Arab Christians

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Arab Christians are members of either an Oriental Christian Church or the Roman Catholic Church as well as Catholic Uniate Churches and Greek Orthodox Churches and, to a lesser extent, various Protestant denominations that are either ethnic Arabs or culturally and linguistically Arabized . The term was created in response to Arab nationalism (and regionally also to Zionism ) and defines both demarcation and affiliation.

The majority of Arab Christians live in the Middle East , where Sunni Islam is the predominant religion. Most of the emigrated Arab Christians live all over the American continent, from Canada / USA in the north to Argentina and Brazil in the south, where they form the Lebanese diaspora . In Latin America, the Lebanese population forms a significant part of the social elite . Despite different areas of origin, they mostly refer to themselves as Lebanese or were called Turcos because of their entry from the crumbling Ottoman Empire . There are also numerous people among the Greeks in Australia whose ancestors once lived in Arab countries. Few Arab Christians have emigrated to Europe .

Settlement areas of Christian Arabs

Overall, the number of Arab Christians is estimated at 40 million.

Head counts by country:

history

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
Please cite the source that the practice of religion was allegedly massively hindered. - Surtalnar ( discussion ) 03:48, Jan. 3, 2017 (CET)

For a long time, Christians in Arab countries lived alongside members of polytheistic religions and Judaism . Even after the expansion of Islam from the 7th century onwards, many Christians remained true to their faith, despite not infrequent and sometimes massive hindrances to their religious practice.

There have been several Arab Christian tribes since the 1st century, such as the Ghassanids , who lived on the south-eastern border of the Byzantine Empire in northern Arabia .

Since the 18th century there have also been an increasing number of Catholics among Arab Christians who have almost always converted to Catholicism from the traditional oriental churches, often starting from the educational institutions of the Catholic Church (schools, later also universities) that have been in the Orient since then originated. Since the 19th century, especially American, Protestant missionaries have worked among the Arab Christians and achieved some success.

present

The largest population of Arabic-speaking Christians in absolute terms lives in Egypt. Most of the up to 11 million Egyptian Christians are Copts . The Copts do not refer to themselves as Arabs, but rather as Arab or Arabic- speaking Christians. Their share in the total population of Egypt is not certain, it is probably around 10 percent. They trace their tradition back to ancient pharaonic Egypt and have experienced a renaissance since the 1970s, mainly through the establishment of new monasteries.

The Lebanon has the highest Christian population: about 45 percent before the Civil War . The largest Christian church is the Maronite , followed by the Greek Orthodox , more precisely the Rum Orthodox, the Greek Catholic (Melkites) as well as the Syrian Orthodox and the Armenian churches . Lebanon is also a refuge for other Christians from neighboring countries. The President of the Republic is always a Maronite, the Deputy Prime Minister is always a Roman Orthodox Christian. Half of the ministerial posts are given to Muslims and Christians.

In Syria around 10 percent of the population are Christian, in Palestine around 1.6 percent; four times the number of Palestinian Christians live abroad.

In Iraq , Christians have emigrated since the end of Saddam Hussein's rule and the associated worsening of the insecure situation in the country.

There is still a relatively large community of around 0.4 million Christians in Jordan .

In Maghrebian states, the Christian population is much lower.

The population of Malta , whose language is essentially Arabic and whose religion is Roman Catholic , has a special position .

identity

Not all Christians in the Middle East describe themselves as ethnic Arabs, even though they are native Arabic speakers. Aramaic has largely declined among Christians and is only spoken by a minority .

So, for example, call Maronites as descendants of the Phoenicians and Chaldeans as Syrians to stand out from the Arabs (for example, from Saudi Arabia to distinguish).

literature

  • Paul Loeffer: Arab Christians in the Middle East Conflict. Christians in the political field of tension. Frankfurt am Main, Lembeck 1976, 98 pp.
  • Arab Christians - Christians in Arabia , Ed. Detlev Kreikenbom, Frankfurt am Main a. a., Lang, 2007, VI, 191 pp. (Northeast African-West Asian Studies, 6).
  • Samir Khalil Samir, Michaela Koller: Muslims and Christians. History and perspectives of a neighborhood. Augsburg, Sankt Ulrich Verlag 2011, 176 pp.
  • Andreas Knapp: The Last Christians. Flight and expulsion from the Middle East . Adeo Verlag, Asslar 2016, ISBN 978-3-863341-18-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp490.htm
  2. ↑ Christians in the Islamic World - From Politics and Contemporary History (APuZ 26/2008)
  3. ^ Siegfried G. Richter : The Coptic Egypt. Treasures in the shadow of the pharaohs. (with photos by Jo Bischof). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2019, ISBN 978-3-8053-5211-6 , pp. 120–127.

Web links