ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to analysing Melkites in the centralized and disintegrating Abbāsid Caliphate 750–969. Although the Melkite patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem had been in the lands of Islam for almost two centuries, they were to some extent involved in the life of the entire Church. The iconoclastic crisis or the Photios case were a clear proof of this. Obviously, on a local level, the Melkite Churches had a whole range of problems of their own, the solution of which was their own task. This chapter also makes space for an analysis of the tradition of Charlemagne's custody of Jerusalem and the diplomatic relations between the Abbasid Baghdad and the Frankish Aix-la-Chapelle. An effort is made to come up with a picture of Melkites East of the Euphrates despite limited sources. The chapter also tries to present the variety of discussion on Melkite Monasticism and Greek and Arabic Literature (Melkite theology, historiography, and the topos of correspondence) during 750 and 969. There are presented Melkite intellectuals of the early Middle Ages headed by the famous bishop of Ḥarrān Theodore Abū Qurra.
