Middle Eastern Christians

Church of the Holy Sepulchre inJerusalem
Total population
15–20 million[1][2][3][4]
Regions with significant populations
Egypt	10–15 million[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Lebanon	1,700,000–2,000,000 (est.)[8]
Syria	850,000–950,000 (2018 est.); data before theCivil War: 1,700,000–2,000,000 according to the lesser estimate but may be more
Cyprus	793,000 (2008)[12]
Iran	369,000–370,000[13]
Iraq	300,000–490,000[14][8][a]
Jordan	250,000–400,000[8]
Turkey	200,000–320,000[15][16][17]
Israel	185,000[18][8][a]
Palestine	50,000–100,000[19][8][a]
Bahrain	1,000[20][8][17][a]
Kuwait	400[21][22][a]
Yemen	<100[8][a]
Qatar	<10[8][17][a]
Saudi Arabia	<10[8][a]
United Arab Emirates	<10[8][a]
Oman	<10[8][17][a]
Languages
Arabic,Aramaic,Coptic,Armenian,Greek,Georgian,Persian,Turkish,Hebrew,Bulgarian
Religion
Christianity
[a].^ (excluding foreign residents)

Christian percentage per country^[23][24][25]

Country			Percent
Cyprus			98.8%
Lebanon			41.35%
Kuwait			18.2%
Egypt			15%
Bahrain			14.3%
Qatar			13.8%
UAE			13%
Palestine			6%
Jordan			6%
Israel			3.5%
Syria			3%
Iraq			2.5%
Iran			2%
Turkey			0.2%

Christianity, whichoriginated in theMiddle East during the1st century AD,^[26] is a significant minority religion within the region, characterized by the diversity of its beliefs and traditions, compared to Christianity in other parts of theOld World. Today,Christians make up approximately 5% of the Middle Eastern population, down from 13-20% in the early 20th century.^[27][28][29]Cyprus is the only Christian majority country in the Middle East, with Christians forming between 76% and 78% of the country's total population, most of them adhering toEastern Orthodox Christianity.Lebanon has the second highest proportion of Christians in the Middle East, around 40%, predominantlyMaronites. AfterLebanon,Egypt has the next largest proportion of Christians (predominantlyCopts), at around 10% of its total population. Copts of Egypt, numbering around 10 million, constitute the single largest Christian community in the entire Middle East.^[30]

TheEastern Aramaic speakingAssyrians of northernIraq, northeasternSyria, southeasternTurkey, and parts ofIran have suffered due toethnic cleansing,religious discrimination, andpersecution for many centuries. During the 20th century, the percentage of Christians in the Middle East fell mainly as a result of thelate Ottoman genocides:^[41] theArmenian genocide,Greek genocide, andAssyrian genocide committed against them by theOttoman Turks and their allies,^[42] leading many to flee and congregate in areas in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria,North America, andWestern Europe.^[39][40][43] The great majority of Aramaic speaking Christians are followers of theAssyrian Church of the East,Chaldean Catholic Church,Syriac Orthodox Church,Ancient Church of the East,Assyrian Pentecostal Church andAssyrian Evangelical Church. In Iraq, the numbers of Christians has declined to between 300,000 and 500,000 (from 0.8 to 1.4 million before 2003 US invasion). Assyrian Christians were between 800,000 and 1.2 million before 2003.^[44] In 2014, the population of theNineveh Plains in northern Iraq was scattered toDohuk,Erbil andJordan due to ISIS forcing the Assyrian community out of their historical homeland, but since thedefeat of the Islamic State in 2017, Christians have slowly began returning.^[45]

The next largest Christian group in the Middle East are the onceAramaic speaking and now Arabic-speakingMaronites who areEastern-Rite Catholics and number some 1.1–1.2 million across the Middle East, mainly concentrated withinLebanon. InIsrael,Maronites together with smaller Aramaic-speaking Christian populations ofSyriac Orthodox andGreek Catholic adherence, are legally and ethnically classified as eitherArameans orArabs, per their choice.Arab Christians are descended from Arab Christian tribes, Arabized Greeks or recent converts toProtestantism. Most Arab Christians are adherents of the Melkite Catholic Church andEastern Orthodox Church. They numbered over 1 million before the Syrian Civil War: some 700,000 in Syria, 400,000 in Lebanon, 200,000 in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, with small numbers in Iraq and Egypt. Most Melkite Catholics are ofLevantine descent, with the majority identifying asArab.^[46][47]

Armenians are present in the Middle East, and their largest community, estimated to have 200,000 members, is located inIran.^[48] The number ofArmenians in Turkey is disputed and a wide range of estimates is given as a result. More Armenian communities reside inJordan,Lebanon,Iraq,Egypt,Israel, and formerly alsoSyria until theSyrian Civil War. TheArmenian genocide, which was perpetrated by theOttoman government andTurkish Muslims both during and afterWorld War I, drastically reduced the once sizeable Armenian population in the Middle East.^[49]

TheGreeks, who had once inhabited large parts of the western Middle East andAsia Minor, declined in number due to theArab–Byzantine wars, then suffered another decline after theOttoman invasion of Anatolia, and all but vanished from Turkey as a result of theGreek genocide, which was perpetrated by theOttoman government andTurkish Muslims both during and afterWorld War I, and theexpulsions that followed the war.^[50] Today, the largest Middle Eastern Greek community resides inCyprus and numbers around 810,000^[12] Cypriot Greeks constitute the only Christian majority state in the Middle East, althoughLebanon was founded with aChristian majority in the first half of the 20th century. Smaller Christian groups in the Middle East includeGeorgians,Ossetians, andRussians. There are also several million foreign Christian workers in theGulf states, mostly from thePhilippines,India,Sri Lanka, andIndonesia:Bahrain has 1,000 Christian citizens,^[20] andKuwait has 400 native Christian citizens,^[21] in addition to 450,000 Christian foreign residents in Kuwait.^[22] Although the vast majority of Middle Eastern populations descend fromPre-Arab andNon-Arab peoples extant long before the 7th century ADArabIslamic conquest, a 2015 study estimates there are also 483,500 Christian believers from a previously Muslim background in the Middle East, most of them being adherents of variousProtestant churches.^[51] Converts to Christianity from other religions such asIslam,^[52]Yezidism,Mandeanism,Yarsan,Zoroastrianism,Baháʼísm,Druze, andJudaism exist in relatively small numbers amongst theKurdish,Turks,Turcoman,Iranian,Azeri,Circassian,Israelis,Kawliya,Yezidis,Mandeans, andShabaks.^{[citation needed]}

Christians arepersecuted widely across theArab andMuslim world and the ongoing situation has been compared to a genocide.^[53][54][55] According to a 2018 report commissioned by theBritish government, Christians are “on the verge of extinction in the Middle East”, explaining that “Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity. In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition ofgenocide, according to that adopted by the UN.”^[56][57] In 2024, theInternational Christian Concern again raised warnings about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.^[58]

Christian communities have played a vital role in the Middle East.^[59] Middle Eastern Christians are relatively wealthy, well educated, and politically moderate, as they have today an active role in social, economic, sporting and political spheres in their societies in the Middle East.^[60][61] Scholars and intellectuals agree thatChristians in the Middle East have made significant contributions to both Arab and Islamic civilizations since theintroduction of Islam, and they have had a significant impact by contributing to the culture ofIran, theMashriq, andTurkey.^[61][62]

Christianity spread rapidly fromJerusalem along major trade routes to major settlements, finding its strongest growth amongHellenized Jews in places likeAntioch andAlexandria. The Greek-speaking Mediterranean region was a powerhouse for the Early Church, producing many reveredChurch Fathers as well as those who became labelled asheresiarchs, such asNestorius.

FromAntioch, where Christians were first so called, cameIgnatius,Diodore of Tarsus,John Chrysostom,Theodore of Mopsuestia,Nestorius,Theodoret,John of Antioch,Severus of Antioch andPeter the Fuller, many of whom are associated with theSchool of Antioch. In like manner,Alexandria boasted many prominent theologians, includingAthenagoras,Pantaenus,Clement,Origen,Dionysius,Gregory Thaumaturgus,Arius,Athanasius,Didymus the Blind,Cyril andDioscorus, associated withSchool of Alexandria. The two schools dominated the theological controversies of the first centuries of Christian theology. Whereas Antioch traditionally focused on the grammatical and historical interpretation of Scripture and developed adyophysitechristology, Alexandria was much influenced byneoplatonism, using anallegorical interpretation and developingmiaphysitism. Other prominent centres of Christian learning developed inAsia Minor (most remarkably among theCappadocian Fathers) and the Levantine coast (Gaza,Caesarea andBeirut).

The kingdom of Osroene (Edessa) which was ruled by the ArabAbgarid dynasty was celebrated as the first kingdom to adopt Christianity as its official religion and there is anapocryphal legend, theDoctrine of Addai (late 4th or early 5th century), and an anonymous history, theChronicle of Edessa (mid-6th century), claiming that Osroene was the first state to have acceptedChristianity asstate religion,^[63][64] but some scholars believe there is not enough evidence to support that claim.^[65][66]

Politically, the Middle East of the first four Christian centuries was divided between theRoman Empire and theParthian Empire (laterSasanian Persia). Christians experienced sporadic persecutions in both political spheres. Within the Parthian Empire, most Christians lived in the region ofMesopotamia/Asuristan (Assyria) and were ethnicAssyrianMesopotamians who spokeeasternAramaic dialects loosely related to thoseWestern Aramaic dialects spoken by their co-religionists just across the Roman border, but withAkkadian influences.

Legendary accounts are of the evangelization of the East byThomas (Mar Toma),Addai/Thaddaeus andMari.Syriac (Syrian//Syriac are etymologically derived fromAssyrian) emerged as the standard Aramaic dialect of the three Assyrian border cities ofEdessa,Nisibis andArbela. Translation of the scriptures into Syriac began early in this region, with a Jewish group (probably non-rabbinic) producing a translation of theHebrew Bible becoming the basis of theChurch of the Easts ChristianPeshitta.Syriac Christianity is most famous for its poet-theologians,Aphrahat,Ephrem,Narsai andJacob of Serugh.

Eusebius^[67] creditsMark 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, themonastic movement emerged in the Egyptian desert, led byAnthony andPachomius (seeDesert Fathers).

Eusebius (EH 6:20) also mentions the appointment of a bishop and the holding of asynod inBostra around 240, which is the earliest reference to church organisation in an Arabic-speaking area. Later that decade, Eusebius (6:37) describes another synod inArabia Petraea. Some scholars have followed hints in Eusebius and Jerome thatPhilip the Arab, the son of an Arabsheikh, may have been the first Christian Roman Emperor. However, evidence to support this theory is thin. TheGhassanid tribe were important Christianfoederati of Rome, while theLakhmids were an Arab Christian tribe that fought for the Persians. Although theHejaz was never a stronghold of Arab Christianity, there are reports of Christians aroundMecca andYathrib before the advent of Islam.

Christianity came toArmenia both from the south,Mesopotamia/Assyria, and the west,Asia Minor, as demonstrated by the Greek and Assyrian-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 KingTrdat III to Christianity (circa 301),Gregory the Illuminator was consecrated Bishop of Armenia in 314. Armenians continue to celebrate their church as the oldestnational church. Gregory was consecrated atCaesarea inCappadocia.

TheGeorgian kingdom ofIberia (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, associateNino of Cappadocia with bringing Christianity to the Georgians and converting KingMirian III of Iberia. Georgian Christian literature emphasizes her connection with Jerusalem and the role played by the Georgian Jewish community in the growth of Christianity. Certainly, early Georgian liturgy does share a number of conspicuous features with that of Jerusalem. TheBlack Sea coastal kingdom ofLazica (Egrisi) had closer ties toConstantinople, 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,Tzath, accepted the faith. The Iberian church was under the authority of thePatriarch of Antioch, until the reforming kingVakhtang Gorgasali set up an independentcatholicos in 467.

In 314, theEdict of Milan proclaimedreligious toleration in the Roman Empire, and Christianity rapidly rose to prominence. The church'sdioceses and bishoprics came to be modelled on state administration: partly the motive for theCouncil of Nicaea in 325. However, Christians in theZoroastrianSasanian Empire (speaking variously Syriac, Armenian or Greek) are often found distancing themselves politically from their Roman co-religionists to appease theshah. Thus, around 387, when theArmenian Highland came underSasanian control, a separate leadership from that in Caesarea developed and eventually settled inEchmiadzin, a division that still, to some extent, exists to this day. Likewise, in the 4th century, the bishop ofSeleucia-Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital, was recognised as leader of the Syriac and Greek-speaking Christians in the Persian empire, assuming the title catholicos, laterpatriarch.

Christianity inEthiopia andNubia is traditionally linked to the biblical tale of the conversion of theEthiopian eunuch in theActs of the Apostles (8. 26–30). TheKebra Nagast also connects theYemeniteQueen of Sheba with the royal line ofAxum. Evidence from coinage and other historical references point to the early 4th-century conversion of KingEzana of Axum as the establishment of Christianity, whenceNubia and other surrounding areas were evangelized, all under the oversight of thePatriarch of Alexandria. In the 6th century, Ethiopian military might conquered a large portion of Yemen, strengthening Christian concentration in southern Arabia.

The first major disagreement that led to a fracturing of the church was the so-calledNestorian Schism 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 theFirst 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-sphereChurch 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 whomEutyches was the most prominent. Much back and forth led to theCouncil of Chalcedon of 451, which found a compromise that returned to a theology closer to that of Antioch, refereed by Rome, and condemned themonophysite 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, EmperorZeno attempted to reconcile his church with hisHenotikon. However, reunion was never achieved, and the non-Chalcedonians adoptedmiaphysitism based on traditional Alexandrian doctrine, in revolt against the Byzantine Church. These so-calledOriental Orthodox Churches include the majority of Egyptian Christians – theCoptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria – majority of Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians – theEthiopian andEritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches – many Syriacs – theSyriac Orthodox Church – and the majority of Armenians – theArmenian Apostolic Church.

The nameMelkite (meaning 'of the king' inAramaic), originally intended as a slur applied to those who adhered to Chalcedon (it is no longer used to describe them), who continued to be organised into the historic andautocephalous patriarchates ofConstantinople,Antioch,Alexandria andJerusalem. Collectively they form the traditional basis for theGreek Orthodox Church, known asRūm Orthodox (Arabic:الروم الأرثوذكس) in Arabic, which is their language of worship throughoutLebanon, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, Syria and Christian diaspora. TheGeorgian 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. The term Melkite refers to the adherents of the Antiochene Greek Orthodox Patriarchy who switched allegiance to the Papacy in 1729 after a disputed election to the Patriarchal See in 1724 because the See of Constantinople which objected to the canonically elected Patriarch Cyril who was considered to be too pro-Roman consecrated another candidate (until then the See was technically still in union with the Constantinople and Rome despite the split of 1054).

The ArabMuslim conquests of the 7th century brought to end the hegemony of Byzantium and Persia over the Middle East. The conquest came at the end of a particularly gruelling period of theRoman-Persian Wars, from the beginning of the 7th century, in which the Sasanid ShahKhosrau II had captured much of the Syria, Egypt, Anatolia and the Caucasus, and the Byzantines underHeraclius only managed a decisive counter-attack in the 620s. The Greek-Orthodox PatriarchSophronius negotiated withCaliphUmar in 637 for the peaceful transfer of Jerusalem into Arab control (including theUmariyya 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.

After the conquests, Muslims initially remained a ruling minority within the conquered territories in the Middle East and North Africa. By the 12th century the non-Muslim population had become a minority.^[68] The factors and processes that led to the progressiveIslamization of these regions during this period, as well as the speed at which conversions happened, is a complex subject that is not fully understood by historians.^[69][68] Among other new rules, the Muslim rulers imposed a special poll tax, thejizya, on non-Muslims, which acted as an economic pressure to convert alongside other social advantages converts could gain in Muslim society.^[69][70] In Egypt, Islamization was likely slower than in other Muslim-controlled regions,^[68] with Christians likely constituting a majority of the population until the Fatimid period (10th to 12th centuries), though scholarly estimates on this issue are tentative and vary between authors.^[68][71][72]

In the period prior to the establishment of Abbasid rule in AD 750, many pastoral Kurds moved into upper Mesopotamia, taking advantage of an unstable situation.^[73] Cities in northern and northeastern ancient Assyria were raided and attacked by the Kurds of Persian Azerbaijan, "who killed, looted, and enslaved the indigenous population", and the Kurds were moving into various regions in east of ancientAssyria. When the Seljuks invaded Mesopotamia, they recruited the Kurds for their campaigns. The invading Seljuks and Kurds "destroyed whatever they encountered" and enslavedwomen. The Seljuks rewarded the Kurds for their support with land, and the Seljuk leader Sinjur renamed the region called Kirmanshah in Persia as Kurdistan. Mosul, historically a Christian city, was repeatedly attacked. The historian Ibn Khaldun wrote that 'the Kurds spoiled and spread horror everywhere'.^[74] The historian Al Makrezi, referring to the situation that emerged after the Kurdish settlement in al Jazirah, wrote that "they were able to establish Kurdish centres as their shares for helping the Turkish race in their conquest". In time,Armenia and Assyria became "Kurdistan".^[75] Afterwards happened the raids of Timur Lang, "whom the Kurds loyally followed and who enabled them to occupy the land of the Armenians, who were forcibly expelled". Timur Lang rewarded the Kurds by "settling them in the devastated regions, which until then had been inhabited by the followers of theChurch of the East."^[76]

TheOttoman Turks carried out a series of violentanti-Christian genocides ofArmenians,Assyrians, andGreeks between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[79] These include the massacres of ethnicAssyrian andArmenian Christians in the 1870s; these killings, which resulted in over ten thousand deaths, were known as theHamidian massacres.^[80] The settlement ofMuslim Kurds from theQajar Empire along the eastern border was the first powerful action in changing the demographics of theAssyrian homeland. The Muslim Kurds remained loyal to the Ottoman Turks as long as they were enjoying power and greatness.^[81] The Ottoman Turks conducted a large-scalegenocide andethnic cleansing of the ancient and indigenousGreek,Armenian,Assyrian, andMaronite Christian inhabitants of Anatolia, northwestern Iran, the fringes of northern Iraq and northern Syria, and Mount Lebanon during and immediately afterWorld War I,^[82] resulting in well over 3 million deaths among the 6 million Christians who were living in the Ottoman Empire in 1914 of 26 million inhabitants and large-scale deportations in theArmenian genocide,Assyrian genocide,Greek genocide, theDersim Massacre, and theGreat Famine of Mount Lebanon.^[83]

The Ottoman Turks reinforced their eastern frontier with what they "considered a loyal Sunni Kurd element". They settled the Kurds in these regions in return for their support in their campaigns against theSafavid Empire. In 1583, theOttoman sultanMurad IV "gave huge provinces to the Kurdish tribe of Mokri", whose leader claimed to descend fromSaladin. The French traveler Monsieur Tavernier noted that in 1662, Van and Urmia were purelyArmenian; however, only a century later, another European traveler, Carsten Niebuhr, noted that bothTurkomans andKurds were involved in spreading disturbances. In 1840, Hortio Southgate visited these same regions, he was surprised by the "dramatic changes" and by "the decline in the number of the Armenians compared with the number of the new Kurdish settlers who then were still in the process of moving in". Southgate ascribed these changes to "the Kurdish persecution of the indigenous people". The inhabitants of Salamis, for instance, had been forced to leave. The Russian historian Minorsky at about the same time also stated that "the Kurds had occupied parts ofArmenia permanently and were no longer living on their original land."^[84][85] According to Aboona, "the majorities, in particular the Kurds, rejected any form of coexistence" with Assyrians, and "in the eyes of the Kurds", the presence of Assyrian tribes in the midst of their own "settlements represented a serious challenge to their dominance of the region. The remaining Assyrian settlements prevented Kurdish settlements from forming a cohesive, homogenous ethnic block" and the "Kurds' aspirations remained unfulfilled".^[86] But when Nadir Shah invaded the territory of ancient Assyria in 1743 he got the full backing and support of the Kurds. This was a further step to "strengthening both the older Kurdish settlements, including those made afterÇaldıran, and the newer ones that followed Nadir Shah's İnvasİon." Hence the Assyrians lost both land and numbers. After Nadir Shah's invasion, the "Assyrian tribes also faced further tightening of the Kurdish circle around their country".^[87]

According to Adoona, "in the end, the independence of the Assyrian tribes was destroyed not directly by the Turks but by their Kurdish neighbours underTurkish auspices."^[88]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(March 2019)

In spite of the fact that every country in the Middle East has at least a small number of worshippers of Christ from a Muslim background,^[89] and in spite of the fact that the vast majority of native Christians areArabic speakers themselves, Christians in the Middle East face persecution –in various grades, depending on the residence country– and are often isolated.^[90]

Thedefeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) andWorld War I (1914–1918) ushered in the greatest period of violence against Christians in the region.^[91] TheOttoman Turks conducted a large-scalegenocide andethnic cleansing of the ancient and indigenousGreek,Armenian,Assyrian, andMaronite Christian inhabitants of Anatolia, north-western Iran, the fringes of northern Iraq and northern Syria, and Mount Lebanon during and immediately after the First World War, resulting in well over 3 million deaths and large-scale deportations in theArmenian genocide,Assyrian genocide,Greek genocide, theDersim Massacre, andGreat Famine of Mount Lebanon.^[92]

Patriarch Kirill (left) andPope Francis (right) issued theJoint Declaration of Havana in 2016, calling for an end to thepersecution of Christians in the Middle East.^[93]

More recently, thefall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, theSyrian Civil War and the concomitant rise ofISIS have greatly increased violence against Christians in those countries. Some, includingHillary Clinton^[94] or theEuropean Parliament^[95] referred to theISIS campaign against Christians and other religious minorities in the regionas a genocide. Later on, in March 2016 the United States officially joined this view, withU.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry declaring during a news conference at the State Department that ISIS "is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control includingYazidis,Assyrian Christians,Armenians andShia Muslims"; it was the first time sinceDarfur (2004) that the United States declared a genocide.^[96]

Kurdish tribes in Turkey, Syria, and Iran have conducted regular raids against their Christian neighbors and even paramilitary assaults during World War I.^[97] Kurds were responsible for most of the atrocities committed against the Assyrian Christians due also to a long tradition of perceived Kurdish rights to pillage Christians.^{[97][better source needed]} A Kurdish chieftain assassinated the patriarch of the church of the East at the negotiation dinner in 1918, and the aftermath led to further decimation of the Christian population.^[97]

• The main Christian ethnic groups in the Middle East
• 
  Armenians
• 
  Assyrians
• 
  Lebanese Christians
• 
  Greek Cypriots
• 
  Copts
• 
  Arameans
• 
  Pontic Greeks

Bahrain'ssecond largest religion is Christianity, forming a religious minority of 14.5% people inBahrain.^[98] Christians in Bahrain number 205,000 people. In the 5th century, Bahrain was a center ofNestorian Christianity, including two of itsbishoprics.^[99] Theecclesiastical province covering Bahrain was known as Bet Qatraye.^[100]Samahij was the seat of bishops. Bahrain was a center of Nestorian Christianity until al-Bahrain adopted Islam in 629 AD.^[101] As a sect, the Nestorians were often persecuted as heretics by theByzantine Empire, but Bahrain was outside the Empire's control offering some safety.

The names of several ofMuharraq Island's villages today reflect this Christian legacy, withAl Dair meaning "the monastery" or "the parish." In 410 AD, according to the Oriental Syriac Church synodal records, a bishop named Batai wasexcommunicated from the church in Bahrain.^[102]Alees Samaan, the former Bahraini ambassador to theUnited Kingdom is a native Christian.^{[citation needed]}

Most Christians in Egypt areCopts, who are mainly members of theCoptic Orthodox Church. TheCoptic language – a derivative of theAncient Egyptian language, written mainly in theGreek alphabet, is used as the liturgical language of all Coptic churches inside and outside of Egypt. Although ethnicCopts in Egypt now speakEgyptian Arabic (the Coptic language having ceased to be a working language by the 18th century), they believe in anAncient EgyptianCoptic identity rather than an Arab identity (also referred to asPharaonism). Copts reside mainly in Egypt, but also inSudan andLibya, with tiny communities inIsrael,Cyprus,Jordan,Lebanon, andTunisia. Copts presently constitute the largest Christian population in the Middle East, generally estimated at 10–15% by officials, or in the 20 million range.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} However, as Egyptian censuses since 2006 have not reported religious affiliation due to being optional, along with the government acknowledging the census is not a proper representation of Christians, various Coptic groups and churches claim a higher number in the range of 15 to 23 million.^{[103][104][105][106][107][108]}

Many Copts are internationally renowned. Some of the most well known Copts includeBoutros Boutros-Ghali, the sixthSecretary-General of theUnited Nations;Sir Magdi Yacoub, the cardiothoracic surgeon;Hani Azer, the civil engineer; billionaireFayez Sarofim, one of the richest men in the world; andNaguib Sawiris, the CEO ofOrascom.

Christianity has a long history in Iraq, with the early conversions of the indigenousAssyrian inhabitants ofAssyria (Parthian controlledAssuristan) dating from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. This region was the birthplace ofEastern Rite (Assyrian Church of the East) Christianity, a flourishingSyriac literary tradition, and the centre of a missionary expansion that stretched as far asIndia,Central Asia andChina.

By one estimate, there was about 1.5 million largely Assyrian Christians in Iraq by 2003, or 7% of the population, but with thefall of Saddam Hussein Christians began to leave Iraq in large numbers, and the population shrank to less than 500,000 today.^[91]

Assyrian Christians still made up the majority population in northern Iraq until the massacres conducted byTamurlane in the 14th century, which also saw their ancient city ofAssur finally abandoned after 4,000 years. In modern times,Assyrian Christians numbered about 636,000 to 800,000 in 2005, representing 3% to 5% of the population of the country, mostly in Iraqi Kurdistan.^{[citation needed]} The vast majority areNeo-Aramaic speaking ethnicAssyrians (also known asChaldo-Assyrians), descendant from the ancientMesopotamians in general and the ancient Assyrians more specifically, who are concentrated in the north, particularly theNineveh Plains,Dohuk andSinjar regions, border regions with south east Turkey, north west Iran and northern Syria, and in and around cities such asMosul,Erbil,Kirkuk, and also inBaghdad. There are also a very small proportion of Arab Christians and small numbers ofArmenian,Kurdish,Iranian andTurcoman Christians.

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 theIraq War,^[109] but most have since fled to northern Iraq, where Assyrian Christians form a majority in some districts.Assyrian Christians belong toSyriac churches such as theChaldean Catholic Church, theAssyrian Church of the East, theAncient Church of the East, theSyriac Catholic Church and theSyriac Orthodox Church, with a small number ofProtestant converts following theAssyrian Pentecostal Church andAssyrian Evangelical Church. The Iraqi former foreign minister and deputy prime ministerTariq Aziz (real name Michael Youkhanna) is probably the most famous Assyrian Iraqi Christian, along with the footballerAmmo Baba. Assyrians in Iraq have traditionally excelled in business, sports, the arts, music, and the military.

Assyrians are distinct from otherSemitic Christian groups in the Middle East in that they have retained their originalNeo-Aramaic language andSyriac written script, and have maintained anAssyrian continuity from ancient times to the present, resisting the adoption of Arabic language andArabization.

In his recent PhD thesis^[110] and in his recent book^[111] the Israeli scholarMordechai 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 Western countries (the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Russia and within many of the 27EU member states like Sweden, France, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands). 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 ofAssyrians in Iraq, however, millions of Assyrian Christians live today in exile in many communities in the West.^[112]

Iran's Christian minority numbers some 300,000–370,000. Most are ethnicArmenians (up to 250,000–300,000^[113]) andAssyrians (up to 40,000), who followArmenian Orthodox andAssyrian Church of the East Christianity respectively.^[114] There are at least 600 churches serving the nation's Christian adherents.^[115]

Christianity has a long history in Iran, dating back toParthian times, in the early years of the Christian faith, although the major religion among theIranian peoples themselves wasZoroastrianism. TheSasanian Empire was the centre of theNestorian Church. Many of the early followers wereArmenians, and transplantedAssyrians living in theUrmia region, and along the north western border withMesopotamia. These were added to by otherSemites, followers of the Nestorian church, some of whom were Assyrians from Mesopotamia, others being from Syria. Furthermore, there has been a thriving native ChristianArmenian community since ancient times in northwestern Iran, nowadaysIranian Azerbaijan. The many Armenian churches and monasteries in the region, such as the notableSt. Thaddeus Monastery, are extant remainders of this. Other significantly Christian populated areas in Parthian and Sassanid Iran included the provinces ofPersian Armenia,Caucasian Albania, andCaucasian Iberia, amongst others. In the course of the 20th century, Iran's large Christian minority, mainly the native Armenians and Assyrians who have a presence in Iran for millennia, took a heavy blow due to theAssyrian genocide (by Ottoman troops crossing the border),Armenian genocide (by Ottoman troops crossing the border), theIranian Revolution and theIran–Iraq War. Especially due to the two Ottoman-conducted genocides, regions where Christians even made up majorities or had a significant native historical presence for millennia, never became the same again. However, due to the same genocides, Iran's Christian community was boosted as well at the same time as many migrated to Iran from the Ottoman regions.

The most famous contemporary Christian of Iranian origin is probably the American tennis playerAndre Agassi, who is ethnicallyArmenian-Assyrian. The "Armenian Monastic Ensemble", which includes several of the nation's most ancient Christian Armenian churches and monasteries, are inscribed on theUNESCO world heritage list.

Some 80% of Christians residing permanently in Israel are Arabs, numbering at least 180,400 as of 2019.^[117] Of all Christians, around 60% belong to theMelkite Greek Catholic Church, 32% of all Christians belong to theEastern Orthodox Church, mainly theJerusalem Patriarchate though some recent immigrants areRussian Orthodox. Smaller numbers areRoman Catholics,Maronites,Assyrians,Armenians,Georgians andMessianic Jews.^[118] During the 1990s, the Christian community had been increased due to the immigration of Jewish-Christianmixed marriages, who had predominantly arrived from the countries of the former Soviet Union. This added another 20–30 thousands of mostlyGreek Orthodox Christians withRussian andUkrainian ancestry. Many Christian towns or neighborhoods were totally or partially destroyed during the creation of the State in the 1940s and 1950s such asIqrith,Al bassa,kufur birim,Ma’loul, West Jerusalem neighborhoods, all residents ofSafed,Beisan,Tiberias (including Christians), a big part of the Christians inHaifa,Jaffa,Lydda,Ramleh and other places.

In recent years, the Christian population in Israel has increased significantly by presence of foreign workers from a number of countries (predominantly the Philippines and Romania).^{[citation needed]} Numerous churches have opened inTel Aviv, in particular.^[119]

Nine churches are officially recognized under Israel'sconfessional system, for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce. These are theEastern Orthodox,Roman Catholic (Latin rite),Gregorian-Armenian,Armenian Catholic,Syriac Catholic,Chaldean (Uniate),Melkite (Greek Catholic),Assyrian Church of the East,Ethiopian Orthodox,Maronite andSyriac Orthodox churches. There are more informal arrangements with other churches such as theAnglican Church andthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Arab Christians are one of the most educated groups in Israel.Maariv (newspaper) has described the Arab Christians sectors as "the most successful in education system",^[120] since Arab Christians fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other group receiving an education in Israel.^[116] Arab Christians have one of the highest rates of success in the matriculation examinations, (64%)^[116] both in comparison to theMuslims and theDruze and in comparison to all students in theJewish education system as a group.^[116] The rate of students studying in the field ofmedicine was also higher among the Arab Christian students, compared with all the students from other sectors. The percentage of Arab Christian women who are higher education students is higher than other sectors.^[120]

In Jordan, Christians constitute 6% of the population as of 2017 according to the Jordanian government.^[121][122] This percentage represents a sharp decrease from a figure of 18% in the early 20th century. This drop is largely due to an influx of Muslim Arabs from the Hijaz after the First World War. Almost 50% of Jordanian Christians belong to theEastern Orthodox Church, 45% are Catholics,^[123] with a small minority adhering to Protestantism. A part of Jordanian Christians havePalestinian roots since 1948. 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.^{[citation needed]} 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. A survey by a Western embassy found that half of Jordan's prominent business families were Christians. Christians run about a third of Jordan's economy.^[124]

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-ArabAssyrian/Syriac,Armenian andMaronite groups in the country.

Lebanon holds the largest proportion of Christians in theArab world proportionally and falls behind only Egypt in absolute numbers. Christians were half ofLebanon's population before theLebanese Civil War (1975–1990), but in 2012 they are believed to form a large minority of 40.5%^[125] of the country's population (according to the last official Lebanese Census of 1932, the Lebanese Christian population was 51%^[126] of the country's population). However, if one counts the estimated 8–14-million-strongLebanese diaspora, they form far more than the majority of the population. The exact number of Christians is uncertain because no official census has been made inLebanon since 1932.Lebanese Christians belong mostly to theMaronite Catholic Church andGreek Orthodox, with sizable minorities belonging to theMelkite Greek Catholics. Lebanese Christians are the only Christians in the Middle East with a sizable political role in the country. As a result of theNational Pact theLebanese president, half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of the various Lebanese Christian rites.^[23]

Maronite tradition can be traced back toSaint 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 nearHoms–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 emperorJustinian II's persecution. To escape persecution,Saint John Maron, the first Maronite patriarch-elect, led his monks into theLebanese mountains; the Maronite monks finally settled in theQadisha 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 considerablefeudal force^{[citation needed]}. After the Muslim Conquest, theMaronite Church became isolated and did not reestablish contact with the Church of Rome until the 12th century.^[127] According toKamal Salibi, a LebaneseProtestant Christian, some Maronites may have been descended from an Arabian tribe, who immigrated thousands of years ago from the SouthernArabian 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".^[127] As a matter of fact, Salibi bases his conclusions, not on scientific evidences or irrefutable historical facts, but rather on his pan Arabic ideology. Hence, the majority of Lebanese Maronite Christians rejects his ideas, and points out that they are of pre-Arab origin. As a further matter, recent studies confirmed the Lebanese (the Maronites especially) lineage to the Phoenicians/Canaanites by DNA genome study. The study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics shows that present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite-related population, which therefore implies substantial genetic continuity in the Levant since at least the Bronze Age.^[128]

ManyLebaneseMaronite Christians consider themselves of indigenousPhoenician 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.

TheLebanese town ofBsharri is the largest predominantly Christian town in Lebanon and theMiddle East (withMaronite Christians greater than 99.5% of the town andDistrict's total population) and the one with the largest number ofCatholics. While several Middle Eastern cities (Damascus,Cairo,Jerusalem) have larger Christian communities, yet these do not constitute a majority.

The capitalBeirut also has a larger Christian population than Bsharri (in the city proper), though most belong to theOrthodox confession.

Christianity has a long history inAnatolia (now part of theRepublic of Turkey), which is the birthplace of numerous ChristianApostles andSaints, such asPaul ofTarsus,Timothy,Nicholas ofMyra,Polycarp ofSmyrna and many others.Two out of the five centers (Patriarchates) of the ancientPentarchy are in Turkey:Constantinople (Istanbul) andAntioch (Antakya). The Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople still today has his residence in Istanbul. Antioch was also the place where the followers ofJesus were called "Christians" for the first time in history, as well as being the site ofone of the earliest and oldest surviving churches, established bySaint Peter himself. For a thousand years, theHagia Sophia was the largest church in the world.

TheGreeks of western Anatolia andGeorgians of theBlack Sea region have histories dating from the 20th and 10th centuries BC respectively, and were also Christianized during the first few centuries AD. Similarly theAssyrian andArmenian peoples have an ancient history in southeastern Anatolia, dating back to 2000 BC and 600 BC respectively; both of these peoples were Christianized between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.

These ancient Christian ethnic groups were drastically reduced bygenocide during and after World War I (seeArmenian genocide,Assyrian genocide andGreek genocide) at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish army and their Kurdish allies.Population exchange between Greece and Turkey is another reason.

The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell from 19 percent in 1914 or 3 million (thought to be an undercount by one-third omitting 600,000 Armenians, 500,000 Greeks and 400,000 Assyrians) to 2.5 percent in 1927 in a population of 14 million,^[129] due to events which had a significant impact on the country's demographic structure, such as theArmenian genocide, thepopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey,^[130] and theemigration of Christians (such asLevantines,Greeks,Armenians etc.) to foreign countries (mostly in Europe and the Americas) that actually began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century, especially during World War I and after theTurkish War of Independence.^[131] Today there are more than 160,000 people of differentChristian denominations, representing less than 0.2 percent of Turkey's population,^[25] including an estimated 80,000Oriental Orthodox,^[132] 35,000Roman Catholics,^[133] 18,000Antiochian Greeks,^[134] 5,000Greek Orthodox^[132] and smaller numbers ofProtestants (mostlyethnic Turkish).^[135] Currently there are 236 churches open for worship in Turkey.^[136] TheEastern Orthodox Church has beenheadquartered in Istanbul since the 4th century.^[137][138]

About 173,000 ArabPalestinian Christians lived in the Palestinian Authority (including theWest Bank andGaza Strip) in the 1990s.^[109] Both the founder of thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,George Habash, and the founder if its offshoot theDFLP,Nayif Hawatmeh, were Christians, as is prominent Palestinian activist and formerPalestinian Authority ministerHanan Ashrawi. Nowadays, 50% of all Palestinian Christians are Catholics.^[123]

Over the last years, unlike the increase trend in the Christian population of Israel, the number of Christians in the Palestinian Authority has declined severely. The decline of Christianity in the Palestinian Authority is largely attributed to poor birth rates, compared with the dominant Muslim population. The updated number of Arab Christians in the Palestinian Authority is under 75,000.^[8]

Since theHamastakeover of theGaza Strip in 2007, anti-Christian attitudes have been on the increase. Unlike in thePalestinian Authority in theWest Bank, the Hamas administration does not include Christians. From about 2,000^[23]–3,000^[139] Christians before Hamas takeover, as few as one thousand remain in theGaza Strip under Hamas rule.

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 now comprise about 3% of the population,^[8][140] due to higher emigration rates than their Muslim compatriots. The largest Churches are theGreek Orthodox andGreek Catholic.^[23] There are alsoSyriac Orthodox,Syriac Catholic,Armenian Orthodox,Armenian Catholic,Assyrian Church of the East andChaldean Catholic Church Christians.^[23] As of 2018, more than half of the nation's Christians left the country due to theSyrian Civil War.^[141]

Syrian Christians are largelyArab Christians in the bulk of the country, though some may identify as Arabized Greeks (Melkites and Orthodox Church of Antioch) and ethnicArameans (among Jacobites). In the big cities there are many ethnicArmenians and in the northeasternAl-Hasakah Governorate the majority of the Christians are ethnicAssyrians.

Many millions of Middle Eastern Christians currently live in thediaspora, 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, Egypt, Syria), and to a lesser extent, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, and the Netherlands.

The largest number of Middle Eastern Christians residing in the diaspora is that ofLebanese Christians, who have migrated out ofLebanon for security and economic reasons since WWI. Many fledLebanon during theLebanese Civil War. The countries with significant Lebanese Christians include such countries as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela among them.

Assyrian Christians currently reside in diaspora with large communities in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe, reaching more than a million outside of the Middle East. Much of these is attributed to the massive Assyrian Christian exodus from northern Iraq following the 2003 invasion and the consequentIraq War, and from north-eastern Syria following the 2011 Arab Spring and the consequentSyrian Civil War.

Among the Arab Christians, about a million Palestinian Christians reside in the diaspora, largely in the Americas, where their communities have been established since the late 19th century and peaked following the1948 Arab–Israeli War. More emigrated from Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War.

The majority of self-identifyingArab Americans areEastern Rite Catholic orOrthodox Christian, according to theArab American Institute. On the other hand, most American Muslims are black (African Americans or Sub-Saharan Africans) or of South Asian (Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi) origin.

Coptic churches are mainly divided into:

• Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
• Coptic Catholic Church
• Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile)

Many Christians who originate from the Middle East are ethnicAssyrians, aSemitic people who follow various rites ofSyriac Christianity, and are ethnically and linguistically distinct from Arabs. Other Syriac-rite Christians also include theArameans ofMaaloula andJubb'adin in Syria. In all, the Assyrians are divided into the following churches:

• Chaldean Catholic Church pro-Catholic faction of theChurch of the East since 1552 AD – ethnically the same as Assyrians, made up of Assyrian Catholics. Mainly found in Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria. Sometimes calledChaldo-Assyrians to avoid division on theological lines.
• Assyrian Church of the East, (the traditionalist faction of the Church of the East and somewhat inaccurately as theNestorian Church) 1st century AD – Mainly found among the ethnicAssyrians of Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria.
• Ancient Church of the East since the 20th century – An offshoot of the Assyrian Church of the East. Mainly found in Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria
• Assyrian Evangelical Church – Made up of ethnic Assyrian converts to Protestantism, since the 20th century. Mainly found in Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria
• Assyrian Pentecostal Church – Made up of ethnic Assyrian converts to Protestantism, since the 20th century. Mainly found in Iraq, Iran, south east Turkey and north east Syria
• Syriac Orthodox Church (also known as theJacobite Church and sometimesAssyrian Orthodox Church)^[142] 1st century AD. Mainly found in Syria, south central Turkey and to a small degree in Iraq and even a smaller degree inKerala, India by theSyrian Malabar Nasranis.
• Syriac Catholic Church since the 18th century. Mainly in Syria and Iraq.

Christians, belonging mostly toGreek Orthodox andMelkite churches:

• Eastern Orthodox Church
  • Church of Antioch
  • Church of Jerusalem
  • Church of Alexandria
• Catholic Church
  • Melkite Greek Catholic Church

All of them are mainly found in countries likeLebanon,Syria,Israel,Palestine,Jordan,Egypt and to a lesser degree inTurkey,Iraq,Libya, andSudan.

Maronites are part of a continuous history ofChristianity in Lebanon, and have traditionally adhered to theMaronite Catholic Church. Their highest population can be found in Lebanon, where they make up 34% of the population.^[143] Other sizeable Maronite populations can be found in Syria and Israel, with smaller numbers in Egypt and Jordan, and a diaspora community inthe Americas.

There is also theArmenian Church with its divisions:

• Armenian Apostolic Church
• Armenian Catholic Church
• Armenian Evangelical Church

Armenia, historically, was the first state to accept Christianity. There are small numbers of Russian Orthodox and Assyrian Christians in Armenia also. Armenian Christians are also to be found in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf states as expats.

TheKurdish-Speaking Church of Christ (The Kurdzman Church of Christ) is anEvangelical church with mainly Kurdish adherents.

TheEpiscopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East is theAnglican church responsible for the Middle East and North Africa. It is quite small, with only some 35,000 members throughout the area. The Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf looks after 30,000-40,000 Anglicans in the area and ministers to Protestants and others.

• Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate

• The Father's House AG Church

Notable Christians of Middle Eastern ancestry in Middle East and Diaspora:

• Andre Agassi – former Iranian-American tennis player (Assyrian-Armenian descent)
• Alees Samaan, theBahraini ambassador to the United Kingdom.
• Vera Baboun, first female Mayor of Bethlehem (Palestinian Roman Catholic Christian)^[144]
• Fairuz, Lebanese singer. (Orthodox Christian, originallyMaronite)
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian-American 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations (Coptic Orthodox Christian)
• Elias Chacour Archbishop, prominent reconciliation and peace activist in Israel (Melkite Greek Catholic Christian)
• Michel Aflaq, Syrian founder of pan-ArabistBaath party, (Greek Orthodox Christian).
• Tariq Aziz, former Iraqi (Baath party) foreign minister and deputy prime minister (Chaldean Catholic Christian, an ethnicAssyrian)
• Suleiman Mousa, prominent Jordanian historian and author ofT. E. Lawrence: An Arab View, (Catholic Christian).
• George Wassouf, Syrian singer (an ethnicSyriac)^{[citation needed][dubious –discuss]}.
• Edward Said, prominent Palestinian intellectual and writer (Greek Orthodox Christian background).
• Constantin Zureiq, prominent Syrian intellectual and academic (Greek Orthodox Christian).
• George Habash, Palestinian founder ofPFLP (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• Nayef Hawatmeh, Jordanian founder ofDFLP (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• Said Khoury, Palestinian entrepreneur, co-founder of theConsolidated Contractors International Company, (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• Yousef Beidas, prominent PalestinianFinancier (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• John Sununu, US political leader of Palestinian-Lebanese background (Melkite Greek Catholic Christian).
• Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian scholar and politic activist (Anglican Arab Christian).
• Kamal Salibi, Lebanese historian and scholar (Protestant Christian).
• Steve Bracks (from theBarakat Lebanese family) Australian State MP, Premier of Victoria, Australia (Catholic Arab Christian).
• René Angélil, Canadian producer and husband ofCéline Dion of Lebanese-Syrian background (Greek Catholic Christian).^[145]
• Carlos Menem, president of Argentina from 1988 to 1999 of Syrian background (ethnically Arab converted toRoman Catholic from Sunni Islam)
• Emile Habibi,Arab Israeli writer (Anglican Christian).
• Azmi Bishara, former Arab IsraeliKnesset member, now residing in Qatar (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• Azmi Nassar, Arab Israeli manager of thePalestinian national football team (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• Salim Tuama,Hapoel Tel Aviv midfielder, (Arab citizen of Israel (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• Simon Shaheen, Israeli oud and violin virtuoso and composer (Greek CatholicArab Christian)
• Salim Jubran, member of the Israeli Supreme Court (Maronite Christian)
• Ralph Nader, US presidential candidate and consumers' rights activist of Lebanese background (Greek Orthodox background, but declines to comment on personal religion).
• Hani Naser, musician, producer (son of Jordanian Christian immigrants).
• Shakira, international superstar from Colombia, daughter ofLebanese father from Zahle and Colombian mother ofSpanish descent (Greek Orthodox Christian).
• Tony Shalhoub, three-timeEmmy Award and Golden Globe-winning American television and film actor of Lebanese background (Maronite Christian).
• Marie Keyrouz, chanter of Eastern Church music,Melkite 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 from Lebanese background (Maronite Christian).
• Carlos Slim Helú, Mexican businessman of Lebanese background (Maronite Christian).
• Bruno Bichir andDemián Bichir, Mexican actors of Lebanese background (Maronite Christians).
• Amin al-Rihani, Lebanese writer and intellectual (Maronite Christian).
• Afif Safieh, Palestinian diplomat (Greek Catholic Arab Christian).
• Bobby Rahal, race car driver, team owner, and businessman of Lebanese background (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• Doug Flutie, Heisman Trophy winner, NFL quarterback of Lebanese origin (Maronite Christian).
• Jacques Nasser, past CEO Ford Motor Company, French-American of Lebanese descent (Greek Orthodox Christian).
• Helen Thomas, Whitehouse Journalist, American of Lebanese descent (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• George Mitchell, former US Senator and Politician of Lebanese background (Maronite Christian).
• John Mack, former chairman & CEO ofMorgan Stanley – an American of Lebanese descent (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).
• Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of Son of Hamas, American of Palestinian descent (Protestant Arab Christian, converted from Islam).
• Vartan Gregorian, American academic and president ofCarnegie Corporation of New York (Iranian-Armenian descent).
• Alex Agase, American – Top level American Football (gridiron) player (Assyrian).
• Lou Agase, American – Top level American Football (gridiron) player (Assyrian).
• Mitch Daniels – Governor of Indiana and potential Republican presidential candidate (Syrian, Greek Orthodox).
• Rosie Malek-Yonan, American actress, author, director, public figure and activist. (Assyrian descent).
• Adam Benjamin, Jr., Indiana Congressman (Assyrian).
• Anna Eshoo,California Congressman (Assyrian).
• John Nimrod, Illinois Senator (Assyrian).
• Aril Brikha, techno/nouse music artist (Assyrian).
• Linda George, singer (Assyrian).
• Sargon Gabriel, singer (Assyrian).
• Klodia Hanna, Miss Iraq 2006 (Assyrian).
• Christian Demirtaş, German footballer (Assyrian).
• Daniel Unal, Turkish footballer – playing for FC Basle in Switzerland (Assyrian Christian).
• Peter Medawar, of Lebanese descent (Maronite Christian); was awarded the 1960Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.^[146]
• Elias James Corey, of Lebanese descent (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian); won theNobel Prize in Chemistry.^[147]
• Tony Fadell,Lebanese American inventor known as "one of the fathers of the iPod" (Greek Orthodox ).^[148]
• Michael E. DeBakey, world-renowned American cardiac surgeon of Lebanese origin (Maronite Christian).^[149]
• Michael Atiyah, British mathematician specialising in geometry (Greek Orthodox Arab Christian).^[147]
• Daron Acemoglu,Turkish Armenian economist,^[150] he received theJohn Bates Clark Medal in 2005, and theNobel Prize in Economics in 2024.^[151]
• Ardem Patapoutian,Armenian Lebanese winner of theNobel Prize in Medicine.^[152]
• Michel Temer, former president of Brazil.
• Julia Sawalha, British actress.
• Nadia Sawalha, British actress.
• Nabil Sawalha, Jordanian actor.
• Daoud Kuttab, Palestinian journalist with American citizenship.

• Christianity in the Middle East

• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• CS1 errors: generic name
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from December 2023
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2020
• Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters
• Pages using sidebar with the child parameter
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2020
• Articles containing Arabic-language text
• Articles to be expanded from March 2019
• All articles to be expanded
• All articles lacking reliable references
• Articles lacking reliable references from November 2020
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2016
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2010
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2011
• All accuracy disputes
• Articles with disputed statements from January 2011