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Arab Christians (Arabic: العرب المسيحيين ''Al-'Arab Al-Masihiyin'') are ethnic Arabs of the Christian faith,〔("First, they are not recognized as distinct ethnic identities, but rather as segments from the wide "Arab nation" who are "of Christian faith." )〕 They are the remnants of ancient Arab Christian clans, such as pre-Islamic Christian Arabian tribes - namely the Kahlani Qahtani tribes of ancient Yemen (i.e. Ghassanids, Lakhmids and Banu Judham) who settled in Transjordan and Syria), as well as Arabized Christians, such as Melkites and Rum Christians. First Arab tribes to adopt Christianity were likely Nabateans and Ghassanids. During the 5th and 6th centuries the Ghassanids, who adopted Monophysite Christianity, formed one of the most powerful confederations allied to Christian Byzantium, being a buffer against the pagan tribes of Arabia. The last king of the Lakhmids, Nu'man III, a client of the Sasanian (Persian) Empire in the late sixth century AD, also converted to Christianity (in this case, to the Nestorian sect).〔Philip K. Hitti. ''History of the Arabs''. 6th ed.; Macmillan and St. Martin's Press, 1967, pp. 78-84 (on the Ghassanids and Lakhmids) and pp. 87-108 (on Yemen and the Hijaz).〕 Arab Christians played important roles in Al-Nahda, and because Arab Christians formed the educated upper and bourgeois classes, they have had a significant impact in politics, business and culture, and most important figures of the Al-Nahda movement were Christian Arabs.〔("The historical march of the Arabs: the third moment." )〕 Today Arab Christians play important roles in the Arab world, and Christians are relatively wealthy, well educated, and politically moderate.〔(Pope to Arab Christians: Keep the Faith. )〕 Arab Christians, forming Greek Orthodox and Latin Christian communities, are estimated to be 200,000 in Syria, 100,000 in Jordan and an equal number or more among the Palestinian Arab population and within the Arab-Israeli population combined.〔(Phares, Walid )〕 There is also a sizable Arab Christian Orthodox community in Lebanon and marginal communities in Iraq and Egypt. Arabized Melkite societies in Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, who trace their roots to Greek and Aramaic-speaking Byzantine Christians,. are also generally included under the definition of Arab Christians. Greek Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox, also known as Rûm, Orthodox Christian communities, part of the Rūm Millet, which have existed in Southern Anatolia (Turkey) and Syrian region since the early years of Christianity: they are generally affiliated along geographic lines either to the Antiochian ("Northern") or Jerusalemite ("Southern") patriarchal jurisdictions. Many members of the Northern Antiochian communities still call themselves Rûm which literally means "Roman", or "Asian Greek" in Turkish, Persian and Arabic. In that particular context, the term ''"Rûm"'' is used in preference to ''"Yāvāni"'' or ''"Ionani"'' which means "European-Greek" or Ionian in Biblical Hebrew (borrowed from Old Persian ''Yavan'' = Greece) and Classical Arabic. Some members of the community also call themselves "Melkites", which literally means ''"monarchists"'' or ''"supporters of the emperor"'' in Semitic languages (a reference to their past allegiance to Macedonian and Roman imperial rule), but, in the modern era, the term tends to be more commonly used by followers of the Greek Catholic church. Some Arab Christians are a more recent end result of Evangelization. Emigrants from Arab Christian (including Melkite) communities make up a significant proportion of the Middle Eastern diaspora, with sizable population concentrations across the Americas, most notably in Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and the US. Arab Christians are not the only Christian group in the Middle East, with significant ''non-Arab'' indigenous Christian communities of ethnic Assyrians and Armenians and others. Besides those, large ethno-religious Middle Eastern Christian groups such as Copts and Maronites are being argued with a great deal of controversy whether their ethnic identity is Arab or not. Even though sometimes classified as Arab Christians, the largest Middle Eastern Christian groups of Lebanese Maronites and Egyptian Copts often claim ''non-Arab'' ethnicity: significant proportion of the Maronites claim descent from ancient Phoenicians, while some Egyptian Copts also eschew an Arab identity, preferring an Ancient Egyptian one.〔()〕 However, both Maronites and Copts had lost their linguistic differentiation during the Ottoman period in favor of the Arabic language, given the cultural, economic and political prestige which Arabic enjoyed, and therefore they can still be considered ''Arabic-speaking'' Christians, even if not technically ''Arab'' Christians. The Syriac Christian groups, composed largely of Assyrians, form the majority of Christians in Iraq, north east Syria, south-east Turkey and north-west Iran. They are generally defined as ''non-Arab'' ethnic groups, including by the governments of Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Assyrians practice their own native dialects of Syriac-Aramaic language, in addition to also speaking local Arabic dialects. Despite their ancient pre-Arabic roots and distinct linguo-cultural identities,〔http://www.cambriapress.com/abi/9781604975833abi.pdf〕 Assyrians are sometimes erroneously related by Western sources as "Christians of the Arab World" or "Arabic Christians", creating confusion about their identity 〔("In spite of the widespread geographical imaginations of the Middle East as an Arabic and Islamic monolith, supported by Western mass media and some Middle Eastern states high politicians, the Middle East is quite a heterogeneous region. This region comprises numerous ethnic national, religious, linguistic or ethno-religious groups." ) (PDF)〕 Assyrians were also related as "Arab Christians" by pan-Arabist movements and Arab-Islamic regimes.〔("Arab-Islamic regimes in the region assert that all those Christians who live within the confines of 'Arab borders' are 'Arab'." )〕〔("Assyrians are an ethnically, linguistically and religiously distinct minority in the Middle Eastern region." ) (PDF)〕 As Sharia law dominates Muslim nations in Middle East, Arab Muslims are banned from converting from Islam, this is punishable by death if he/she does not recant. However, there are cases in which an Arab Muslim will adopt the Christian faith, secretly declaring his/her apostasy. In effect, they are practising Christians, but legally Muslims; thus, the statistics of Arab Christians does not include Muslim apostates to Christianity. ==History== (詳細はウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arab Christians」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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