Churches in Middle East hapless as Christians migrate en masse

Widespread persecution, especially in recent years, has taken a toll on the oldest Christian communities in the world

Pervasive persecution, at times amounting to genocide, has seen millions of Christians in the Middle East killed, kidnapped, uprooted, imprisoned and discriminated against.

It has taken a toll on the survival of the oldest Christian communities in the world, located in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, where the Abrahamic faith was born.

Earlier, Christians in the Middle East were the bridge between warring factions of Shia and Sunni Muslims. Schools and social services run by them contributed to society at large by serving the entire community, regardless of faith. Christians in the Middle East stood for tolerance, democracy, human rights and freedom of religion.

A century ago, Christians comprised 20 percent of the population in the Middle East, but currently, the region is home to less than 4 percent or roughly 15 million Christians.

“Iraq, which housed the Church for hundreds of years, will soon be without the Christian faith”

An enduring — and eventually flourishing — Christian presence in Iraq was the chief aim of Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, when he invited Pope Francis to Iraq in March this year.

More than 500,000 Christians left Iraq due to the sectarian conflict that started with the self-styled caliphate of ISIS in 2013. Earlier, the 2003 US-led invasion had wreaked havoc on the oil-rich country.

According to Cardinal Sako, Iraq was once home to more than one and a half million Christians. Currently, approximately 20 Christian families desert Iraq each month, he said in a statement in the last week of November.

Iraq, which housed the Church for hundreds of years, will soon be without the Christian faith, the 74-year-old cardinal warned.

The government is yet to overcome the sectarian differences and polices which have left Iraqi Christians with a much-reduced role in society.

Difficult economic conditions, lack of job opportunities, favoritism and harassment in the workplace have all contributed to the dwindling Christian presence in Iraq.

Iraq is the only Middle Eastern state that has unveiled a major reconstruction program to help the homecoming of Christians. Improving Christian towns and villages, homes, schools, churches and other public facilities has been undertaken with the support of the government.

But few Christians return. The threat of the revival of jihadism has made the confidence in remaining as Christians in Iraq fragile. For them, the attraction of migration has proved almost irresistible.

The call to stay put in their homeland amid the strife and social unrest by Church authorities has fallen on the deaf ears of Christians.

The decline is most visible in war-torn Syria, where the Christian presence has plunged from 1.5 million (10 percent of the population) in 2011 to 300,000 currently.

“Many Christians, especially the young, are finding it increasingly difficult to rationalize staying in the hostile political environment in Palestine”

Sectarian Islamist groups — Syria is home to several Islamic extremist groups — harass Christians and prevent them from the free practice of their religion, forbidding ringing church bells and holding prayer meetings.

Global persecution watchdog Open Doors USA ranks Syria as the 15th-worst nation for the persecution of Christians.

Their desire to leave Syria is amplified in a cultural context which has turned antipathetic to them. In some predominantly Christian areas, they are no more than a shadow of their former selves where once Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches thrived, along with Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, Assyrian and Chaldean Christian communities.

The case of Christians in Palestine remains appalling. Many Christians, especially the young, are finding it increasingly difficult to rationalize staying in the hostile political environment in Palestine.

Seventy-four years after the state of Israel was established, Christians from Palestine are treated as second-class citizens, and discriminated against at schools and in offices. Poor wages and unemployment push many to seek a life outside the country.

Christians in the West Bank have been reduced from 18 percent to less than 1 percent. The number of Palestinian Christians, mainly belonging to the Greek Orthodox and Catholic, Assyrian, Armenian Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox churches, has dropped from 15 percent to 2 percent.

Besides the Israeli government, Palestinians have now started attacking churches in Bethlehem. The first incident occurred on Oct. 28, when a group of Palestinians pelted a church with stones.

The threat to Palestine’s Christians is real as the Israeli government is keen on replacing the Palestinian historical narrative with one authored by Israel that is favorable to the historical perspective suiting it more.

Currently, Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is a city sealed off from nearby Jerusalem by a concrete wall stretching nine meters up in the sky. Accessing it is possible only with a specific permit.

In Bethlehem, Palestine Christians used to celebrate Christmas three times in a year — in December for the Western traditions and twice in January for the different Orthodox Churches traditions.

It is now almost impossible to acquire permits and visas for clergy and volunteers as both the Palestinian and Israeli governments are keen to alter the identity of Palestine.

“The eradication of Christians has become the stated objective of extremist groups in Syria, Iraq and Palestine”

Jesus’s place of action — from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem — is currently crisscrossed by walls, checkpoints, fences and restrictions.

Life in Lebanon, the only Christian-majority nation in the Middle East, turned difficult after the 2020 explosions in Beirut, which hit the Christian quarter hard.

As the country endures an economic crisis, which the World Bank termed the worst in the world, and due to the political stalemate in the country, the long-term survival of Christians belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church in Lebanon is in question.

The eradication of Christians has become the stated objective of extremist groups in Syria, Iraq and Palestine which is coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, adopted by the UN.

The executive committee of the Middle East Council of Churches on Nov. 28 asked Christians in the Middle East to “remain faithful to their land” and guard against “the temptations of emigration.”

Unless the Middle East Council of Churches — made up of Catholic, Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox and Evangelical churches — back up their exhortation with concrete action plans with political and economic impact, the Christian population in the Middle East will continue to dwindle.

The exodus is on, but it is not to the promised land of honey and milk.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.

Latest News