Christianity in the Middle East
Encyclopedia
Christianity
has its origin
in the Middle East
and was the major religion of the region from the fourth century until some time after the Saracen
Muslim Conquests
of the 7th century. Although Greek
had been the dominant languages of the Early Churches, emerging from Hellenized communities around the Eastern Mediterranean
(Anatolia
, the Levant
and Egypt
), many Christian groups used other, local languages, of which Syriac
, Armenian
, Coptic
, Georgian
and Arabic
are prominent. Christians are estimated at 5% of the population in the Middle East, falling from 20% in the early 20th century.
Middle Eastern Christians are reducing in numbers for a veriety of reasons, among which are the low birth rates compared with Muslims, extensive immigration and persecution. It is estimated that at the present rate, the Middle East's 12 million Christians will likely drop to 6 million by the year 2020.
The largest Christian group in the Middle East is the Arabic-speaking Egyptian ethnoreligious community of Copts, who number according to various estimations 6–11 million people, with Coptic sources claiming this number to be as high as 12–16 million people. Copts largely reside in Egypt, with tiny communities also existing in other Middle Eastern countries of Israel, Cyprus and Jordan.
Another large Christian groups in the Middle East include the Arabic-speaking Maronites
, who largely reside in Lebanon, with a sizeable community in Syria as well and smaller ones in Cyprus, Egypt and Jordan. They number some 1.1–1.2 million total across the Middle East.
The Syriac Christians, who are mostly ethnic Assyrians, number roughly 2 million in the Middle East. Those communities suffered a significant decline over the last decade, since many of them fled their native Iraq, and while many found refuge in Syria and Jordan, others fled as far as Europe and the Americas. Currently, the largest community of Syriac Christians in the Middle East resides in Syria, numbering 877,000–1,139,000, while in Iraq it declined to 400,000 (from 0.8–1.2 million before 2003 US invasion).
The Arab Christians
, who are mostly adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church
, number around 400,000 and combined with Melkite Christians (who are usually related as Arab Christians
as well) compose almost 1 million. Arab Christians largely reside across Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestinian territories and Jordan.
Armenian Christians, scattered all across Middle East, number around half a million, with their largest community in Lebanon
with 254,000 members. The number of Armenians in Turkey is disputed having a wide range of estimations. More Armenian communities reside in Syria, Jordan and to lesser degree in other Middle Eastern countries.
The Greeks, who had once inhabited large parts of the Middle East, declined since the Arab conquests and recently severely reduced in Turkey, as a result of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, which followed World War I. Today the biggest Middle Eastern Greek community resides in Cyprus numbering around 793,000 (2008). Cypriot Greeks constitute the only Christian majority state in the Middle East.
In addition, there are multiple smaller Christian groups, living permanently across the Middle East, which include Georgians, Messianic Jews, Russians and others. The population of foreign workers has recently become another significant factor in the Middle East – many of them living even in states were Christianity is not officially recognized, like Saudi Arabia. There are currently several million Christian foreign workers, temporarily residing mostly in the Gulf area. Most of them come from East Asia – namely the Phillipines and Indonesia.
in places like Antioch and Alexandria. The Greek-speaking Mediterranean region was a powerhouse for the Early Church, producing many revered Church Fathers
as well as those who became labelled as heresiarch
s. From Antioch
, where Christians were first so called, came Ignatius
, Diodore of Tarsus, John Chrysostom
, Theodore of Mopsuestia
, Nestorius
, Theodoret
, John of Antioch
, Severus of Antioch
and Peter the Fuller
, many of whom are associated with the School of Antioch
. In like manner, Alexandria
boasted many prominent theologians, including Athenagoras
, Pantaenus
, Clement
, Origen
, Dionysius, Gregory Thaumaturgus
, Arius
, Athanasius, Didymus the Blind
, Cyril
and Dioscorus, associated with School of Alexandria
. The two schools dominated the theological controversies of the first centuries of Christian theology. Whereas Antioch traditionally focused the grammatical and historical interpretation of Scripture and developed a dyophysite christology
, Alexandria was much influenced by neoplatonism
, using an allegorical
interpretation and developing miaphysitism
. Other prominent centres of Christian learning developed in Asia Minor (most remarkably among the Cappadocian Fathers
) and the Levantine coast (Gaza
, Caesarea and Beirut
).
Politically, the Middle East of the first four Christian centuries was divided between the Roman Empire
and Parthia
(later Sasanian Persia
). Christians experienced sporadic persecutions in both political spheres. Within Parthia, most Christians lived in the region of Mesopotamia
/Asuristan
(Assyria
) and spoke eastern Aramaic dialects
related to those spoken by their co-religionists just across the Roman border. Legendary accounts are of the evangelization of the East by Thomas
, Addai/Thaddaeus and Mari
. Syriac
emerged as the standard Aramaic dialect of the three border cities of Edessa
, Nisibis and Arbela
. Translation of the scriptures into Syriac began early in this region, with a Jewish group (probably non-rabbinic) producing a translation of the Hebrew Bible
becoming the basis of the Christian Peshitta
. Syriac Christianity
is most famous for its poet-theologians, Aphrahat
, Ephrem
, Narsai
and Jacob of Serugh
.
Eusebius credits Mark the Evangelist
as the bringer of Christianity to Egypt, and manuscript evidence shows that the faith was firmly established there by the middle of the 2nd century. Although the Greek-speaking community of Alexandria dominated the Egyptian church, speakers of native Coptic and many bilingual Christians were the majority. From the early 4th century, at the latest, the monastic movement
emerged in the Egyptian desert, led by Anthony
and Pachomius
(see Desert Fathers
).
Eusebius (EH 6:20) also mentions the appointment of a bishop and the holding of a synod
in Bostra
around 240, which is the earliest reference to church organisation in an Arabic-speaking area. Later that decade, Eusebius (6:37) describes another synod in Arabia Petraea
. Some scholars have followed hints in Eusebius and Jerome that Philip the Arab
, the son of an Arab sheikh
, may have been the first Christian Roman Empire. However, evidence to support this theory is thin. The Ghassanid
tribe were important Christian foederati of Rome, while the Lakhmids
were an Arab Christian tribe that fought for the Persians. Although the Hejaz
was never a stronghold of Arab Christianity, there are reports of Christians around Mecca
and Yathrib before the advent of Islam. One hadith
even speaks of an icon
of the Virgin and Child in the Ka'ba
.
Christianity came to Armenia
both from the south, Mesopotamia
/Assyria
, and the west, Asia Minor
, as demonstrated by the Greek and Syriac origin of Christian terms in early Armenian texts. Eusebius (EH 6:46, 2) mentions Meruzanes as the bishop of the Armenians around 260. Following the conversion of King Trdat III
to Christianity, Gregory the Illuminator
was consecrated Bishop of Armenia in 314. Armenians continue to celebrate their church as the oldest national church
. Gregory was consecrated at Caesarea
in Cappadocia
.
The Georgian kingdom of Iberia
(Kartli) was probably evangelized first in the 2nd or 3rd century. However, the church was only established there in 330s. A number of sources, both in Georgian and other languages, associate Nino of Cappadocia
with bringing Christianity to the Georgians and converting King Mirian III of Iberia
. Georgian Christian literature emphasizes her connexion with Jerusalem and the role played the Georgian Jewish community in the growth of Christianity. Certainly, early Georgian liturgy does share a number of conspicuous features with that of Jerusalem. The Black Sea
coastal kingdom of Lazica
(Egrisi) had closer ties to Constantinople
, and its bishops were by imperial appointment. Although the Lazican church originated around the same time as its Iberian neighbour, it was not until 523 when its king, Tzate, accepted the faith. The Iberian church was under the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch
, until the reforming king Vakhtang Gorgasali set up an independent catholicos
in 467.
In 314, the Edict of Milan
proclaimed religious toleration
in the Roman Empire, and Christianity rapidly rose to prominence. The church's diocese
s and bishoprics came to be modelled on state administration: partly the motive for the Council of Nicaea
in 325. However, Christians in the Zoroastrian Sasanian Empire (speaking variously Syriac, Armenian or Greek) are often found distancing themselves politically from their Roman co-religionists to appease the shah
. Thus, around 387, when the Armenian Highland
came under Sasanian control
, a separate leadership from that in Caesarea developed and eventually settled in Echmiadzin
, a division that still, to some extent, exists to this day. Likewise, in the 4th century, the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital, was recognised as leader of the Syriac- and Greek-speaking Christians in Persia, assuming the title catholicos, later patriarch
.
Although Christianity in Ethiopia
is traditionally linked to the biblical tale of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch
in the Acts of the Apostles
(8. 26–30), it is more likely that the story is referring to a servant of a Meroitic
queen. The Kebra Nagast
also connects the Queen of Sheba with the royal line of Axum
. Evidence from coinage and other historical references point to the mid-4th-century conversion of King Ezana of Axum
as the establishment of Christianity, whence Nubia
and other surrounding areas were evangelized, all under the oversight of the Patriarch of Alexandria
. In the 6th century, Ethiopian military might conquered a large portion of Yemen
, strengthening Christian concentration in southern Arabia.
of the 5th century. This argument revolved around claims by Alexandrians over alleged theological extremism by Antiochians, and its battleground was the Roman capital, Constantinople, originating from its bishop's, Nestorius's, teaching on the nature of Christ. He was condemned for splitting Christ's person into separate divine and human natures, the extremes of this view, however, were not preached by Nestorius. Cyril of Alexandria succeeded in the deposition of Nestorius at the First Council of Ephesus in 431. The result led to a crisis among the Antiochians, some of whom, including Nestorius himself, found protection in Persia, which continued to espouse traditional Antiochian theology. The schism led to the total isolation of the Persian-sphere Church of the East
, and the adoption of much Alexandrian theology in the Antiochian sphere of influence.
Some of the Alexandrian victors at Ephesus, however, began to push their anti-Nestorian agenda too far, of whom Eutyches
was the most prominent. Much back and forth led to the Council of Chalcedon
of 451, which found a compromise that returned to a theology closer to that of Antioch, refereed by Rome, and condemned the monophysite
theology of Eutyches. However, the outcome was rejected by many Christians in the Middle East, especially by non-Greek-speaking Christians on the fringe of the Roman Empire – Copts, Syriacs, Assyrians and Armenians. In 482, Emperor Zeno
attempted to reconcile his church with his Henotikon
. However, reunion was never achieved, and the non-Chalcedonians adopted miaphysitism
based on traditional Alexandrian doctrine, in revolt against the Byzantine Church. These so-called Oriental Orthodox Churches
include the majority of Egyptian Christians – the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria – along with their African neighbours – the Ethiopian
and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
s – many Syriacs – the Syriac Orthodox Church
– and the majority of Armenians – the Armenian Apostolic Church
.
The name Melkite
(meaning 'of the king'), originally intended as a slur, came to be applied to those who adhered to Chalcedon (it is no longer used to describe them), who continued to be organised into the historic and autocephalous
patriarchates of Constantinople
, Antioch, Alexandria
and Jerusalem. Collectively they form the traditional basis for the Greek Orthodox Church
, known as Rūm Orthodox in Arabic, which is their language of worship throughout Egypt, the Palestinian territories, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and diaspora. The Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
held to a moderate Antiochian doctrine through these schisms and began aligning itself with Byzantium from the early 7th century, and finally broke off ties with their Armenian non-Chalcedonian neighbours in the 720s.
of the 7th century brought to end the hegemony of Byzantium and Persia over the Middle East. Within the Roman sphere, the non-Chalcedonians welcomed the advent of new rule as a means to freedom from Byzantine animosity. The conquest came at the end of a particularly gruelling period of the Roman-Persian Wars
, from the beginning of the 7th century, in which the Sasanid Shah Khosrau II
had captured much of the Syria, Egypt, Anatolia and the Caucasus, and the Byzantines under Heraclius
only managed a decisive counter-attack in the 620s.
The Greek-Orthodox Patriarch Sophronius negotiated with Caliph
Umar
in 637 for the peaceful transfer of the city into Arab control (including The Umariyya Covenant). Likewise, resistance to the Arab onslaught in Egypt was minimal. This seems to be more due to the war fatigue throughout the region rather than entirely due to religious differences.
and Imperialism
and unqualified support for Israel has fueled hatred against Christians because they have been perceived as sharing the same religious beliefs with the Western Colonialists. Derogatory words and insults are often used on christians describing them as "illegitimate children of the crusaders" or as "slaves of western colonialists". Christians in the Middle East face many difficulties in terms of jobs and housing.
, is used as the liturgical language of all Coptic churches inside and outside of Egypt. The Copts constitute the largest population of Christians in the Middle East, numbering between 6–11 million. Although Copts in Egypt speak Egyptian Arabic
, they believe in a Coptic identity
similar to many Egyptian Muslims
who believe in Egyptian nationalism
(also referred to as Pharaonism
). The ancient Egyptian language is descended from the Afroasiatic language family which is theorized to originate in Southwest Asia before eventually spreading and entering North Africa.
There is a wide range of estimations regarding the numbers of Copts in Egypt, though without an official census there is no reliable official data. In 2008, Coptic groups claimed to compose some 12–16 million people. However, the Egyptian government has accused Christian groups and western media of overestimating the population of Christians in Egypt. Egyptian government sources however claim that the actual number of Christians living in Egypt is significantly lower than this.
who are concentrated in the north, particularly the Nineveh Plains
, Dohuk region, and in and around cities such as Mosul
, Erbil
, Kurkuk and in Baghdad
. There are also a proportion of Arab
Christians in the center of cities and have small numbers of Armenian
, Kurdish
, Persian and Turcoman
Christians. They had numbered over 1 million in 1980, or 7% of the population, but almost 400,000 fled to other countries, especially after the Invasion of Iraq
in 2003. The Iraqi Christian population is also declining due to lower birth rates and higher death rates than their Muslim compatriots. Since the 2003 invasion, Iraqi Christians suffer from lack of security. Many lived in the capital Baghdad
and in Mosul
prior to the Iraq war, but most have since fled to northern Iraq, where Assyrian Christians form a majority in some districts. Christians belong to Syriac churches
such as the Chaldean Catholic Church
, the Assyrian Church of the East
, the Ancient Church of the East
, the Syriac Catholic Church
and the Syriac Orthodox Church
, with a small number of Protestant converts. The Iraqi former foreign minister and deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz
(real name Michael Youkhanna) is probably the most famous Iraqi Christian. Assyrians in Iraq have traditionally excelled in business, sports, the arts, music, and the military.
In his recent PhD thesis and in his recent book the Israeli scholar Mordechai Zaken discussed the history of the Assyrian Christians of Turkey and Iraq (in the Kurdish vicinity) during the last 180 years, from 1843 onwards. In his studies Zaken outlines three major eruptions that took place between 1843 and 1933 during which the Assyrian Christians lost their land and hegemony in their habitat in the Hakkārī (or Julamerk) region in southeastern Turkey and became refugees in other lands, notably Iran and Iraq, and ultimately in exiled communities in European and western countries (the USA, Canada, Australia, New-Zealand, Sweden, France, to mention some of these countries). Mordechai Zaken wrote this important study from an analytical and comparative point of view, comparing the Assyrian Christians experience with the experience of the Kurdish Jews who had been dwelling in Kurdistan for two thousands years or so, but were forced to migrate the land to Israel in the early 1950s. The Jews of Kurdistan were forced to leave and migrate as a result of the Arab-Israeli war, as a result of the increasing hostility and acts of violence against Jews in Iraq and Kurdish towns and villages, and as a result of a new situation that had been built up during the 1940s in Iraq and Kurdistan in which the ability of Jews to live in relative comfort and relative tolerance (that was erupted from time to time prior to that period) with their Arab and Muslim neighbors, as they did for many years, practically came to an end. At the end, the Jews of Kurdistan had to leave their Kurdish habitat en masse and migrate into Israel. The Assyrian Christians on the other hand, came to similar conclusion but migrated in stages following each and every eruption of a political crisis with the regime in which boundaries they lived or following each conflict with their Muslim, Turkish, Arabs or Kurdish neighbors, or following the departure or expulsion of their patriarch Mar Shimon in 1933, first to Cyprus and then to the United States. Consequently, indeed there is still a small and fragile community of Assyrians in Iraq, however, millions of Assyrian Christians live today in exiled and prosperous communities in the west.
In recent years, the Christian population in Israel has increased significantly by the migration of foreign workers from a number of countries (predominantly the Philippines and Romania). Numerous churches have opened in Tel Aviv
, in particular.
Nine churches are officially recognised under Israel's confessional system
, for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce. These are the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic (Latin rite), Gregorian-Armenian, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Chaldean (Uniate), Melkite (Greek Catholic), Ethiopian Orthodox, Maronite and Syriac Orthodox churches. There are more informal arrangements with other churches such as the Anglican Church
and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In Jordan, Christians constitute about 7% of the population (about 400,000 people), though the percentage dropped sharply from 18% in the early beginning of the 20th century. This drop is largely due to influx of Muslim Arabs from Hijaz after the First World War, the low birth rates in comparison with Muslims and the large numbers of Palestinians (85–90% Muslim) who fled to Jordan after 1948. Nearly 70–75% of Jordanian Christians belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church
. The rest are Catholics, with a small minority adhering to Protestantism. Christians are well integrated in the Jordanian society and have a high level of freedom. Nearly all Christians belong to the middle or upper classes. Moreover, Christians enjoy more economic and social opportunity in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan than elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. They have a disproportionately large representation in the Jordanian parliament (10% of the Parliament) and hold important government portfolios, ambassadorial appointments abroad, and positions of high military rank.
Jordanian Christians are allowed by the public and private sectors to leave work to attend Divine Liturgy or Mass on Sundays. All Christian religious ceremonies are publicly celebrated. Christians have established good relations with the royal family and the various Jordanian government officials and they have their own ecclesiastic courts for matters of personal status.
Most native Christians in Jordan identify themselves as Arab
, though there are also non-Arab Assyrian/Syriac, Armenian and Maronite groups in the country.
can be traced back to Saint Maron in the 4th century, the founder of national and ecclesiastical Maronitism. Saint Maron adopted an ascetic, reclusive life on the banks of the Orontes river near Homs
–Syria
and founded a community of monks who preached the Gospel in the surrounding area. The Saint Maron Monastery was too close to Antioch, making the monks vulnerable to emperor Justinian II
’s persecution. To escape persecution, Saint John Maron
, the first Maronite patriarch-elect, led his monks into the Lebanese mountains
; the Maronite monks finally settled in the Qadisha valley
. During the Muslim conquest, Muslims persecuted the Christians, particularly the Maronites, with the persecution reaching a peak during the Umayyad caliphate. Nevertheless, the influence of the Maronite establishment spread throughout the Lebanese mountains and became a considerable feudal
force. After the Muslim Conquest, the Maronite Church
became isolated and did not reestablish contact with the Church of Rome until the 12th century. According to Kamal Salibi
some Maronites may have been descended from an Arabian tribe, who immigrated thousands of years ago from the Southern Arabian peninsula
. Salibi maintains "It is very possible that the Maronites, as a community of Arabian origin, were among the last Arabian Christian tribes to arrive in Syria before Islam". Many Lebanese Christians reject this however, and point out that they are of pre Arab origin.
Lebanon holds the largest number of Christians in the Arab world proportionally and falls just behind Egypt in absolute numbers. It is known that Christians made up between 65%–85% of Lebanon's population before the Lebanese Civil War
, if not more, and they still form 48%–50% of the population today (if all refugees and immigrants of the Muslim faith are excluded); if one counts the estimated 10–15 million strong diaspora
, they form more than the majority of the population. The exact number of Christians is uncertain because no official census has been made in Lebanon since 1932. Lebanese Christians belong mostly to the Maronite Catholic Church
and Greek Orthodox
, with sizable minorities belonging to the Melkite Greek Catholics
. Lebanese Christians are the only Christians in the Middle East with a sizable political role in the country. The Lebanese president, half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of the various Lebanese Christian rites.
Many Lebanese Christians consider themselves of indigenous Phoenicia
n ancestry, arguing that their presence predates the arrival of Arabs in the region. Though they originate from the Orontes river near Homs–Syria and founded a community of monks who left the Syriac Orthodox church, most still speak Aramaic today.
About 173,000 Arab Palestinian Christian
s lived in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip
in the 1990s, in addition to about 122,000 living in Israel
as Arab citizens of Israel
. Both the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
, George Habash
, and the founder if its offshoot the DFLP, Nayif Hawatmeh, were Christians, as is prominent Palestinian activist and former Palestinian Authority minister Hanan Ashrawi
.
Over the last years, unlike the surge in Christian population of Israel, the number of Christians in the Palestinian territories declined both in the West Bank and especially in Gaza, where since the Hamas' takeover
, anti-Christian attitudes have been on the high. The decline of Christianity in the West Bank is largely attributed to poor birth rates, compared with the dominant Muslim population; anti-Christian attitudes by radical Muslim organizations; and general economic and security situation imposed by the Israeli military, which prompts the Palestinian Christians to seek better opportunities abroad.
and the Maronite Church
, with some Roman Catholics. The most Syrian Christians are ethnic Assyrians/Syriacs and Armenians
.
, elsewhere in the world. These include such countries as Argentina
, Australia
, Brazil
, Canada
, Chile
, Colombia
, Cuba
, the Dominican Republic
, Mexico
, the United States
and Venezuela
among them. There are also many Middle Eastern Christians in Europe
, especially in the United Kingdom
, France
(due to its historical connections with Lebanon
and North Africa) and Spain
(due to its historical connections with northern Morocco), and to a lesser extent, Ireland
, Germany
, Italy
, Greece
and the Netherlands
.
The largest number of Middle Eastern Christians, residing in the diaspora is of Lebanese Maronites, who have migrated out of Lebanon for security and economic reasons since WWI. Much fled Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War
.
Syriac Christians currently reside in diaspora with large communities in Europe, America and Australia, reaching more than a million outside of the Middle East. Much of these is attributed to the massive Christian exodus from Iraq, following the 2003 invasion and the consequent Iraq War.
Among the Arab Christians about 400,000 Palestinian Christians reside in the diaspora, largely in the Americas, where their communities have been established since the late 19th century and peaked following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
. More emigrated from Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War.
The majority of self-identifying Arab American
s are Eastern Rite Catholic or Orthodox, according to the Arab American Institute
. On the other hand, most American Muslims are black or of South Asian (India
n or Pakistan
i) origin.
community in the Middle East
are the Copts of Egypt
, whose churches are mainly divided into:
Syriac Christianity
, are ethnically distinct from Arabs, and divided into several sects:
Members of the above churches are ethnic Assyrians
churches, whose followers were initially Greek
speaking Middle Easterners:
All are mainly found in Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and to a lesser degree Yemen, Oman and Egypt
Armenia, historically, was the first state to accept Christianity after Adiabene
. There are small numbers of Russian Orthodox and Assyrian Christians there also. Armenian Christians are also to be found in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus and Jordan.
, the majority of the population belongs to the Georgian Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church
, the Armenian
Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East
and the Roman Catholic Church
also have adherents there.
church with mainly Kurdish adherents.
is the Anglican church responsible for the Middle East and North Africa. It is quite small, with only some 35,000 members throughout the area.
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
has its origin
Origins of Christianity
For centuries, the traditional understanding has been that Judaism came before Christianity and that Christianity separated from Judaism some time after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE....
in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and was the major religion of the region from the fourth century until some time after the Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...
Muslim Conquests
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
of the 7th century. Although Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
had been the dominant languages of the Early Churches, emerging from Hellenized communities around the Eastern Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
(Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
), many Christian groups used other, local languages, of which Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
, Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
, Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
, Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
are prominent. Christians are estimated at 5% of the population in the Middle East, falling from 20% in the early 20th century.
Middle Eastern Christians are reducing in numbers for a veriety of reasons, among which are the low birth rates compared with Muslims, extensive immigration and persecution. It is estimated that at the present rate, the Middle East's 12 million Christians will likely drop to 6 million by the year 2020.
The largest Christian group in the Middle East is the Arabic-speaking Egyptian ethnoreligious community of Copts, who number according to various estimations 6–11 million people, with Coptic sources claiming this number to be as high as 12–16 million people. Copts largely reside in Egypt, with tiny communities also existing in other Middle Eastern countries of Israel, Cyprus and Jordan.
Another large Christian groups in the Middle East include the Arabic-speaking Maronites
Maronites
Maronites , is an ethnoreligious group in the Middle East that have been historically tied with Lebanon. They derive their name from the Syriac saint Mar Maron whose followers moved to Mount Lebanon from northern Syria establishing the Maronite Church....
, who largely reside in Lebanon, with a sizeable community in Syria as well and smaller ones in Cyprus, Egypt and Jordan. They number some 1.1–1.2 million total across the Middle East.
The Syriac Christians, who are mostly ethnic Assyrians, number roughly 2 million in the Middle East. Those communities suffered a significant decline over the last decade, since many of them fled their native Iraq, and while many found refuge in Syria and Jordan, others fled as far as Europe and the Americas. Currently, the largest community of Syriac Christians in the Middle East resides in Syria, numbering 877,000–1,139,000, while in Iraq it declined to 400,000 (from 0.8–1.2 million before 2003 US invasion).
The Arab Christians
Arab Christians
Arab Christians are ethnic Arabs of Christian faith, sometimes also including those, who are identified with Arab panethnicity. They are the remnants of ancient Arab Christian clans or Arabized Christians. Many of the modern Arab Christians are descendants of pre-Islamic Christian Arabian tribes,...
, who are mostly adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
, number around 400,000 and combined with Melkite Christians (who are usually related as Arab Christians
Arab Christians
Arab Christians are ethnic Arabs of Christian faith, sometimes also including those, who are identified with Arab panethnicity. They are the remnants of ancient Arab Christian clans or Arabized Christians. Many of the modern Arab Christians are descendants of pre-Islamic Christian Arabian tribes,...
as well) compose almost 1 million. Arab Christians largely reside across Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestinian territories and Jordan.
Armenian Christians, scattered all across Middle East, number around half a million, with their largest community in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
with 254,000 members. The number of Armenians in Turkey is disputed having a wide range of estimations. More Armenian communities reside in Syria, Jordan and to lesser degree in other Middle Eastern countries.
The Greeks, who had once inhabited large parts of the Middle East, declined since the Arab conquests and recently severely reduced in Turkey, as a result of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, which followed World War I. Today the biggest Middle Eastern Greek community resides in Cyprus numbering around 793,000 (2008). Cypriot Greeks constitute the only Christian majority state in the Middle East.
In addition, there are multiple smaller Christian groups, living permanently across the Middle East, which include Georgians, Messianic Jews, Russians and others. The population of foreign workers has recently become another significant factor in the Middle East – many of them living even in states were Christianity is not officially recognized, like Saudi Arabia. There are currently several million Christian foreign workers, temporarily residing mostly in the Gulf area. Most of them come from East Asia – namely the Phillipines and Indonesia.
Evangelization and early history
Christianity spread rapidly from Jerusalem along major trade routes to major settlements, finding its strongest growth among Hellenized JewsHellenistic Judaism
Hellenistic Judaism was a movement which existed in the Jewish diaspora that sought to establish a Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism...
in places like Antioch and Alexandria. The Greek-speaking Mediterranean region was a powerhouse for the Early Church, producing many revered Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
as well as those who became labelled as heresiarch
Heresiarch
A heresiarch is a founder or leader of a heretical doctrine or movement, as considered by those who claim to maintain an orthodox religious tradition or doctrine...
s. From Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
, where Christians were first so called, came Ignatius
Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius of Antioch was among the Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop of Antioch, and was a student of John the Apostle. En route to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which have been preserved as an example of very early Christian theology...
, Diodore of Tarsus, John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
, Theodore of Mopsuestia
Theodore of Mopsuestia
Theodore the Interpreter was bishop of Mopsuestia from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate...
, Nestorius
Nestorius
Nestorius was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 22 June 431.Drawing on his studies at the School of Antioch, his teachings, which included a rejection of the long-used title of Theotokos for the Virgin Mary, brought him into conflict with other prominent churchmen of the time,...
, Theodoret
Theodoret
Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus was an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria . He played a pivotal role in many early Byzantine church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms...
, John of Antioch
John of Antioch
John of Antioch was Patriarch of Antioch and led a group of moderate Eastern bishops during the Nestorian controversy. He is sometimes confused with John Chrysostom, who is occasionally also referred to as John of Antioch. John gave active support to his friend Nestorius in the latter's dispute...
, Severus of Antioch
Severus of Antioch
Severus, Patriarch of Antioch , born approximately 465 in Sozopolis in Pisidia, was by birth and education a pagan, who was baptized in the "precinct of the divine martyr Leontius" at Tripoli, Lebanon.- Life :...
and Peter the Fuller
Peter the Fuller
Peter Fullo was Patriarch of Antioch and Non-Chalcedonian.Peter received his surname from his former trade as a fuller of cloth. Tillemont Peter Fullo ("the Fuller") was Patriarch of Antioch (471–488) and Non-Chalcedonian.Peter received his surname from his former trade as a fuller of cloth....
, many of whom are associated with the School of Antioch
School of Antioch
The School of Antioch was one of the two major centers of the study of biblical exegesis and theology during Late Antiquity; the other was the catechetical school of Alexandria...
. In like manner, Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
boasted many prominent theologians, including Athenagoras
Athenagoras of Athens
Athenagoras was a Father of the Church, a Proto-orthodox Christian apologist who lived during the second half of the 2nd century of whom little is known for certain, besides that he was Athenian , a philosopher, and a convert to Christianity. In his writings he styles himself as "Athenagoras, the...
, Pantaenus
Pantaenus
Saint Pantaenus was a Christian theologian who founded the Catechetical School of Alexandria about AD 190. This school was the earliest catechetical school, and became influential in the development of Christian theology....
, Clement
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
, Origen
Origen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
, Dionysius, Gregory Thaumaturgus
Gregory Thaumaturgus
Gregory Thaumaturgus, also known as Gregory of Neocaesarea or Gregory the Wonderworker, was a Christian bishop of the 3rd century.-Biography:Gregory was born at Neo-Caesarea around 213 A.D...
, Arius
Arius
Arius was a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt of Libyan origins. His teachings about the nature of the Godhead, which emphasized the Father's divinity over the Son , and his opposition to the Athanasian or Trinitarian Christology, made him a controversial figure in the First Council of...
, Athanasius, Didymus the Blind
Didymus the Blind
Didymus the Blind was a Coptic Church theologian of Alexandria, whose famous Catechetical School he led for about half a century. He became blind at a very young age, and therefore ignorant of the rudiments of learning...
, Cyril
Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He came to power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries...
and Dioscorus, associated with School of Alexandria
Catechetical School of Alexandria
The Catechetical School of Alexandria was and is a place for the training of Christian theologians and priests in Alexandria. The teachers and students of the school were influential in many of the early theological controversies of the Christian church.The earliest recorded instructor at the...
. The two schools dominated the theological controversies of the first centuries of Christian theology. Whereas Antioch traditionally focused the grammatical and historical interpretation of Scripture and developed a dyophysite christology
Christology
Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...
, Alexandria was much influenced by neoplatonism
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
, using an allegorical
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
interpretation and developing miaphysitism
Miaphysitism
Miaphysitism is a Christological formula of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and of the various churches adhering to the first three Ecumenical Councils...
. Other prominent centres of Christian learning developed in Asia Minor (most remarkably among the Cappadocian Fathers
Cappadocian Fathers
The Cappadocian Fathers are Basil the Great , who was bishop of Caesarea; Basil's brother Gregory of Nyssa , who was bishop of Nyssa; and a close friend, Gregory of Nazianzus , who became Patriarch of Constantinople...
) and the Levantine coast (Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
, Caesarea and Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
).
Politically, the Middle East of the first four Christian centuries was divided between the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
(later Sasanian Persia
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
). Christians experienced sporadic persecutions in both political spheres. Within Parthia, most Christians lived in the region of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
/Asuristan
Asuristan
Asuristan was the province of Assyria under the Sassanid Empire . It corresponds to the Babylonia province under the Parthian Empire.The province for the most part stretched from Mosul to Adiabene....
(Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
) and spoke eastern Aramaic dialects
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
related to those spoken by their co-religionists just across the Roman border. Legendary accounts are of the evangelization of the East by Thomas
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
, Addai/Thaddaeus and Mari
Saint Mari
Saint Mari was converted by Saint Addai. He is said to have had Mar Aggai as his spiritual director. He is also believed to have done missionary work around Nineveh, Nisibis, and along the Euphrates, and is said to have been one of the great apostles to Syria and Persia. He and Addai are credited...
. Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
emerged as the standard Aramaic dialect of the three border cities of Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
, Nisibis and Arbela
Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
. Translation of the scriptures into Syriac began early in this region, with a Jewish group (probably non-rabbinic) producing a translation of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
becoming the basis of the Christian Peshitta
Peshitta
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition.The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD...
. Syriac Christianity
Syriac Christianity
Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
is most famous for its poet-theologians, Aphrahat
Aphrahat
Aphrahat was a Syriac-Christian author of the 4th century from the Adiabene region of Northern Mesopotamia, which was within the Persian Empire, who composed a series of twenty-three expositions or homilies on points of Christian doctrine and practice...
, Ephrem
Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian was a Syriac and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, and especially in the Syriac Orthodox Church, as a saint.Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems, and sermons in verse, as well as...
, Narsai
Narsai
Narsai was one of the foremost of Syriac poet-theologians, perhaps equal in stature to Jacob of Serugh, both second only to Ephrem the Syrian...
and Jacob of Serugh
Jacob of Serugh
Jacob of Serugh , also called Mar Jacob, was one of the foremost Syriac poet-theologians among the Syriac, perhaps only second in stature to Ephrem the Syrian and equal to Narsai. Where his predecessor Ephrem is known as the 'Harp of the Spirit', Jacob is the 'Flute of the Spirit'...
.
Eusebius credits Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....
as the bringer of Christianity to Egypt, and manuscript evidence shows that the faith was firmly established there by the middle of the 2nd century. Although the Greek-speaking community of Alexandria dominated the Egyptian church, speakers of native Coptic and many bilingual Christians were the majority. From the early 4th century, at the latest, the monastic movement
Monasticism
Monasticism is a religious way of life characterized by the practice of renouncing worldly pursuits to fully devote one's self to spiritual work...
emerged in the Egyptian desert, led by Anthony
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
and Pachomius
Pachomius
Saint Pakhom , also known as Pachome and Pakhomius , is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. In the Coptic churches his feast day is celebrated on May 9...
(see Desert Fathers
Desert Fathers
The Desert Fathers were hermits, ascetics, monks, and nuns who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt beginning around the third century AD. The most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in 270–271 and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism...
).
Eusebius (EH 6:20) also mentions the appointment of a bishop and the holding of a synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
in Bostra
Bosra
Bosra , also known as Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra, Busra Eski Şam, Busra ash-Sham, and Nova Trajana Bostra, is an ancient city administratively belonging to the Daraa Governorate in southern Syria...
around 240, which is the earliest reference to church organisation in an Arabic-speaking area. Later that decade, Eusebius (6:37) describes another synod in Arabia Petraea
Petra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
. Some scholars have followed hints in Eusebius and Jerome that Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab , also known as Philip or Philippus Arabs, was Roman Emperor from 244 to 249. He came from Syria, and rose to become a major figure in the Roman Empire. He achieved power after the death of Gordian III, quickly negotiating peace with the Sassanid Empire...
, the son of an Arab sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
, may have been the first Christian Roman Empire. However, evidence to support this theory is thin. The Ghassanid
Ghassanids
The Ghassanids were a group of South Arabian Christian tribes that emigrated in the early 3rd century from Yemen to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Holy Land....
tribe were important Christian foederati of Rome, while the Lakhmids
Lakhmids
The Lakhmids , Banu Lakhm , Muntherids , were a group of Arab Christians who lived in Southern Iraq, and made al-Hirah their capital in 266. Poets described it as a Paradise on earth, an Arab Poet described the city's pleasant climate and beauty "One day in al-Hirah is better than a year of...
were an Arab Christian tribe that fought for the Persians. Although the Hejaz
Hejaz
al-Hejaz, also Hijaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined primarily by its western border on the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
was never a stronghold of Arab Christianity, there are reports of Christians around Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and Yathrib before the advent of Islam. One hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
even speaks of an icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
of the Virgin and Child in the Ka'ba
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
.
Christianity came to Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
both from the south, Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
/Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, and the west, Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
, as demonstrated by the Greek and Syriac origin of Christian terms in early Armenian texts. Eusebius (EH 6:46, 2) mentions Meruzanes as the bishop of the Armenians around 260. Following the conversion of King Trdat III
Tiridates III of Armenia
Tiridates III or Diritades III was the king of Arsacid Armenia , and is also known as Tiridates the Great ; some scholars incorrectly refer to him as Tiridates IV as a result of the fact that Tiridates I of Armenia reigned twice)...
to Christianity, Gregory the Illuminator
Gregory the Illuminator
Saint Gregory the Illuminator or Saint Gregory the Enlightener is the patron saint and first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church...
was consecrated Bishop of Armenia in 314. Armenians continue to celebrate their church as the oldest national church
National church
National church is a concept of a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism....
. Gregory was consecrated at Caesarea
Kayseri
Kayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...
in Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
.
The Georgian kingdom of Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
(Kartli) was probably evangelized first in the 2nd or 3rd century. However, the church was only established there in 330s. A number of sources, both in Georgian and other languages, associate Nino of Cappadocia
Saint Nino
Saint Nino , ), Equal to the Apostles in and the Enlightener of Georgia, was a woman who preached Christianity in Georgia....
with bringing Christianity to the Georgians and converting King Mirian III of Iberia
Mirian III of Iberia
Mirian III was a king of Iberia , contemporaneous to the Roman emperor Constantine I .According to the early medieval Georgian annals and hagiography, Mirian was the first Christian king of Iberia, converted through the ministry of Nino, a Cappadocian female missionary...
. Georgian Christian literature emphasizes her connexion with Jerusalem and the role played the Georgian Jewish community in the growth of Christianity. Certainly, early Georgian liturgy does share a number of conspicuous features with that of Jerusalem. The Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
coastal kingdom of Lazica
Egrisi
Lazica or Egrisi in Georgian |Georgia]], named after the Laz tribe, which at some time dominated the local ruling élite.The kingdom flourished between the 6th century BC and the 7th century AD. It covered part of the territory of the former kingdom Colchis and subjugated the territory of modern...
(Egrisi) had closer ties to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, and its bishops were by imperial appointment. Although the Lazican church originated around the same time as its Iberian neighbour, it was not until 523 when its king, Tzate, accepted the faith. The Iberian church was under the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its earliest period...
, until the reforming king Vakhtang Gorgasali set up an independent catholicos
Catholicos
Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases is borne by the designated head of an autonomous church, in which case the holder might have other titles such as Patriarch...
in 467.
In 314, the Edict of Milan
Edict of Milan
The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by emperors Constantine I and Licinius that proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire...
proclaimed religious toleration
Religious toleration
Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
in the Roman Empire, and Christianity rapidly rose to prominence. The church's diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s and bishoprics came to be modelled on state administration: partly the motive for the Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
in 325. However, Christians in the Zoroastrian Sasanian Empire (speaking variously Syriac, Armenian or Greek) are often found distancing themselves politically from their Roman co-religionists to appease the shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
. Thus, around 387, when the Armenian Highland
Armenian Highland
The Armenian Highland is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East...
came under Sasanian control
Armenians in the Persian Empire
Persian Armenia or Persarmenia corresponds to the Persian territory in which Armenians have lived until the Arab conquest of Persia. The size of Persian Armenia varied over time. It sometimes simply referred to as Eastern Armenia. According to George A...
, a separate leadership from that in Caesarea developed and eventually settled in Echmiadzin
Echmiadzin
Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin is a 4th century Armenian church in the town of Ejmiatsin, Armenia. It is also the central cathedral of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin of the Armenian Apostolic Church....
, a division that still, to some extent, exists to this day. Likewise, in the 4th century, the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital, was recognised as leader of the Syriac- and Greek-speaking Christians in Persia, assuming the title catholicos, later patriarch
Patriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
.
Although Christianity in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
is traditionally linked to the biblical tale of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch
Ethiopian eunuch
The Ethiopian eunuch is a figure in the New Testament of the Bible. The story of his conversion to Christianity is recounted in Acts 8.-Biblical narrative:...
in the Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
(8. 26–30), it is more likely that the story is referring to a servant of a Meroitic
Meroë
Meroë Meroitic: Medewi or Bedewi; Arabic: and Meruwi) is an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, approximately 200 km north-east of Khartoum. Near the site are a group of villages called Bagrawiyah...
queen. The Kebra Nagast
Kebra Nagast
The Kebra Nagast , or the Book of the Glory of Kings, is an account written in Ge'ez of the origins of the Solomonic line of the Emperors of Ethiopia. The text, in its existing form, is at least seven hundred years old, and is considered by many Ethiopian Christians and Rastafarians to be an...
also connects the Queen of Sheba with the royal line of Axum
Aksumite Empire
The Kingdom of Aksum or Axum, also known as the Aksumite Empire, was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa, growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period ca. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD...
. Evidence from coinage and other historical references point to the mid-4th-century conversion of King Ezana of Axum
Ezana of Axum
Ezana of Axum , was ruler of the Axumite Kingdom located in present-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, he himself employed the style "king of Saba and Salhen, Himyar and Dhu-Raydan"...
as the establishment of Christianity, whence Nubia
Nubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
and other surrounding areas were evangelized, all under the oversight of the Patriarch of Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria
The Patriarch of Alexandria is the Archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation of Pope , and did so earlier than that of the Bishop of Rome...
. In the 6th century, Ethiopian military might conquered a large portion of Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, strengthening Christian concentration in southern Arabia.
Schisms
The first major disagreement that led to a fracturing of the church was the so-called Nestorian SchismNestorian Schism
The Nestorian Schism was the split between the Orthodox Church and churches affiliated with Nestorian doctrine in the 5th century. The schism rose out of a Christological dispute, the key figures in which were Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius...
of the 5th century. This argument revolved around claims by Alexandrians over alleged theological extremism by Antiochians, and its battleground was the Roman capital, Constantinople, originating from its bishop's, Nestorius's, teaching on the nature of Christ. He was condemned for splitting Christ's person into separate divine and human natures, the extremes of this view, however, were not preached by Nestorius. Cyril of Alexandria succeeded in the deposition of Nestorius at the First Council of Ephesus in 431. The result led to a crisis among the Antiochians, some of whom, including Nestorius himself, found protection in Persia, which continued to espouse traditional Antiochian theology. The schism led to the total isolation of the Persian-sphere Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, and the adoption of much Alexandrian theology in the Antiochian sphere of influence.
Some of the Alexandrian victors at Ephesus, however, began to push their anti-Nestorian agenda too far, of whom Eutyches
Eutyches
Eutyches was a presbyter and archimandrite at Constantinople. He first came to notice in 431 at the First Council of Ephesus, for his vehement opposition to the teachings of Nestorius; his condemnation of Nestorianism as heresy precipitated his being denounced as a heretic...
was the most prominent. Much back and forth led to the Council of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
of 451, which found a compromise that returned to a theology closer to that of Antioch, refereed by Rome, and condemned the monophysite
Monophysitism
Monophysitism , or Monophysiticism, is the Christological position that Jesus Christ has only one nature, his humanity being absorbed by his Deity...
theology of Eutyches. However, the outcome was rejected by many Christians in the Middle East, especially by non-Greek-speaking Christians on the fringe of the Roman Empire – Copts, Syriacs, Assyrians and Armenians. In 482, Emperor Zeno
Zeno (emperor)
Zeno , originally named Tarasis, was Byzantine Emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues...
attempted to reconcile his church with his Henotikon
Henotikon
The Henotikon was issued by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 482, in an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the differences between the supporters of the Council of Chalcedon and the miaphysites...
. However, reunion was never achieved, and the non-Chalcedonians adopted miaphysitism
Miaphysitism
Miaphysitism is a Christological formula of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and of the various churches adhering to the first three Ecumenical Councils...
based on traditional Alexandrian doctrine, in revolt against the Byzantine Church. These so-called Oriental Orthodox Churches
Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy is the faith of those Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon...
include the majority of Egyptian Christians – the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria – along with their African neighbours – the Ethiopian
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the predominant Oriental Orthodox Christian church in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Church was administratively part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All...
and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church
The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church is an Oriental Orthodox church. Its autocephaly was recognised by Pope Shenouda III after Eritrea gained its independence in 1993.-Origins:...
s – many Syriacs – the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
– and the majority of Armenians – the Armenian Apostolic Church
Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
.
The name Melkite
Melkite
The term Melkite, also written Melchite, refers to various Byzantine Rite Christian churches and their members originating in the Middle East. The word comes from the Syriac word malkāyā , and the Arabic word Malakī...
(meaning 'of the king'), originally intended as a slur, came to be applied to those who adhered to Chalcedon (it is no longer used to describe them), who continued to be organised into the historic and autocephalous
Autocephaly
Autocephaly , in hierarchical Christian churches and especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop...
patriarchates of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
, Antioch, Alexandria
Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria
The Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, also known as the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity.Officially, it is called the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria to distinguish it from the...
and Jerusalem. Collectively they form the traditional basis for the Greek Orthodox Church
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
, known as Rūm Orthodox in Arabic, which is their language of worship throughout Egypt, the Palestinian territories, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and diaspora. The Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
The Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church is an autocephalous part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since the 4th century AD, Georgian Orthodoxy has been the state religion of Georgia, and it remains the country's largest religious institution....
held to a moderate Antiochian doctrine through these schisms and began aligning itself with Byzantium from the early 7th century, and finally broke off ties with their Armenian non-Chalcedonian neighbours in the 720s.
Muslim conquests
The Muslim conquestsMuslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
of the 7th century brought to end the hegemony of Byzantium and Persia over the Middle East. Within the Roman sphere, the non-Chalcedonians welcomed the advent of new rule as a means to freedom from Byzantine animosity. The conquest came at the end of a particularly gruelling period of the Roman-Persian Wars
Roman-Persian Wars
The Roman–Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between states of the Greco-Roman world and two successive Iranic empires: the Parthian and the Sassanid. Contact between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 92 BC; wars began under the late Republic, and continued...
, from the beginning of the 7th century, in which the Sasanid Shah Khosrau II
Khosrau II
250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II (Khosrow II, Chosroes II, or Xosrov II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the Ever Victorious" – (in Persian: خسرو پرویز), was the twenty-second Sassanid King of Persia, reigning from 590 to 628...
had captured much of the Syria, Egypt, Anatolia and the Caucasus, and the Byzantines under Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
only managed a decisive counter-attack in the 620s.
The Greek-Orthodox Patriarch Sophronius negotiated with Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
in 637 for the peaceful transfer of the city into Arab control (including The Umariyya Covenant). Likewise, resistance to the Arab onslaught in Egypt was minimal. This seems to be more due to the war fatigue throughout the region rather than entirely due to religious differences.
Ottoman Empire
Persecution of Christians in Middle East
Christians in the Middle East face continuous persecution and are often isolated. Suspicions of the West prevalent in much of the Middle East and often transformed into outright hatred because of the ravages attributed to Western ColonialismColonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
and Imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
and unqualified support for Israel has fueled hatred against Christians because they have been perceived as sharing the same religious beliefs with the Western Colonialists. Derogatory words and insults are often used on christians describing them as "illegitimate children of the crusaders" or as "slaves of western colonialists". Christians in the Middle East face many difficulties in terms of jobs and housing.
Egypt
Egyptian Christians, known as Copts, are mainly members of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The Coptic language – a derivative of the ancient Egyptian language, written mainly in the Greek alphabetGreek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
, is used as the liturgical language of all Coptic churches inside and outside of Egypt. The Copts constitute the largest population of Christians in the Middle East, numbering between 6–11 million. Although Copts in Egypt speak Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic is the language spoken by contemporary Egyptians.It is more commonly known locally as the Egyptian colloquial language or Egyptian dialect ....
, they believe in a Coptic identity
Coptic identity
Copts have a long history as a minority among Egypt's Muslim majority. While an integral part of Egyptian society, Copts remained culturally and religiously distinct from their surrounding....
similar to many Egyptian Muslims
Islam in Egypt
The republic of Egypt has recognized Islam as the state religion since 1980. Egypt is predominantly Muslim, with around 80 million Muslims, comprising 94.7% of the population, as of 2010...
who believe in Egyptian nationalism
Egyptian nationalism
Egyptian nationalism is an ideology that rose to prominence in Egypt before the British occupation to Egypt.- History :It is first used to refer to the native officers’ movement, led by Col. Ahmad ‘Urâbî, against Egyptian government policies that favored officers of Turkish, Circassian , or other...
(also referred to as Pharaonism
Pharaonism
Pharaonism is an ideology that rose to prominence in Egypt in the 1920s and 1930s. It looked to Egypt's pre-Islamic past and argued that Egypt was part of a larger Mediterranean civilization. This ideology stressed the role of the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea...
). The ancient Egyptian language is descended from the Afroasiatic language family which is theorized to originate in Southwest Asia before eventually spreading and entering North Africa.
There is a wide range of estimations regarding the numbers of Copts in Egypt, though without an official census there is no reliable official data. In 2008, Coptic groups claimed to compose some 12–16 million people. However, the Egyptian government has accused Christian groups and western media of overestimating the population of Christians in Egypt. Egyptian government sources however claim that the actual number of Christians living in Egypt is significantly lower than this.
Iraq
In Iraq, Christians numbered about 636,000 in 2005, representing 3% of the population of the country. The vast majority are AssyriansAssyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
who are concentrated in the north, particularly the Nineveh Plains
Nineveh plains
Nineveh plains is a region in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq to the north and west of the city Mosul. The area generally consists of three districts; Tel Keppe, Al-Hamdaniya, and Al-Shikhan...
, Dohuk region, and in and around cities such as Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, Erbil
Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
, Kurkuk and in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. There are also a proportion of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
Christians in the center of cities and have small numbers of Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
, Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
, Persian and Turcoman
Turkmen people
The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...
Christians. They had numbered over 1 million in 1980, or 7% of the population, but almost 400,000 fled to other countries, especially after the Invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
in 2003. The Iraqi Christian population is also declining due to lower birth rates and higher death rates than their Muslim compatriots. Since the 2003 invasion, Iraqi Christians suffer from lack of security. Many lived in the capital Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
and in Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
prior to the Iraq war, but most have since fled to northern Iraq, where Assyrian Christians form a majority in some districts. Christians belong to Syriac churches
Syriac Christianity
Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
such as the Chaldean Catholic Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
The Chaldean Catholic Church , is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church...
, the Assyrian Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, the Ancient Church of the East
Ancient Church of the East
The Ancient Church of the East was established in 1968. It follows the traditions of one of the oldest Christian churches, the Church of the East, whose origins trace back to the See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in central Mesopotamia...
, the Syriac Catholic Church
Syriac Catholic Church
The Syriac Catholic Church is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and Syro-Malankara Christians...
and the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
, with a small number of Protestant converts. The Iraqi former foreign minister and deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and a close advisor of former President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s when both were activists for the then-banned Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party...
(real name Michael Youkhanna) is probably the most famous Iraqi Christian. Assyrians in Iraq have traditionally excelled in business, sports, the arts, music, and the military.
In his recent PhD thesis and in his recent book the Israeli scholar Mordechai Zaken discussed the history of the Assyrian Christians of Turkey and Iraq (in the Kurdish vicinity) during the last 180 years, from 1843 onwards. In his studies Zaken outlines three major eruptions that took place between 1843 and 1933 during which the Assyrian Christians lost their land and hegemony in their habitat in the Hakkārī (or Julamerk) region in southeastern Turkey and became refugees in other lands, notably Iran and Iraq, and ultimately in exiled communities in European and western countries (the USA, Canada, Australia, New-Zealand, Sweden, France, to mention some of these countries). Mordechai Zaken wrote this important study from an analytical and comparative point of view, comparing the Assyrian Christians experience with the experience of the Kurdish Jews who had been dwelling in Kurdistan for two thousands years or so, but were forced to migrate the land to Israel in the early 1950s. The Jews of Kurdistan were forced to leave and migrate as a result of the Arab-Israeli war, as a result of the increasing hostility and acts of violence against Jews in Iraq and Kurdish towns and villages, and as a result of a new situation that had been built up during the 1940s in Iraq and Kurdistan in which the ability of Jews to live in relative comfort and relative tolerance (that was erupted from time to time prior to that period) with their Arab and Muslim neighbors, as they did for many years, practically came to an end. At the end, the Jews of Kurdistan had to leave their Kurdish habitat en masse and migrate into Israel. The Assyrian Christians on the other hand, came to similar conclusion but migrated in stages following each and every eruption of a political crisis with the regime in which boundaries they lived or following each conflict with their Muslim, Turkish, Arabs or Kurdish neighbors, or following the departure or expulsion of their patriarch Mar Shimon in 1933, first to Cyprus and then to the United States. Consequently, indeed there is still a small and fragile community of Assyrians in Iraq, however, millions of Assyrian Christians live today in exiled and prosperous communities in the west.
Israel
Most Christians, permanently in Israel are ethnic Arabs, numbering roughly 135,000, who belong to Greek Orthodox and to a lesser degree Latin and Greek Catholic (Melkite) Churches. Smaller communities of Middle Eastern Christian peoples in Israel also include the Maronites, Assyrians, Armenians and Messianic Jews. During the 1990s, the Christian community had been increased due to the immigration of Jewish-Christian mixed marriages, who had predominantly arrived from the countries of the former Soviet Union. This added another 20–30 thousands of mostly Greek Orthodox Christians with Russian and Ukrainian ancestry.In recent years, the Christian population in Israel has increased significantly by the migration of foreign workers from a number of countries (predominantly the Philippines and Romania). Numerous churches have opened in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, in particular.
Nine churches are officially recognised under Israel's confessional system
Marriage in Israel
Marriages in Israel can only be performed under the auspices of the religious community to which couples belong. Matrimonial law is based on the Millet or confessional community system employed in the Ottoman Empire, which was not modified during the British Mandate and remains in force in the...
, for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce. These are the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic (Latin rite), Gregorian-Armenian, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Chaldean (Uniate), Melkite (Greek Catholic), Ethiopian Orthodox, Maronite and Syriac Orthodox churches. There are more informal arrangements with other churches such as the Anglican Church
Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem
The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem is the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, which is a part of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and The Middle East, and based at St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem. The Diocese of Jerusalem covers Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon...
and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Jordan
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
. The rest are Catholics, with a small minority adhering to Protestantism. Christians are well integrated in the Jordanian society and have a high level of freedom. Nearly all Christians belong to the middle or upper classes. Moreover, Christians enjoy more economic and social opportunity in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan than elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. They have a disproportionately large representation in the Jordanian parliament (10% of the Parliament) and hold important government portfolios, ambassadorial appointments abroad, and positions of high military rank.
Jordanian Christians are allowed by the public and private sectors to leave work to attend Divine Liturgy or Mass on Sundays. All Christian religious ceremonies are publicly celebrated. Christians have established good relations with the royal family and the various Jordanian government officials and they have their own ecclesiastic courts for matters of personal status.
Most native Christians in Jordan identify themselves as Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
, though there are also non-Arab Assyrian/Syriac, Armenian and Maronite groups in the country.
Lebanon
The earliest indisputable tradition of Christianity in LebanonChristianity in Lebanon
Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history beginning with the visits of Jesus to the southern territories, where he is said to have performed many miraculous healings. Biblical Scriptures reveal that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient...
can be traced back to Saint Maron in the 4th century, the founder of national and ecclesiastical Maronitism. Saint Maron adopted an ascetic, reclusive life on the banks of the Orontes river near Homs
Homs
Homs , previously known as Emesa , is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus...
–Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and founded a community of monks who preached the Gospel in the surrounding area. The Saint Maron Monastery was too close to Antioch, making the monks vulnerable to emperor Justinian II
Justinian II
Justinian II , surnamed the Rhinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine Emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711...
’s persecution. To escape persecution, Saint John Maron
John Maron
John Maron , died 707 was a Syriac monk, and the first Maronite Patriarch. He is revered as a saint by the Catholic Church, and celebrated on March 2.-Early life:...
, the first Maronite patriarch-elect, led his monks into the Lebanese mountains
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon , as a geographic designation, is a Lebanese mountain range, averaging above 2,200 meters in height and receiving a substantial amount of precipitation, including snow, which averages around four meters deep. It extends across the whole country along about , parallel to the...
; the Maronite monks finally settled in the Qadisha valley
Kadisha Valley
The Kadisha Valley is a valley that lies within the Becharre and Zgharta Districts of the North Governorate of Lebanon. The valley is a deep gorge carved by the Kadisha River, also known as the Nahr Abu Ali when it reaches Tripoli...
. During the Muslim conquest, Muslims persecuted the Christians, particularly the Maronites, with the persecution reaching a peak during the Umayyad caliphate. Nevertheless, the influence of the Maronite establishment spread throughout the Lebanese mountains and became a considerable feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
force. After the Muslim Conquest, the Maronite Church
Maronite Church
The Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome . It traces its heritage back to the community founded by Maron, a 4th-century Syriac monk venerated as a saint. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th...
became isolated and did not reestablish contact with the Church of Rome until the 12th century. According to Kamal Salibi
Kamal Salibi
Kamal Suleiman Salibi was a prominent Lebanese historian, professor of history at the American University of Beirut and the founding Director of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies in Amman, Jordan...
some Maronites may have been descended from an Arabian tribe, who immigrated thousands of years ago from the Southern Arabian peninsula
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
. Salibi maintains "It is very possible that the Maronites, as a community of Arabian origin, were among the last Arabian Christian tribes to arrive in Syria before Islam". Many Lebanese Christians reject this however, and point out that they are of pre Arab origin.
Lebanon holds the largest number of Christians in the Arab world proportionally and falls just behind Egypt in absolute numbers. It is known that Christians made up between 65%–85% of Lebanon's population before the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
, if not more, and they still form 48%–50% of the population today (if all refugees and immigrants of the Muslim faith are excluded); if one counts the estimated 10–15 million strong diaspora
Lebanese diaspora
Lebanese diaspora refers to Lebanese migrants and their descendants who by choice or coercion emigrated from Lebanon and now reside in other countries....
, they form more than the majority of the population. The exact number of Christians is uncertain because no official census has been made in Lebanon since 1932. Lebanese Christians belong mostly to the Maronite Catholic Church
Maronite Church
The Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome . It traces its heritage back to the community founded by Maron, a 4th-century Syriac monk venerated as a saint. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th...
and Greek Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, with sizable minorities belonging to the Melkite Greek Catholics
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...
. Lebanese Christians are the only Christians in the Middle East with a sizable political role in the country. The Lebanese president, half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of the various Lebanese Christian rites.
Many Lebanese Christians consider themselves of indigenous Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n ancestry, arguing that their presence predates the arrival of Arabs in the region. Though they originate from the Orontes river near Homs–Syria and founded a community of monks who left the Syriac Orthodox church, most still speak Aramaic today.
Palestinian Territories
Palestinian Christian
Palestinian Christians are Arabic-speaking Christians descended from the people of the geographical area of Palestine. Within Palestine, there are churches and believers from many Christian denominations, including Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic , Protestant, and others...
s lived in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
in the 1990s, in addition to about 122,000 living in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
as Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
. Both the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
, George Habash
George Habash
George Habash also known by his laqab "al-Hakim" was a Palestinian nationalist. Habash, a Palestinian Christian, founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which pioneered the hijacking of airplanes as a Middle East militant tactic...
, and the founder if its offshoot the DFLP, Nayif Hawatmeh, were Christians, as is prominent Palestinian activist and former Palestinian Authority minister Hanan Ashrawi
Hanan Ashrawi
Hanan Daoud Khalil Ashrawi is a Palestinian legislator, activist, and scholar. She was a protégé and later colleague and close friend of Edward Said. Ashrawi was an important leader during the First Intifada, served as the official spokesperson for the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East...
.
Over the last years, unlike the surge in Christian population of Israel, the number of Christians in the Palestinian territories declined both in the West Bank and especially in Gaza, where since the Hamas' takeover
Battle of Gaza (2007)
The Battle of Gaza was a military conflict between Hamas and Fatah that took place between June 7 and 15, 2007 in the Gaza Strip. After winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, Hamas and Fatah formed the Palestinan authority national unity government in 2007, headed by Ismail Haniya. In...
, anti-Christian attitudes have been on the high. The decline of Christianity in the West Bank is largely attributed to poor birth rates, compared with the dominant Muslim population; anti-Christian attitudes by radical Muslim organizations; and general economic and security situation imposed by the Israeli military, which prompts the Palestinian Christians to seek better opportunities abroad.
Syria
In Syria, Christians formed just under 15% of the population (about 1.2 million people) according to the 1960 census, but no newer census has been taken. Current estimates suggest that they comprise about 10% of the population (2,000,000), due to having lower birth rates and higher emigration rates than their Muslim compatriots. The Christians in Syria are Syriac Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, follower of the Assyrian Church of the EastAssyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
and the Maronite Church
Maronite Church
The Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome . It traces its heritage back to the community founded by Maron, a 4th-century Syriac monk venerated as a saint. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th...
, with some Roman Catholics. The most Syrian Christians are ethnic Assyrians/Syriacs and Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
.
Diaspora
Many millions of Middle Eastern Christians currently live in the diasporaDiaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
, elsewhere in the world. These include such countries as Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
among them. There are also many Middle Eastern Christians in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, especially in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(due to its historical connections with Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and North Africa) and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(due to its historical connections with northern Morocco), and to a lesser extent, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
The largest number of Middle Eastern Christians, residing in the diaspora is of Lebanese Maronites, who have migrated out of Lebanon for security and economic reasons since WWI. Much fled Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
.
Syriac Christians currently reside in diaspora with large communities in Europe, America and Australia, reaching more than a million outside of the Middle East. Much of these is attributed to the massive Christian exodus from Iraq, following the 2003 invasion and the consequent Iraq War.
Among the Arab Christians about 400,000 Palestinian Christians reside in the diaspora, largely in the Americas, where their communities have been established since the late 19th century and peaked following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
. More emigrated from Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War.
The majority of self-identifying Arab American
Arab American
An Arab American is a United States citizen or resident of Arab ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage or identity, who identifies themselves as Arab. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World...
s are Eastern Rite Catholic or Orthodox, according to the Arab American Institute
Arab American Institute
Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute is a non-profit membership organization based in Washington D.C. that focuses on the issues and interests of Arab-Americans nationwide. James Zogby, brother of pollster John Zogby, is founder and president of the AAI....
. On the other hand, most American Muslims are black or of South Asian (India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n or Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i) origin.
Coptic Christians
The largest ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
community in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
are the Copts of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, whose churches are mainly divided into:
- Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
- Coptic Catholic ChurchCoptic Catholic ChurchThe Coptic Catholic Church is an Alexandrian Rite particular Church in full communion with the Pope of Rome. Historically, Coptic Catholics represent a schism from the Coptic Orthodox Church, leaving that church in order to come into full communion with the Bishop of Rome.The current Coptic...
Syriac/Assyrian/Aramean Christians
Many Christians in the Middle East are followers of Eastern RiteEast Syrian Rite
The East Syrian Rite is a Christian liturgy, also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian or Chaldean Rite, and the Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa, Mesopotamia...
Syriac Christianity
Syriac Christianity
Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
, are ethnically distinct from Arabs, and divided into several sects:
- Assyrian Church of the EastAssyrian Church of the EastThe Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
(also known as the Nestorian Church, Persian Church and sometimes East Syriac Church) 1st century AD – Mainly found in Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria.- Chaldean Catholic ChurchChaldean Catholic ChurchThe Chaldean Catholic Church , is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church...
since the 16th century AD- made up of Assyrian converts to Catholicism. Mainly found in Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria - Ancient Church of the EastAncient Church of the EastThe Ancient Church of the East was established in 1968. It follows the traditions of one of the oldest Christian churches, the Church of the East, whose origins trace back to the See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in central Mesopotamia...
since the 20th century AD – An offshoot of the Assyrian Church of the East. Mainly found in Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria - Assyrian Evangelical ChurchAssyrian Evangelical ChurchThe Assyrian Evangelical Church is a Presbyterian church in the Middle East that attained a status of ecclesiastical independence from the Presbyterian mission in Iran in 1870.There are several Assyrian Evangelical churches in the diaspora, e.g...
– Made upof ethnic Assyrian converts to Protestantism,since 20th century. Mainly found in Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria
- Chaldean Catholic Church
Members of the above churches are ethnic Assyrians
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
- Syrian Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
(also known as the Jacobite Church and sometimes Assyrian Orthodox Church) 1st century AD. Mainly found in Syria, south central Turkey and to a small degree in Iraq and even a smaller degree in KeralaKeralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
by the Syrian Malabar NasraniSyrian Malabar NasraniThe Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians, "'Nasrani Mappila'" and Nasranis, are an ethnoreligious group from Kerala, India, adhering to the various churches of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition...
s.- Syro-Malabar Catholic ChurchSyro-Malabar Catholic ChurchThe Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...
- an Eastern rite established in KeralaKeralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
,India supposedly founded by Saint ThomasThomas the ApostleThomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
and practiced by the Syrian Malabar Nasranis. - Syrian Catholic ChurchSyriac Catholic ChurchThe Syriac Catholic Church is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and Syro-Malankara Christians...
since the 18th century AD. Mainly in Syria
- Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
- Maronite ChurchMaronite ChurchThe Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome . It traces its heritage back to the community founded by Maron, a 4th-century Syriac monk venerated as a saint. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th...
, in union with Rome, since the 5th century AD (Mainly living in Lebanon and the Mediterranean coast of Syria, with large diaspora)
Arab and Melkite Christians
Christian Arabs, belonging mostly to Greek Orthodox and MelkiteMelkite
The term Melkite, also written Melchite, refers to various Byzantine Rite Christian churches and their members originating in the Middle East. The word comes from the Syriac word malkāyā , and the Arabic word Malakī...
churches, whose followers were initially Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
speaking Middle Easterners:
- Greek Catholic ChurchGreek Catholic ChurchThe Greek Catholic Church consists of the Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine liturgical tradition and are thus in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.-List of Greek Catholic Churches:...
- Melkite Greek Catholic ChurchMelkite Greek Catholic ChurchThe Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...
- Melkite Greek Catholic Church
- Greek Orthodox ChurchGreek Orthodox ChurchThe Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
- Antiochian Orthodox ChurchAntiochian Orthodox ChurchThe Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, also known as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East and the Antiochian Orthodox Church , is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...
- Greek Church of Alexandria
- Orthodox Church of JerusalemOrthodox Church of JerusalemThe Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem , also known as the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, is an autocephalous Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity. Headed by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, it is regarded by Orthodox Christians as the mother church of all of...
- Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai
- Arab OrthodoxArab OrthodoxThe Arab Orthodox are Arab Greek Orthodox Christian communities which have existed in Greater Syria since the early years of Christianity. During the Palestine Mandate they were prominent in many of the major cities including Jaffa, Nazareth, Haifa and Jerusalem and also formed the majority of...
- Antiochian Orthodox Church
All are mainly found in Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and to a lesser degree Yemen, Oman and Egypt
Armenian Christians
There is also the Armenian Church with its divisions:- Armenian Apostolic ChurchArmenian Apostolic ChurchThe Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
- Armenian Catholic ChurchArmenian Catholic Church|- |The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church sui juris in union with the other Eastern Rite, Oriental Rite and Latin Rite Catholics who accept the Bishop of Rome as spiritual leader of the Church. It is regulated by Eastern canon law...
- Armenian Evangelical ChurchArmenian Evangelical ChurchThe Armenian Evangelical Church was established on July 1, 1846 by thirty-seven men and three women in Constantinople.-History:In the 19th century there was intellectual and spiritual awakening in Constantinople. This awakening and enlightenment pushed the reformists to study the Bible...
Armenia, historically, was the first state to accept Christianity after Adiabene
Adiabene
Adiabene was an ancient Assyrian independent kingdom in Mesopotamia, with its capital at Arbela...
. There are small numbers of Russian Orthodox and Assyrian Christians there also. Armenian Christians are also to be found in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus and Jordan.
Georgian Christians
In GeorgiaGeorgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, the majority of the population belongs to the Georgian Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, the Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
and the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
also have adherents there.
Kurdish Christians
The Kurdish-Speaking Church of Christ (The Kurdzman Church of Christ) is an EvangelicalEvangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
church with mainly Kurdish adherents.
Anglicans
The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle EastEpiscopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East is a province of the Anglican Communion stretching from Iran in the east to Algeria in the west, and Cyprus in the north to Somalia in the south. It is the largest and the most diverse Anglican province. The church is headed by a President...
is the Anglican church responsible for the Middle East and North Africa. It is quite small, with only some 35,000 members throughout the area.
Notable Christians in the Middle East
- FairuzFairuzNouhad Wadi Haddad , famously known as Fairuz is a Lebanese singer who is widely considered to be the most famous living singer in the Arab world and one of the best known of all time...
, Lebanese singer.(Lebanese, Greek Orthodox Christian) - Elias ChacourElias ChacourElias Chacour is the Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and All Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Noted for his efforts to promote reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis, he is the author of two books about the experience of Palestinian people living in present-day Israel...
Archbishop, prominent reconciliation and peace activist (Palestinian, Melkite Greek Catholic Christian) - Michel AflaqMichel AflaqMichel Aflaq was a Syrian philosopher, who is credited with being the ideological founder of ba'athism, a hybrid of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.-Early life:...
, founder of pan-Arabist Baath party, (Syrian, Greek Orthodox Christian). - Tariq AzizTariq AzizTariq Aziz and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and a close advisor of former President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s when both were activists for the then-banned Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party...
, former Iraqi (Baath party) foreign minister and deputy prime minister, (Iraqi Chaldean CatholicChaldean Catholic ChurchThe Chaldean Catholic Church , is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church...
Christian), an ethnic AssyrianAssyrian peopleThe Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia... - Suleiman MousaSuleiman MousaSuleiman Mousa was a Jordanian author and historian born in Al-Rafeed, a small village north of the city of Irbid...
, prominent historian and author of T.E. Lawrence: An Arab View, (Jordanian, CatholicCatholicThe word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
Christian). - George WassoufGeorge WassoufGeorge Wassouf is a Syrian singer with over 30 albums to his name. Wassouf had a unique vocal style which has been emulated by younger singers such as George El Rassi....
, Syrian singer, an ethnic Syriac. - Edward SaidEdward SaidEdward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
, prominent intellectual and writer (Palestinian, Protestant Christian). - Constantin ZureiqConstantin ZureiqConstantin Zureiq was a prominent and influential Syrian Arab intellectual who was one of the first to pioneer and express the importance of Arab nationalism. He stressed the urgent need to transform stagnate Arab society by means of rational thought and radical modification of the methods of...
, prominent intellectual and academic, (Syrian, Greek Orthodox Christian). - George HabashGeorge HabashGeorge Habash also known by his laqab "al-Hakim" was a Palestinian nationalist. Habash, a Palestinian Christian, founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which pioneered the hijacking of airplanes as a Middle East militant tactic...
, founder of PFLP, (Palestinian, Greek Orthodox Christian). - Nayef HawatmehNayef HawatmehNayef Hawatmeh , Jordanian-Palestinian Christian politician. His name can be transliterated from the Arabic in many ways; variants include Naif Hawatma, Niaf Hawathme, etc....
, founder of DFLP, (Jordanian, Greek Orthodox Christian). - Said Khoury, entrepreneurEntrepreneurAn entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, co-founder of the Consolidated Contractors International CompanyConsolidated Contractors International CompanyConsolidated Contractors Company origins go back to 1943 when Hasib Sabbagh and four other contractors established the Consolidated Contractors Company in Haifa, Palestine. Sabbagh left Palestine in April 1948 due to the Israeli occupation and moved to Lebanon...
, (Palestinian, Greek Orthodox Christian). - Yousef BeidasYousef BeidasYousef Beidas was a Palestinian Lebanese banker...
, prominent FinancierFinancierFinancier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
, (Palestinian, Greek Orthodox Christian). - John SununuJohn H. SununuJohn Henry Sununu is a former Governor of New Hampshire and former White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush. He is the father of John E. Sununu, a former senator from New Hampshire, and formerly a U.S. Representative...
, US political leader, (Palestinian-Lebanese, Greek Catholic Christian). - Hanan AshrawiHanan AshrawiHanan Daoud Khalil Ashrawi is a Palestinian legislator, activist, and scholar. She was a protégé and later colleague and close friend of Edward Said. Ashrawi was an important leader during the First Intifada, served as the official spokesperson for the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East...
, Palestinian scholar and politic activist, (Palestinian, Anglican Christian). - Steve BracksSteve BracksStephen Philip Bracks AC is a former Australian politician and the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Australian Labor Party, and was party leader and Premier from 1999 to 2007....
(from the Barakat family) Australian State MP, Premier of Victoria, Australia, (Lebanese, CatholicCatholicThe word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
Christian). - René AngélilRené AngélilRené Angélil, OQ is a Canadian singer and manager. He is the husband and manager of singer Celine Dion.-Early life:Angélil was born in Montreal, Québec, Canada of a father of Syrian descent and a Canadian mother of Lebanese origin...
, Canadian producer and husband of Céline DionCeline DionCéline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
, (Lebanese-Syrian, Greek Catholic Christian). - Carlos MenemCarlos MenemCarlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
, president of Argentina from 1988 to 1999, (Syrian, converted to Roman Catholic from Sunni Islam) - Emile HabibiEmile HabibiImil Shukri Habibi was an Israeli-Palestinian writer of Arabic expression and a communist politician, son of a Christian family.In 2005, he was voted the 143rd-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest...
, writer, (Arab citizens of IsraelArab citizens of IsraelArab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
, Protestant Christian) - Azmi BisharaAzmi BisharaAzmi Bishara , a former member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is a Palestinian intellectual, academic, politician, and writer.In 2007, Bishara fled Israel and resigned from the Knesset after being questioned by police on suspicion of aiding and passing information to the enemy during...
, former KnessetKnessetThe Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
member, (Arab citizen of Israel, Greek Orthodox Christian) - Azmi NassarAzmi NassarAzmi Nassar was an Israeli football manager and served as manager of the Palestinian national football team.-Palestinian National Team:In order to serve as manager of the Palestinian national football team, Nassar was required to obtain a Palestinian ID and passport to go along with his Israeli ID...
, manager of the Palestinian national football teamPalestine national football teamThe Palestine national football team is the national team of the Palestinian Football Association, representing the Palestinian National Authority.The Palestine Football Federation was founded in 1952...
, (Arab citizen of Israel, Greek Orthodox Christian) - Salim TuamaSalim TuamaSalim Tuama is an Arab Israeli soccer player. He is a midfielder playing for Hapoel Tel Aviv who has in the past played for Standard Liège, Maccabi Petah Tikva, Kayserispor, Larissa and the youth club Gadna Tel Aviv Yehuda...
, Hapoel Tel Aviv middlefielder, (Arab citizen of Israel, Greek Orthodox Christian) - Simon ShaheenSimon ShaheenSimon Shaheen is a Palestinian-American oud and violin virtuoso and composer....
, oud and violin virtuoso and composer, (Arab citizen of Israel, Greek Catholic Christian) - Salim JubranSalim JubranSalim Joubran is an Israeli Arab judge on the Israeli Supreme Court. He has served as a supreme court justice since 2003, and became a permanent member on May 2004. Joubran is the first Arab to receive a permanent appointment in the Supreme Court...
, member of the Israeli Supreme Court, Arab citizen of Israel, Maronite (Christian) - Ralph NaderRalph NaderRalph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
, US Presidential candidate and consumers' rights activist (son of Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christian immigrants, but declines to comment on personal religion) - Hani NaserHani NaserHani Naser is a musician from Jordan. He specializes in the oud and hand percussion instruments, particularly the goblet drum and djembe.Considered a master in his field, Naser inspired Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times to call him a "Veritable Hand Drum Wizard." The breadth of Naser's...
, musician,producer (son of Jordanian Christian Immigrants) - ShakiraShakiraShakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...
, international superstar daughter of LebaneseLebanese peopleThe Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
father from Zahle and Colombian mother of CatalanCatalan peopleThe Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
descent, Greek Orthodox Christian - Tony ShalhoubTony ShalhoubAnthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk...
, three-time Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
and Golden Globe-winning American television and film actor. (Lebanese, Maronite Christian) - Marie KeyrouzMarie KeyrouzSister Marie Keyrouz is a chanter of Oriental Church music, a member of the Congrégation des Soeurs Basiliennes Chouérites and founder-president of the National Institute of Sacred Music in Paris.-Biography:...
, chanter of Eastern Church music, Melchite Greek Catholic nun. Founder of L'Ensemble de la Paix (Ensemble of Peace) and Founder-President of L'Instituit International de Chant Sacré (International Institute of Sacred Chant) in Paris. - Julio César Turbay, president of Colombia from 1978 to 1982, (Lebanese Maronite Christian)
- Carlos Slim HelúCarlos Slim HelúCarlos Slim Helú is a Mexican business magnate and philanthropist who as of 2011 is the richest person in the world, for the second year in a row...
, Mexican businessman, (Lebanese Maronite Christian) - Bruno BichirBruno BichirBruno Bichir is one of the most prolific actors of the contemporary cinema of Mexico as well as telenovelas and theater....
and Demián BichirDemián BichirDemián Bichir Nájera is a Mexican actor. Both of his parents, Alejandro Bichir and Maricruz Nájera, and brothers Odiseo and Bruno Bichir are actors. He was married to singer Lisset Gutiérrez.-Career:...
, Mexican actors, (Lebanese Maronite Christians) - Amin al-RihaniAmin al-RihaniAmeen Rihani, also spelled Amin al-Rihani , was a Lebanese Arab-American writer, intellectual and political activist. He was also a major figure in the mahjar literary movement developed by Arab emigrants in North America, and an early theorist of Arab nationalism...
, writer and intellectual, (Lebanese, Maronite Christian). - Afif SafiehAfif SafiehAfif Safieh is a Palestinian diplomat. He was most recently the Palestinian ambassador to the Russian Federation.Safieh was born in Jerusalem in 1950 to a Christian family. As a child, he attended school in Jerusalem's College Des Frères. In 1972, he obtained a degree in Political Science and...
, diplomat, (Palestinian, Greek Catholic Christian). - Bobby RahalBobby RahalRobert "Bobby" Woodward Rahal is an American auto racing driver and team owner. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500...
, race car driver, team owner, and businessman, (Lebanese, Maronite Christian) - Doug FlutieDoug FlutieDouglas Richard "Doug" Flutie is a former American and Canadian football quarterback. Flutie played college football at Boston College, and played professionally in the National Football League, Canadian Football League, and United States Football League...
, Heisman Trophy winner, NFL quarterback, (Lebanese, Maronite Christian) - Jacques NasserJacques NasserJacques Nasser is a leading global business executive who currently serves as Chairman of the Board of BHP Billiton. After serving as a Director of BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc since 2006, Mr. Nasser was appointed Chairman of both companies effective 31 March 2010...
, past CEO Ford Motor Company, French-American of Lebanese descent, Greek Orthodox Christian - Helen ThomasHelen ThomasHelen Thomas is an American author and former news service reporter, member of the White House Press Corps and opinion columnist. She worked for the United Press and post-1958 successor United Press International for 57 years, first as a correspondent, and later as White House bureau manager...
, Whitehouse Journalist, American of Lebanese descent, Greek Orthodox Christian - George MitchellGeorge J. MitchellGeorge John Mitchell, Jr., is the former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace under the Obama administration. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995...
, former Senator and Politician, Lebanese, Maronite Christian - John MackJohn J. MackJohn J. Mack is the current Chairman of the Board at Morgan Stanley, the New York-based investment bank and brokerage firm. Mack announced his retirement as Chief Executive Officer on September 10, 2009, which was effective January 1, 2010. Former Co-President James P...
, former Chairman & CEO of Morgan StanleyMorgan StanleyMorgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
, American of Lebanese descent, Greek Orthodox Christian - Mosab Hassan YousefMosab Hassan YousefMosab Hassan Yousef is a Palestinian and son of a Hamas founder and leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef. From 1997 to 2007, he worked undercover for Israel's internal security service Shin Bet, which considered him its most valuable source within the Hamas leadership....
, author of Son of Hamas