I realize that. But I was not talking about the Patriarchy of Constantinople, but rather the Eastern Roman Empire itself, of which both Constantinople and Antioch were a part. If you look up the terms "Rum Orthodox" and "Rum Catholic", they refer specifically to Christians from that part of the Middle East living under Islam. "Rum" was an Arabized version of "Roman."
That is a pretty thin "nit" you are picking at there, FRiend.
It really was meant less of a nitpick than an obscure bit of history. :-)
The Maronites have a unique history, particularly dealing with the time of the Crusades...but while I won't argue about particular churches within the Byzantine Empire calling themselves "Roman" -- there are a lot that never would have (Syro-Malobars, Chaldeans, and Copts come particularly to mind).
I was not referring to Churches. I was referring to the Byzantine Empire itself - the Byzantine Empire did not call itself "The Byzantine Empire"... it called itself the Roman Empire and people living within the Empire whom identified with it called themselves "Romans." I was simply pointing out that Arab Christians had a tendency to maintain that Roman identity while under the dominion of Islam... like I said before, it was not meant as a line of reasoning as to why Catholics should be called "Roman Catholics" but rather as a small tidbit of information I thought you'd find interesting since you strike me as an intelligent person with an interest in history.
I take this back.
I confused the Maronite Catholics with the Melkite Catholics - they are the ones that went by the term “Rum Catholics.” Maronites might have as well but I am not certain and I apologize.