Christianity in the Middle East

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Christianity in the Middle East

• Ms. Eraqi

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Early Christianity

• Founder Jesus Christ (Trinity)
• Beginning Date 1 A.D. (anno domino)
• Place of Origin Middle East
• Holy City Jerusalem (Abode of Peace/Holy
  Sanctuary)

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Christian Holidays

• Christmas
• Celebration of the birth of Christ
• Originally the celebrated birthday of Mithras
  (Zoroastrian god)
• Easter
• Celebration of the resurrection of Christ
• End of the 40 day period of fasting and prayer

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Christian Sects

• Three Largest
• Roman Catholic
• Eastern Orthodox
• Protestant

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Christianity Today

• One of Largest Religions
• 2.1 Billion followers
• About 37 of Christians live in U.S. (largest
  Christian population in one country)
• Approximately 38,000 Christian denominations

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Examples

• Catholic Denominations
• Apostolic Catholic Church
• American Catholic Church in the United States
• Bosnian Church (no longer in existence)
• Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church
• Catholic Charismatic Church of Canada
• Celtic Catholic Church
• Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association
• Communion of Christ the Redeemer
• Free Catholic Church
• Liberal Catholic Church
• Mariavite Church
• Old Catholic Church
• Old Catholic Church of America
• Old Catholic Church in Europe
• Palmarian Catholic Church
• Philippine Independent Church
• Polish National Catholic Church
• Spiritus Christi

• Armenian Catholic Church
• Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
• Bulgarian Catholic Church
• Chaldean Catholic Church
• Coptic Catholic Church
• Croatian Greek Catholic Church
• Ethiopian Catholic Church
• Georgian Catholic Church
• Greek Catholic Church
• Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
• Italo-Greek Catholic Church
• Macedonian Catholic Church
• Maronite Catholic Church
• Melkite Catholic Church
• Romanian Catholic Church
• Russian Catholic Church
• Ruthenian Catholic Church (usually called the
  "Byzantine Catholic Church" in the United States)
• Slovak Greek Catholic Church
• Syrian Catholic Church

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Examples

• Eastern Orthodox
• Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
• Finnish Orthodox Church
• Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (autonomy not
  universally recognized)
• Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of
  Russian Tradition in Western Europe (autonomy not
  universally recognized)
• Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria
• Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch
• Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of
  North America
• Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
• Saint Catherine's Monastery (considered
  autocephalous by some)
• Russian Orthodox Church
• Latvian Orthodox Church (semi-autonomous)
• Moldovan Orthodox Church (autonomy not
  universally recognized)
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
• Japanese Orthodox Church(autonomy not universally
  recognized)
• Chinese Orthodox Church
• Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
  (semi-autonomous not universally recognized)
• Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate
  (semi-autonomous not universally recognized)

• Serbian Orthodox Church
• Macedonian Orthodox Church (autonomy not
  universally recognized)
• Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric
• Romanian Orthodox Church
• Metropolis of Bessarabia
• Bulgarian Orthodox Church
• Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
• Cypriot Orthodox Church
• Church of Greece
• Polish Orthodox Church
• Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania
  (Albanian Orthodox Church)
• Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church
• Orthodox Church in America
• Greek Old Calendarists
• Montenegrin Orthodox Church
• Macedonian Orthodox Church
• Russian Old Believers
• Orthodox-Catholic Church of America (OCCA)
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church

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Examples

• Protestant
• Apostolic Lutheran Church of America
• Association of Free Lutheran Congregations
• Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America
• Church of the Lutheran Confession
• Concordia Lutheran Conference
• Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference
• Evangelical Lutheran Church "Concord" (Russia)
• Evangelical Lutheran Free Church (Germany)
• Evangelical Lutheran Synod (United States)
• Lutheran Church of Central Africa Malawi
  Conference
• Lutheran Church of Central Africa Zambia
  Conference
• Ukrainian Lutheran Church
• Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (United
  States)
• Evangelical Catholic Church
• Evangelical Community Church-Lutheran
• Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America
• International Lutheran Council
• American Association of Lutheran Churches

• Laestadian Lutheran Church
• Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Lutheran Church of China (no longer in existence)
• Lutheran Church-International
• Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
  (United States)
• Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church (United
  States)
• Lutheran Ministerium and Synod - USA
• Lutheran World Federation
• Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church
• Arcot Lutheran Church
• Batak Christian Protestant Church
• Church of Denmark
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
• Church of Iceland
• Church of Norway
• Church of Sweden
• Church of the Faroe Islands
• Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
• Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in
  Slovakia

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Examples

• Anabaptists
• Anglicans
• Baptists
• Brethrens
• Congregationalists
• Latter-Day Saints
• Methodists
• Presbyterians
• United

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Middle Eastern Christianity

• Oriental Church
• Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
• British Orthodox Church
• French Coptic Orthodox Church
• Syriac Orthodox Church
• Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
• Armenian Apostolic Church
• Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
• Holy See of Cilicia
• Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem
• Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople
• Church of Caucasian Albania (extinct)
• Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
• Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
• Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
• The Antiochian Catholic Church in America is
  theologically aligned with the Oriental Orthodox,
  but is not in full communion with them, primarily
  because it ordains women and does not impose
  celibacy on its bishops.
• Celtic Orthodox Church
• Sassanid Church (no longer in existence)

• Church of the East
• Church of the East (historical church)
• Assyrian Church of the East (successor church)
• Ancient Church of the East (successor church)
• The Church of the East considers itself to be the
  One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that
  Christ founded.
• Do not view Christs human and divine entity as
  two natures, but only as one, not separate from
  the Holy Spirit or the Father.

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Middle Eastern Christianity

• Copts
• Largest Christian sect in Middle East
• 12 million
• Sometimes confused with Egyptian Art from the 1st
  -7th Century called Coptic.

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Middle Eastern Christianity

• Maronite
• Mostly Lebanon, but some in Syria as well
• 3 million
• Influenced by a Syrian hermit, today known as St.
  Maron

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Middle Eastern Christianity

• Chaldean
• 1.5 million
• Iraq
• Roman Catholic
• Influences by ancient customs and practices
  within former Mesopotamia
• Mainly carrying out mass in Aramaic
• Assyrians
• Main difference Most Assyrian churches do not
  recognize Pope as authority

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Middle Eastern Christianity

• Armenian Church
• Mostly in Armenia, but also in Turkey, Syria,
  Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine and Israel
• 5 million
• 3 million in Armenia
• 2 million in diaspora
• Does not recognize Pope as church authority

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Middle Eastern Christians

• Palestine Israel
• 200,000 in total

Bethlehem