Christians in the Holy Land

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Among Christians in the Holy Land is meant mainly indigenous Christians , in Israel or the Palestinian territories live. They represent a minority within the Jewish and Muslim dominated population of this region and, according to the language, usually belong to the Arabs , even if they have an Israeli passport. Cities such as Bethlehem , Nazareth or the Christian Quarter and the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem's old town were mostly inhabited or shaped by Christians until the recent past. The increasing violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict , however, has led to increased emigration abroad since the 1990s.

According to official data, Israel (including Jerusalem) had 148,000 Christians in 2006, 120,000 of whom were Arabic as their mother tongue, 2.1% of the population of Israel. The following are named for Jerusalem: 732,000 inhabitants, including 469,000 Jews (64%), 239,000 Muslims (32%) and 14,700 Christians (2%).

Due to the importance of the region for the origin of Christianity, almost all Christian churches and denominations are represented in the Holy Land . The term “Christians in the Holy Land” therefore also includes all Christians from abroad who have settled there for religious reasons. Many of the most important places of origin of Christianity are in the Palestinian Territories. In today's Nablus, formerly Shechem, in the northern West Bank, Abraham, the progenitor of all three monotheistic world religions, according to tradition, appeared to God and promised Abraham's descendants the land. Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem and his Church of the Holy Sepulcher is located in the old city of Israel-occupied East Jerusalem. Even Gaza is mentioned in the Old Testament as the place of captivity and death of the Jewish hero Samson.

Christians in public functions

In the Israeli parliament there is usually a Christian Arab.

In the Palestinian Territories, a presidential decree of 2001 requires that the heads of ten local councils be Christian. This decree may apply a. for Bethlehem, Ramallah, Birzeit and Taybeh. Some of these communities have a (clear) Muslim majority. A 2005 decree states that at least six seats in Parliament (Palestinian Legislative Council) must be given to Christians. However, it can be assumed that these edicts are not solely responsible for the political influence of Christians. At the Sixth General Congress of Fatah in Bethlehem in August 2009, five of the 80 elected members of the Revolutionary Council were Christians. This means that they are disproportionately represented in this influential body, measured against the proportion of the population.

List of Christian communities

Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches

Catholic churches

Other churches

Other groups

Well-known Christians in the Holy Land

literature

  • Friedrich Heyer: 2000 years of church history in the Holy Land: martyrs, monks, church fathers, crusaders, patriarchs, excavators and pilgrims (studies on oriental church history 11). LIT, Münster / Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-8258-4955-4 .
  • Kirsten Stoffregen Pedersen: The Holy Land Christians. Jerusalem 2003.
  • Anthony O'Mahony (Ed.): The Christian Communities of Jerusalem and the Holy Land: Studies in History, Religion and Politics . University of Wales Press, 2003, ISBN 0-7083-1772-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Felix Dane, Jörg Knocha, "Role and Influence of Christians in the Palestinian Territories", in: KAS-Auslandsinformationen, 2010, No. 12, pp. 56–75, http://www.kas.de/wf/doc /kas_21240-1522-1-30.pdf?101124163301
  2. Felix Dane, Jörg Knocha, "Role and Influence of Christians in the Palestinian Territories", in: KAS-Auslandsinformationen, 2010, No. 12, pp. 56–75, http://www.kas.de/wf/doc /kas_21240-1522-1-30.pdf?101124163301