Syro-Lebanese in Egypt Omar Sharif (born Michel Chalhoub) and Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine. The relations between Egypt and the Levant go back to ancient times. However, the earliest instance of modern Levantine migration to Egypt happened after 1724, when a schism in the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch resulted in a separate branch of Levantine Christians attached to Rome known as the Melkite Greek Catholics. Once the Syrian and Lebanese Greek Orthodox community was split, a migratory flow resulted in which Melkite Greek Catholics began leaving cities such as Damascus, Aleppo, Zahle, and Sidon to move to Egypt. Regarding an early Maronite
Michel (name) Michel (name) Michel is originally a French name. It can be both a given name and a surname ultimately of Hebrew origin, derived from , meaning "Who Is Like God?" The name is particularly common in French (from where the standard English pronunciation is derived), German (already in Middle High German), Dutch, and Afrikaans. In these instances "Michel" is equivalent to the English personal name "Michael". "Mitxel" which is also an equivalent of "Michael". When of Czech, Slovak or Polish origin it is a variant of the personal name "Michal". When of Greek origin, the surname "Michel" is a shortened