Rule & language
Who ruled, in what language, and when the region was Christian
From the time of Christ to the present: who governed this land, in what language they governed, and where Christians stood in each period.
Two timelines, not one
“Ruled by Christians” and “mostly Christian” are different questions, and they are centuries apart. Rule by a Christian state ended in the 630s, but the region remained majority-Christian until somewhere between the tenth and fourteenth centuries, depending on where. The change was slow, uneven, and mostly not coerced.
General further reading, not citations to specific pages.
63 BC – AD 313
Rome before Christianity
The region is a set of Roman provinces. Christianity is an unlawful religion spreading through the cities, struck by intermittent waves of persecution.
Religion of the state
Roman state cults and the imperial cult
Christian share
A small minority
- Who ruled
- Rome: client kings, then direct rule through governors. Pompey annexed Judea in 63 BC.
- Language of state
- Greek for administration in the East, Latin for the army and the law.
- What people spoke
- Aramaic across the Levant, Egyptian (Coptic) in Egypt, Greek in the coastal cities.
- Legal status of Christians
- Unlawful; intermittent persecutions, the harshest under Diocletian between 303 and 311.
Meanwhile, east of the Roman frontier
East of the Euphrates: the Parthians and then the Sasanians, and under them a Syriac Christianity forms at Edessa, Erbil and Ctesiphon — entirely outside Rome's reach.
References for this era
Primary sources
- Eusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History (Historia Ecclesiastica), c. 325
Further reading
- Henry Chadwick. The Early Church. Penguin, 1967
- W. H. C. Frend. The Rise of Christianity. Fortress Press, 1984
- Peter Brown. The World of Late Antiquity, AD 150–750. Thames & Hudson, 1971
313 – 636
Christian Rome and Byzantium
Three centuries — the only period in which this region lay under a Christian state. The great churches were built and the councils met here; so did the divisions that were never repaired.
Religion of the state
Nicene Christianity, the state religion from 380
Christian share
Majority
- Who ruled
- The Roman and then Byzantine emperors, from Constantine to Heraclius.
- Language of state
- Greek, having gradually displaced Latin in the East.
- What people spoke
- Aramaic, Syriac and Coptic in daily life; Greek in administration and the church.
- Legal status of Christians
- The religion of the state; councils convened by the emperor and their decisions enforced by his authority.
Meanwhile, east of the Roman frontier
Mesopotamia remains Sasanian, and the Church of the East grows under Zoroastrian rather than Christian rule. That is why it organised itself in its own synods and answered to no emperor — the root of its independence.
Worth noticing
But this state lost its own people before it lost the land. After Chalcedon in 451, much of Egypt and Syria rejected the imperial church's formula and spent two centuries under pressure from Constantinople. That alone explains a great deal about how the conquest of the 630s was received.
References for this era
Primary sources
- Eusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History (Historia Ecclesiastica), c. 325
- Norman P. Tanner (ed.). Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. Georgetown University Press, 1990
- Richard Price and Michael Gaddis (trans.). The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon. Liverpool University Press, 2005
Further reading
- Henry Chadwick. The Early Church. Penguin, 1967
- Averil Cameron. The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, AD 395–600. Routledge, 1993
- Peter Brown. The World of Late Antiquity, AD 150–750. Thames & Hudson, 1971
- J. N. D. Kelly. Early Christian Doctrines. A. & C. Black, 1958
636 – 1516
The Islamic caliphates
Nine centuries of Islamic rule, through much of which Christians remained the majority of the population before becoming a minority — by slow, gradual change rather than any single campaign.
Religion of the state
Islam
Christian share
A slowly declining majority, then a minority
- Who ruled
- The Rashidun (632–661), the Umayyads at Damascus (661–750) and the Abbasids at Baghdad (750–1258); alongside the Fatimids, Ayyubids and Mamluks in Egypt, the Seljuks in Anatolia from 1071, Crusader states on the coast (1099–1291), and the Mongols in 1258.
- Language of state
- Arabic, which replaced Greek and Persian in the administration around 700 under Abd al-Malik.
- What people spoke
- Aramaic and Coptic give way to Arabic over centuries, not in one generation; from the ninth century Christians write their theology in Arabic.
- Legal status of Christians
- Dhimmi: protected communities with their own churches and courts over their own affairs, subject to the jizya and barred from certain offices. Practice varied widely from ruler to ruler.
Worth noticing
Through these centuries many of the caliphate's physicians, secretaries and translators were Christians — among them the men who carried Greek medicine and philosophy into Arabic at Baghdad. The rule was not Christian, but the culture built under it was in significant part Christian work.
References for this era
Further reading
- Sidney H. Griffith. The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam. Princeton University Press, 2008
- Philip Jenkins. The Lost History of Christianity. HarperOne, 2008
- Christoph Baumer. The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. I.B. Tauris, 2006
- Sebastian P. Brock. An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Gorgias Press, 2006
- Aziz S. Atiya. A History of Eastern Christianity. Methuen, 1968
1516 – 1918
The Ottoman period
The whole region under a single authority for four centuries. The millet system makes each denomination a legal body governing its own members' affairs, so church identities harden and become political units as well.
Religion of the state
Islam, the sultan as caliph from 1517
Christian share
A large minority, varying sharply by region
- Who ruled
- The Ottomans: Constantinople in 1453, the Levant in 1516, Egypt in 1517. Egypt semi-autonomous under Muhammad Ali from 1805.
- Language of state
- Ottoman Turkish, with Arabic remaining the language of daily life, religion and learning.
- What people spoke
- Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Syriac and Greek.
- Legal status of Christians
- The millet system: legal recognition of each community, represented before the state by its religious leadership, which administered its members' affairs.
Worth noticing
These centuries saw most of the Eastern Catholic churches form through unions with Rome, and the Protestant missions arrive with their schools and presses. The period ended in the massacres of 1915–1923, which ended the Christian presence across most of Anatolia.
References for this era
Further reading
- Jean-Pierre Valognes. Vie et mort des chrétiens d'Orient. Fayard, 1994
- Habib Badr, Suad Abou el-Rouss Slim, Joseph Abou Nohra (eds.). Christianity: A History in the Middle East. Middle East Council of Churches, 2005
- Matti Moosa. The Maronites in History. Syracuse University Press, 1986
- Anthony O'Mahony and Emma Loosley (eds.). Eastern Christianity in the Modern Middle East. Routledge, 2010
- Aziz S. Atiya. A History of Eastern Christianity. Methuen, 1968
1918 – 1946
The European mandates
Sykes–Picot and then the mandates draw the borders that still stand, and today's states come into being. Arab Christians are at the forefront of the press, of education and of the cultural renaissance.
Religion of the state
No established religion; European administration
Christian share
A minority, largest proportionally in Lebanon
- Who ruled
- France: Syria and Lebanon. Britain: Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan. Egypt a British protectorate from 1914, nominally independent from 1922.
- Language of state
- French and English above Arabic in administration.
- What people spoke
- Arabic, with Armenian and Syriac among the newly arrived refugee communities.
- Legal status of Christians
- The confessional system is preserved and written into the new states' constitutions, most explicitly in Lebanon's National Pact of 1943.
References for this era
Further reading
- Jean-Pierre Valognes. Vie et mort des chrétiens d'Orient. Fayard, 1994
- Andrea Pacini (ed.). Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: The Challenge of the Future. Clarendon Press, 1998
- Anthony O'Mahony and Emma Loosley (eds.). Eastern Christianity in the Modern Middle East. Routledge, 2010
- Habib Badr, Suad Abou el-Rouss Slim, Joseph Abou Nohra (eds.). Christianity: A History in the Middle East. Middle East Council of Churches, 2005
1946 – today
The independent states
Independent states and three official languages across the region — Arabic, Turkish and Hebrew — with Christian communities contracting through war and emigration until much of their number lives in the diaspora.
Religion of the state
Islam is the state religion in most; Lebanon has none; Israel defines itself as a Jewish state
Christian share
A minority everywhere, largest proportionally in Lebanon
- Who ruled
- Iraq 1932, Lebanon 1943, Syria and Jordan 1946, Egypt 1922 and a republic from 1952, Turkey a republic from 1923, and Israel 1948.
- Language of state
- Arabic in most states, Turkish in Turkey, Hebrew in Israel.
- What people spoke
- Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew and Kurdish, with Sureth and Turoyo in a few areas.
- Legal status of Christians
- Recognition of the denominations in personal-status law, with guaranteed seats or offices in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq in varying forms.
Worth noticing
1948, 1967, 1975, 2003, 2011, 2014: each produced a wave of emigration. The result is that for some of these churches the diaspora now approaches or exceeds the community at home.
References for this era
Further reading
- Jean-Pierre Valognes. Vie et mort des chrétiens d'Orient. Fayard, 1994
- Andrea Pacini (ed.). Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: The Challenge of the Future. Clarendon Press, 1998
- Anthony O'Mahony and Emma Loosley (eds.). Eastern Christianity in the Modern Middle East. Routledge, 2010
- Pew Research Center. Religious composition reports for the Middle East and North Africa. www.pewresearch.org
- Habib Badr, Suad Abou el-Rouss Slim, Joseph Abou Nohra (eds.). Christianity: A History in the Middle East. Middle East Council of Churches, 2005
What we do not know precisely
The date at which the region became majority-Muslim is genuinely debated and varies by country. Nobody was counting, and the evidence is tax records and inference. Any single date quoted for this is an argument, not a fact.