Christianity in Syria

Christianity in Syria has among the oldest Christian communities on Earth, dating back to the first century AD, and has been described as a "cradle of Christianity". With its roots in the traditions of St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostle, Syria quickly became a major center of early Christianity and produced many significant theologians and church leaders. Of the 200 bishops who took part in the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, twenty were from Syria. Over the centuries, Syrian Christians have played a vital role in shaping Christian thought and practice, contributing to the development of various liturgical traditions, monastic movements, and theological schools. St. Paul the Apostle famously converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus, and Syria has produced seven Popes: Pope Anicetus, Pope John V, Pope Sergius I, Pope Sisinnius, Pope Constantine, Pope Gregory III, and the first pope, St. Peter, who was from Bethsaida. Their legacy includes the establishment of some of the most ancient churches, monasteries, and pilgrimage sites, such as the 5th century remains of the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites, Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery, and the Cathedral of Constantine and Helen.
However, in recent times, the Syrian Christian community has faced numerous challenges, including ongoing and severe persecution, displacement, and emigration. Christians in Syria made up about 10% of the pre-war Syrian population but now it is estimated that they make up much lower due to the impact of the Syrian Civil War. Christians in Syria have also been subjected to violence and discrimination by Islamic State fighters during their control of large areas of the country. Their churches have been converted into military headquarters, and their property confiscated. Persecution of Christians in Syria has further intensified since. In Aleppo, the country's second largest city, the proportion of Christian residents fell from 12% pre-war to 1.4% in 2023 with more than 20 churches damaged during the war. The city of Idlib has been almost entirely depopulated of its Christian population under Islamist rule. Some governments and organisations including the United States have claimed that the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa, especially in Syria and Iraq, constitute an act of genocide.
The country's largest Christian denomination is the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, closely followed by the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church. There is a small minority of Protestants in the country.

Overview

In the late Ottoman rule, a large percentage of Syrian Christians emigrated from Syria, especially after the bloody chain of events that targeted Christians in particular in 1840, the 1860 massacre, and the Assyrian genocide. According to historian Philip Hitti, approximately 90,000 Syrians arrived in the United States between 1899 and 1919. The Syrians referred include historical Syria or the Levant encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. Syrian Christians tend to be relatively wealthy and highly educated.
According to the Catholic charity group Aid to the Church, number of Christians residing in Syria is estimated to have reduced from 2.1 million in 2011 to around 300,000 in 2022. The decrease is due to large-scale emigration of Christians to Europe triggered by deteriorating living conditions caused by the civil war. US State Department estimates that Syrian Christians comprise 2.5-3% of the total population inside Syria, as of 2022.

Origins

The Christian population of Syria comprised 10% of the Syrian population before 2011. Estimates of the number of Christians in Syria in 2022 range from less than 2% to around 2.5% of the total Syrian population.
Most Syrians are members of either the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, or the Syriac Orthodox Church. The vast majority of Catholics belong to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Other Eastern Catholic churches include the Maronite Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Armenian Catholic Church, Chaldean Catholic Church; there is also a small number of Latin Church Catholics. The rest belong to the Eastern communions, which have existed in Syria since the earliest days of Christianity when all Christians were part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The main Eastern groups are:

the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches;
the Eastern Catholic Churches, which are in communion with Rome;
and the independent Assyrian Church of the East. Followers of the Assyrian Church of the East are almost all Sureth speaking ethnic Assyrians whose origins lie in Mesopotamia, as are some Oriental Orthodox and Catholic Christians.

Even though each group forms a separate community, Christians nevertheless cooperate increasingly. Roman Rite, Western Latin Church Catholicism and Protestantism were introduced by missionaries but only a small number of Syrians are members of Western rites.
The schisms that brought about the many sects resulted from political and doctrinal disagreements. The doctrine most commonly at issue was the nature of Christ. In 431, the Nestorians were separated from the main body of the Church because of their belief in the dual character of Christ, i.e., that he had two distinct but inseparable "qnoma", the human Jesus and the divine Logos. Therefore, according to Nestorian belief, Mary was not the mother of God but only of the man Jesus. The Council of Chalcedon, representing the mainstream of Christianity, in 451 confirmed the dual nature of Christ in one person; Mary was therefore the mother of a single person, mystically and simultaneously both human and divine. The Miaphysites taught that the Logos took on an instance of humanity as His own in one nature. They were the precursors of the present-day Syrian and Armenian Orthodox churches.
By the thirteenth century, breaks had developed between Eastern or Greek Christianity and Western or Latin Christianity. In the following centuries, however, especially during the Crusades, some of the Eastern churches professed the authority of the pope in Rome and entered into or re-affirmed communion with the Catholic Church. Today called the Eastern Catholic churches, they retain a distinctive language, canon law and liturgy.

Eastern Orthodoxy

The largest Christian denomination in Syria is the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, also known as the Melkite church after the 5th and 6th century Christian schisms, in which its clergy remained loyal to the Eastern Roman Emperor of Constantinople.
Adherents of that denomination generally call themselves "Rūm" which means "Eastern Romans" or "Asian Greeks" in Arabic. In that particular context, the term "Rūm" is used in preference to "Yūnāniyyūn" which means "European Greeks" or Ionians in Classical Arabic. The appellation "Greek" refers to the Koine Greek liturgy used in their traditional prayers and priestly rites.
Members of the community sometimes also call themselves "Melkites", which literally means "supporters of the emperor" in Semitic languages – a reference to their past allegiance to Roman and Byzantine imperial rule. But, in the modern era, this designation tends to be more commonly used by followers of the local Melkite Catholic Church.
Syrians from the Greek Orthodox Community are also present in the Hatay Province of Southern Turkey, and have been well represented within the Syrian diasporas of Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Oriental Orthodoxy

Traditional Christianity in Syria is also represented by Oriental Orthodox communities, that primarily belong to the ancient Syriac Orthodox Church, and also to the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Syriac Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church is the largest Oriental Orthodox Christian group in Syria. The Syriac Orthodox or Jacobite Church, whose liturgy is in Syriac, was severed from the favored church of the Byzantine Empire, over the Chalcedonian controversy.

Armenian Apostolic Church

The Armenian Apostolic Church is the second largest Oriental Orthodox Christian group in Syria. It uses an Armenian liturgy and its doctrine is Miaphysite.

Catholic Church

Of the Eastern Catholic Churches the oldest is the Maronite, with ties to Rome dating at least from the twelfth century. Their status before then is unclear, some claiming it originally held to the Monothelite heresy up until 1215, while the Maronite Church claims it has always been in union with Rome. The liturgy is in Aramaic.
The Patriarchate of Antioch never recognized the mutual excommunications of Rome and Constantinople of 1054, so it was canonically still in union with both. After a disputed patriarchal election in 1724, it divided into two groups, one in union with Rome and the other with Constantinople. The term "Melkite" is in use mostly in reference to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Like its sister-church the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Melkite Catholics both Greek and Arabic in its form of the liturgy. Most of the 375,000 Catholics in Syria belong to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the rest are members of the Latin Church, Maronites, Armenian or Syriac Rites.

Popes of the Catholic Church

Seven popes from Syria ascended the papal throne. Many of them lived in Italy. Pope Gregory III, was the last pope born outside Europe before Francis.

Numerical order	Pontificate	Portrait	Name English · Regnal	Personal name	Place of birth	Notes
1	33 – 64/67		St Peter PETRUS	Simon Peter	Bethsaida, Galilea, Roman Empire	Saint Peter was from village of Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire
11	155 to 166	100px	St Anicetus ANICETUS	Anicitus	Emesa, Syria	Traditionally martyred; feast day 17 April
82	12 July 685 – 2 August 686	100px	John V Papa IOANNES Quintus		Antioch, Syria
84	15 December 687 – 8 September 701	100px	St Sergius I Papa Sergius		Sicily, Italy	Sergius I was born in Sicily, but he was from Syrian parentage
87	15 January 708 to 4 February 708	100px	Sisinnius Papa SISINNIUS		Syria
88	25 March 708 – 9 April 715	100px	Constantine Papa COSTANTINUS sive CONSTANTINUS		Syria	Last pope to visit Greece while in office, until John Paul II in 2001
90	18 March 731 to 28 November 741	100px	St Gregory III Papa GREGORIUS Tertius		Syria	Third pope to bear the same name as his immediate predecessor.