Chapel in Damascus. (Credit: Dianne Ket)
CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA
Syria was one of the first places in the world to have a Christian community – the community is mentioned in the Book of Acts and St Paul’s famous conversion on the road to Damascus.
How many Christians are in Syria today?
Before the Syrian Civil War, approximately 1.5 million - 10% of the Syrian population - were Christians. The number is thought to have dropped sharply in recent years, but by how much is unclear. There could now be as few as 300,000 Christians left in Syria today.
Christians predominately live in and around the cities of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Latakia and in Hasaka governorate.
Most Syrian Christians are members of either the Eastern Orthodox Church’s Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East or the Syriac Orthodox Church (part of the Oriental Orthodox family of churches). Most of the Catholics in Syria belong to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. There are also a minority of Protestants, including Congregationalist, Presbyterian and Armenian Evangelical Churches.
What are the challenges facing Syrian Christians?
Like the rest of the Syrian population, the Christian community in Syria has been hugely affected by the ongoing civil war and its consequences. Along with other minority groups, such as Druze, Christians are particularly vulnerable to community violence from extremist groups. Huge numbers have fled, leading to a dramatic decline in the number of Christians in Syria.
More than 120 churches and Christian places of worship have been destroyed since the Syrian civil war began.
But the main reason that Christian families are forced to leave is not targeted persecution, but the deteriorating living conditions, lack of employment or education opportunities, escalating living costs and continued dangers caused by fighting.
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What impact does the Christian community in Syria have?
Christians can be found in prominent positions across Syrian society. There are high-profile Christians among the Syrian government and also among opposition leadership.
Church leaders have been vocal in calling for an end to the violence. In April 2013 Yohanna Ibrahim, Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Aleppo, condemned the Syrian military for indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas. Shortly afterwards he and Paul Yazigi, Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Church of Aleppo, were kidnapped (and presumed murdered) whilst travelling to negotiate the release of two priests kidnapped by militants.
The churches have also been proactive in providing humanitarian support to Syrian families struggling with the physical, psychological and economic impact of the war, helping to pay for medical treatment, providing psychological support programmes and running education projects for children.
Syrian Christians were also on the front line of the response following the earthquake in February 2023. The earthquake affected areas such as Aleppo and Latakia, where there is a strong Christian presence. Churches opened their doors to provide emergency shelter and, through ecumenical groups such as the Middle East Council of Churches, are continuing to organise the distribution of food and hygiene parcels as well as helping to assess and repair structural damage.
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THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN SYRIA
Ancient Syria sat at the crossroads of many great civilisations and on numerous important trade routes. It became a Roman province after the Romans took the city of Antioch in 64 BC. Syria also has a rich Christian history: the Apostle Paul was famously converted on the road to Damascus, where he was planning to visit synagogues and capture Jews who had converted to Christianity.
Many of the early Christian philosophers and thinkers were from Syria. Antioch became one of the major hubs of Christian leadership; it was known as the ‘cradle of Christianity’ and the Bible tells us that it was there that believers were first called ‘Christians’ (Acts 11:26). Antioch grew and gained in strength over the centuries, becoming an important and vibrant hub for Christian learning and debate on topics such as the nature of Jesus and the Trinity.
Throughout the third and fourth centuries AD, monks and missionaries were active in the region, and many tribes were converted. The trade routes were also instrumental in spreading the Christian faith throughout the Arabian peninsula, to Abyssinia in the south, and Persia in the north and east and beyond.
Syriac Christianity was deeply rooted in the Arab world and shared the same culture, traditions and social customs of the region. The many ancient remains of Christian churches and buildings in the region bear witness to the strong presence of the Christian faith in those early centuries.
By the time Islam emerged in the seventh century, Christians comprised around 80% of the population in Syria – but centuries of doctrinal controversies and Byzantine persecutions of ‘heretical’ eastern Christians made them vulnerable to conquest. Under Muslim rule, Christians were assigned dhimmi status, meaning that they had to live under certain regulations and pay a special tax. Proselytisation was forbidden, as was conversion from Islam to Christianity. Given these restrictions, Christianity saw a significant decline in numbers over the following centuries.
When Syria was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1516, conditions improved for Christians. Restrictions were gradually removed and religious minorities – including Christian churches – were given a degree of administrative autonomy and political authority within their communities. Political and economic reforms that took place between 1857-1860 reduced economic and social incentives to convert to Islam, and the percentage of Christians in the region increased significantly.
The Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party has ruled Syria continuously since the 1963 coup d’etat. Although Christians are protected under the law, the Party’s policies have increased division across sectarian divides. The number of Christians in Syria today is estimated to be about 2.8% of the 20.6 million population – reduced from about 1.5 million before the civil war began in 2011. This decline is largely due to mass emigration of Syrian Christians triggered by the appalling living conditions as a result of the war.