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Christianity has a long history in Anatolia (Asia Minor) and Armenian Highland (now part of Turkey), which is the birthplace of numerous Christian Apostles and Saints, such as Paul of Tarsus, Timothy, Nicholas of Myra, Polycarp of Smyrna and many others. The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell from 19 percent in 1914 to 2.5 percent in 1927, due to events which had a significant impact on the country's demographic structure, such as the Armenian Genocide, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey,〔(【引用サイトリンク】format=PDF )〕 and the emigration of Christians (such as Levantines, Greeks, Armenians etc.) to foreign countries (mostly in Europe and the Americas) that actually began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century, especially during World War I and after the Turkish War of Independence. Today there are more than 160,000 people of different Christian denominations, representing less than 0.2 percent of Turkey's population,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Religions )〕 including an estimated 80,000 Oriental Orthodox, 35,000 Roman Catholics,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/sc1.html )〕 18,000 Antiochian Greeks, 5,000 Greek Orthodox〔 and smaller numbers of Protestants (Mostly ethnic Turkish).〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-03/turkish-protestants-still-face-long-path-religious-freedom )〕 Currently there are 236 churches open for worship in Turkey. The Eastern Orthodox Church has been headquartered in Istanbul since the 4th century. ==Brief description== Two out of the five centers (Patriarchates) of the ancient Pentarchy are in Turkey: Constantinople (Istanbul) and Antioch (Antakya). Antioch was also the place where the followers of Jesus were called "Christians" for the first time in history, as well as being the site of one of the earliest and oldest surviving churches, established by Saint Peter himself. For a thousand years, the Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world. Turkey is also home to the Seven Churches of Asia, where the Revelations to John were sent. Apostle John is reputed to have taken Virgin Mary to Ephesus in western Turkey, where she spent the last days of her life in a small house, known as the House of the Virgin Mary, which still survives today and has been recognized as a holy site for pilgrimage by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as being a Muslim shrine. The cave of the Seven Sleepers is also located in Ephesus. All of the first seven Ecumenical Councils which are recognized by both the Western and Eastern churches were held in present-day Turkey. Of these, the Nicene Creed, declared with the First Council of Nicaea (İznik) in 325, is of utmost importance and has provided the essential definitions of present-day Christianity. Today, however, Turkey has a smaller Christian percentage of its population than any of its neighbours, including Syria, Iraq and even Iran, due to the Assyrian Genocide, Armenian Genocide and Greek Genocide during and after WWI, and the subsequent large scale population transfers of Turkey's Christian population, most notably Greece, and the forced exodus of indigenous Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and Georgians upon the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. This was followed by the continued emigration of most of the remaining indigenous Christians over the next century. During the tumultuous period of the first world war and founding of the Turkish republic, up to 3 million indigenous Christians are alleged to have been killed. Prior to this time, the Christian population stood at around 20% of the total. 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 Turkey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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