Rev. Fr. Issa Francis of the Monastery of the Nativity and his fellow monks built this simple chapel using, in part, trees from the surrounding forests. The monastery, located in the northeast mountain village of Laqlouq, is affiliated with the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The faith is unique in that its liturgy follows the ancient Byzantine rite practiced by its sister Greek and eastern Orthodox churches yet is aligned with the Catholic church with fidelity to the pope. The Melkites origins date to Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians. A leadership feud in 1774 caused the Melkites to split from their Orthodox brothers. Five years later, Pope Benedict XIII welcomed them into the Catholic church. Today there are around 1.5 million Melkites, the majority of them residing in the Middle East.