In 2022,Christians inBahrain made up approximately 12% of the population.[1] Bahrain has had a nativeChristian community for many centuries, with the first recorded presence dating back to the 12th century. Expatriate Christians, however, make up the majority of Christians in Bahrain, while local Christian Bahrainis (who hold Bahraini citizenship) make up a much smaller community.Alees Samaan, the former Bahraini ambassador to theUnited Kingdom, is a native Christian.
Excavations atSamahij (Muharraq Island) between2019 and 2023 uncovered the first confirmed Christian building in Bahrain: a large, well-built structure of eight rooms, radiocarbon-dated to themid-4th to mid-8th centuries CE. The building — probably thebishop’s palace of the diocese referred to in historical sources asMeshmahig/Mašmahig — lay beneath a later mosque, whose presence helped preserve the earlier fabric. Archaeological features included stone and plaster walls, sockets indicating doors and fixed benches, a refectory, living rooms, and a kitchen with hearths formed from amphora bases.[2][3][4][5]
Material evidence links the site to theChurch of the East (often called theNestorian Church), which had an established presence around the Persian Gulf prior to widespread conversion to Islam in the 7th century. Documentary sources note tensions in the Meshmahig bishopric (a bishop was excommunicated in 410 CE and another condemned in the 7th century). The Church of the East’s de facto separation from the western (Roman) church occurred in the early 5th century (formalised in the 420s), and the term “Nestorian” became common after the condemnation ofNestorius atEphesus in431.[2][3][4][5]
Artefacts show the occupants lived at a relatively high standard and were part of long-distance trade:Indian ceramics,carnelian beads,Sasanian copper coins, and many pottery sherds were found. Domestic and craft remains includeglassware (including smallwine glasses),spindle whorls, andcopper needles (the latter suggesting local textile production, possibly linked to liturgical or monastic needs). Food remains indicate a diet includingpork, fish,shellfish, andvarious crops; pork consumption appears to have ceased after conversion to Islam. Christian identification is confirmed bythree plaster crosses and graffiti with early Christian symbols such as theChi-Rho and thefish.[2][3][4][5]
Excavation co-leadersProfessor Timothy Insoll (University of Exeter) andDr Salman Almahari (Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities) emphasised the find’s significance as the earliest and only Christian building so far identified in Bahrain and among the oldest in the Persian Gulf. Local villagers played a key role by pointing archaeologists to a mound beneath a ruined mosque and preserving oral traditions — reportedly including occasional use of Christian personal names — that recalled a pre-Islamic Christian past. Similar early Christian sites are known elsewhere around the Gulf (in parts of Iran, Kuwait, the UAE and eastern Saudi Arabia), but most are in uninhabited locations and generally post-date Samahij, underscoring the importance of the discovery. A museum to display the Samahij finds was planned for2025.[2][3][4][5]
The Church of the East survives in several modern bodies, including theAssyrian Church of the East (based in Erbil), theAncient Church of the East (based in Baghdad), theChaldean Catholic Church (based in Baghdad), and theSyro-Malabar Church (based in Kerala, India), with communities numbering in the hundreds of thousands to millions in various countries.[2][3][4][5]
Christians who hold Bahraini citizenship number approximately 1,000.[6][note 1] The majority of the Christians are originally fromIraq,Palestine andJordan, with a small minority having lived in Bahrain for many centuries; the majority have been living as Bahraini citizens for less than a century. There are also smaller numbers of native Christians who originally hail fromLebanon,Syria, andIndia.
The majority of Christian Bahraini citizens tend to beOrthodox Christians, with the largest church by membership being theEastern Orthodox Church. They enjoy many equal religious and social freedoms. Bahrain has Christian members in the Bahraini government. Bahrain is one of twoGCC countries to have a native Christian population; the other country,Kuwait, also has a Christian population but in smaller numbers, with less than 400 Christian Kuwaiti citizens.
Eastern Orthodox Christians in Bahrain traditionally belong to the jurisdiction ofEastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. An Eastern Orthodox parish in Bahrain was organized in 2000 by the late metropolitanConstantine Papastephanou of Baghdad and Kuwait (1969-2014), who also had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Eastern Orthodox in Bahrain and theUnited Arab Emirates.[7]
Foreign citizens who live and work in Bahrain make up the majority of Christians in Bahrain. They include people from Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. They belong to various Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches.
