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Christianity, which originated in the Middle East in the 1st century AD, had been one of the major religions of the region from 4th-century Byzantine reforms and until the Arab Muslim conquests of the mid-to-late 7th century AD. Christianity in the Middle East is characterized with its diverse beliefs and traditions, compared to other parts of the old world. Christians now make up 5% of the Middle Eastern population, down from 20% in the early 20th century. The number of Middle Eastern Christians is dropping due to such factors as low birth rates compared with Muslims, disproportionately high emigration rates, and ethnic and religious persecution. In addition, political turmoil has been and continues to be a major contributor pressing indigenous Middle Eastern Christians of various ethnicities towards seeking security and stability outside their homelands. Recent spread of Jihadist and Salafist ideology, foreign to the tolerant values of the local communities in Syria and Egypt has also played a role in unsettling Christians' decades-long peaceful existence. In 2011, it was estimated that at the present rate, the Middle East's 12 million Christians would likely drop to 6 million by the year 2020. Proportionally, Lebanon has the highest rate of Christians in the Middle East, where the percentage ranges between 39% and 40.5%, followed by Egypt where most likely Christians (especially ethnic Copts) account for about 10 percent. The largest Christian group in the Middle East is the Arabic-speaking Copts, who number 6–11 million people,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Coptic Orthodox Church ) "estimates (the Coptic Orthodox Church ) ranged from 6 to 11 million; 6% (official estimate) to 20% (Church estimate)"〕 although Coptic sources claim the figure is closer to 12–16 million.〔 "In 2008, Pope Shenouda III and Bishop Morkos, bishop of Shubra, declared that the number of Copts in Egypt is more than 12 million." (Arabic)〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=? ) "In 2008, father Morkos Aziz the prominent priest in Cairo declared that the number of Copts (inside Egypt) exceeds 16 million."〕 Copts reside mainly in Egypt, but also in Sudan and Libya, with tiny communities in Israel, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia. The second largest Christian group in the Middle East is the Arabic-speaking Maronites who are Catholics number some 1.1–1.2 million across the Middle East, mainly concentrated within Lebanon. Many Maronites often avoid an Arabic ethnic identity in favour of a ''pre-Arab'' Phoenician-Canaanite heritage, to which most of the Lebanese population belongs. In Israel, Maronites are classified as ethnic Arameans and not Lebanese (together with smaller Aramaic-speaking Christian populations of Syriac Orthodox and Greek Catholics). The Arab Christians, who mostly descended from Arab Christian tribes, are adherents of the Eastern Orthodox Church. They number more than 1.5 million. Roman Catholics of the Latin Rite are small in numbers. Most Catholics are Maronite, Melkites, Catholic Syrians, Armenians and Chalaeans (from Iraq).()]s altogether number about 400,000. Arabized Catholic Melkite Christians of the Byzantine Rite, who are usually referred as Arab Christians as well, number over 1 million in the Middle East. They came into existence as a result of a schism within the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch over election of a Patriarch in 1724. The Eastern Aramaic speaking Assyrians of Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria, who number 2–3 million, have suffered both ethnic and religious persecution over the last few centuries such as the Assyrian Genocide conducted by the Ottoman Turks, leading to many fleeing and congregating in areas in the north of Iraq and northeast of Syria. The great majority are Catholic Chalaeans. In Iraq, the numbers of Assyrians has declined to between 250,000 to 300,000 (from 0.8–1.4 million before 2003 US invasion). Christians were 6-6% of the population in 2003. During 2014, the Assyrian population of North Iraq collapsed due to the Jihadist persecution. The Armenians number around half a million in the Middle East, with their largest community in Iran with 200,000 members.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Political Developments and Implications ... )〕 The number of Armenians in Turkey is disputed having a wide range of estimations. More Armenian communities reside in Lebanon, Jordan and to lesser degree in other Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq, Israel and Egypt. The Armenian Genocide during and after World War I drastically reduced the once sizeable Armenian population. The Anatolian Greeks, who had once inhabited large parts of the western Middle East and Asia Minor, have declined since the Arab conquests and severely reduced in Turkey, as a result of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, which followed World War I. Today the biggest Middle Eastern Greek community resides in Cyprus numbering around 793,000 (2008).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=2008 estimate )〕 Cypriot Greeks constitute the only Christian majority state in the Middle East, although Lebanon was founded with a Christian majority in the first half of the 20th century. In addition, some of the modern Arab Christians (especially Melkites) constitute Arabized Greco-Roman communities. Smaller Christian groups include; Georgians, Russians and others. Converts such as Kurdish, Turcoman, Iranian, Azeri, Circassian and Arab exist in small numbers. There are currently several million Christian foreign workers in the Gulf area, mostly from the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In the Persian Gulf states, Bahrain has 1,000 Christian citizens〔 and Kuwait has 400 native Christian citizens,〔 in addition to 450,000 Christian foreign residents in Kuwait.〔 Middle Eastern Christians are relatively wealthy, well educated, and politically moderate,〔(Pope to Arab Christians: Keep the Faith. )〕 as they have today an active role in various social, economical, sporting and political aspects in the Middle East. ==History== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Christianity in the Middle East」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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