In consequence of the missionary activities of Franciscans, Capuchins, Jesuits, and Lazarists there are now many Uniate Copts and Abyssinians and their number is gradually increasing. Like the Uniate Syrians, the Uniate Copts are called Melchites.[327] The Primate of the Melchites bears the title of “Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem and all the East.” On specially solemn occasions he is called “Father of Fathers, Shepherd of Shepherds, High Priest of High Priests and Thirteenth Apostle.” Although he spends some weeks annually at Jerusalem and Alexandria, where he administers the affairs of his flock through vicars, he resides during the greater part of the year in Damascus. The liturgy used by the Melchites is the Byzantine which is usually celebrated in the Arabic language. On certain very solemn occasions, however, the language of the liturgy is Greek. Unique among all Eastern Churches is that of the Maronites. The members of this interesting and flourishing communion are all Catholics and it is their proud boast that their Church has never been tainted by heresy. It is certain, however, that they were once Monothelites and taught a doctrine which was but a veiled form of Monophysitism. But this heresy they abandoned at the time of the Crusades when their Patriarch made his submission to Rome. Since then, despite partial defections and centuries of oppression on the part of their schismatic and Mohammedan neighbors, their faith has been of practically uninterrupted orthodoxy. The Maronites constitute almost the entire population of the Lebanon. There is besides a considerable number in Western Syria, Cyprus, Egypt, and Palestine. According to the most reliable estimates available their total number is about three hundred thousand.[328] The usual place of residence of their Patriarch is the great monastery of St. Mary of Kanobin in the Lebanon where for centuries the Maronite Patriarchs have found their last resting place. The title of the Maronite Patriarch is _Patriarchus Antiochenus Maronitarum_, but, curiously enough, this Antiochene title is shared with him by no fewer than five other Patriarchs, two of whom are schismatical and three Catholic. These are the schismatic Patriarchs of the Jacobite and Orthodox Churches and the Melchite, Syrian Catholic, and Latin Patriarchs, the last named of whom is only titular. And strange to say, not one of these six Patriarchs lives in Antioch. The language used in the Maronite liturgy is ordinarily Syriac. But to priests who are not sufficiently familiar with Syriac, permission is given to perform the liturgy in Arabic--but Arabic written Syriac characters.