially acknowledges as many as eighteen sects of monotheistic religions, for example: Sunnis, Shiites, Druzes, Alawites, and Isma'ilis for Muslims; Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholics, Assyrians, Chaldean Catholics, Copts, Roman Catholics, and Protestants for Christians; and Jews. The chapter focuses on the Greek Catholics and Greek Orthodox Church for two reasons: they composed the largest Christian sect in the eastern Mediterranean, and the impact of their separation was stronger than that of other churches.
