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Christians of the Middle East
العربية
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Israel

إسرائيل

Nazareth, Galilee and Caesarea

The largest Arab Christian community in the Holy Land lives in Galilee, Nazareth and Haifa, and this is the land of most of the sites tied to Christ's ministry in Galilee. At Caesarea stood the library of Origen and Eusebius, and from it came the first history of the Church.

Christian population

About 185,000

Estimates; roughly 2% of the population, the majority of them Arab Christians. To these are added Christians from immigrant families and among foreign workers.

Languages of liturgy and life

Arabic is the language of the largest community and of its liturgy, with Greek among the Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Hebrew in a few parishes.

Churches and denominations

  • Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem

    بطريركية القدس للروم الأرثوذكس

    The largest denomination, with a wide presence in Nazareth, Galilee and Haifa.

  • Melkite Greek Catholic Church

    الروم الكاثوليك (الملكيون)

    The largest Catholic community, centred on Galilee and Haifa.

  • Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

    بطريركية القدس للاتين

    Parishes and schools, alongside the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which cares for most of the shrines.

  • Maronite Church

    الكنيسة المارونية

    A long-established community in Upper Galilee, including the town of Jish.

  • Armenian Apostolic Church

    الأرمن الأرثوذكس

    An ancient presence in Jerusalem, with communities in Haifa and Jaffa.

  • Anglican and Lutheran

    الأنجليكان واللوثريون

    Churches, schools and hospitals dating from the nineteenth century.

Historical milestones

  1. c. 28–30 AD

    Christ's ministry in Galilee — Nazareth, Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee — where most of what the Gospels narrate took place.

  2. c. 40 AD

    Cornelius at Caesarea, and the first entry of gentiles into the Church according to Acts.

  3. c. 231

    Origen moves from Alexandria to Caesarea and founds a library and school there that became one of the great centres of Christian learning.

  4. c. 313–339

    Eusebius of Caesarea serves as its bishop and writes the Ecclesiastical History — the first history of the Church and the principal source for its first three centuries.

  5. 4th–6th century

    The Byzantine period: churches and monasteries across Galilee and the coast, among them the Tabgha mosaics.

  6. 1948

    The Nakba; entire Christian villages such as al-Bassa, Iqrit and Kafr Bir'im were emptied, and their people were not permitted to return.

  7. From 1948

    Nazareth becomes the country's largest Christian centre, with Arab Christians prominent in education, medicine, law and literature.

Places and heritage sites

The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, its conical dome above the town.
Image: Hoshvilim · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Basilica of the Annunciation

بازيليك البشارة

Nazareth

Among the largest churches in the Middle East, built over the grotto associated with the Annunciation.

The white limestone remains of the synagogue at Capernaum: columns and carved Corinthian capitals, one column bearing a Greek inscription, and fallen column bases on the paving.
Image: James Emery from Douglasville, United States · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Capernaum

كفرناحوم

Sea of Galilee

The town of Christ's ministry, with a Byzantine-era synagogue and a house associated with Peter.

An archival black-and-white photograph of the Tabgha mosaic: a basket of loaves flanked by two fish, set in stone in the church floor, with the edges of the old photographic plate visible around it.
Image: Matson Collection · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Tabgha

الطابغة

Sea of Galilee

The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, with fifth-century mosaics.

The Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor: a pale stone façade flanked by two towers, a deep arched portal, and a paved path lined with flowerpots.
Image: gugganij · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Mount Tabor

جبل الطابور

Galilee

By tradition the site of the Transfiguration, with a Franciscan church.

The view out from beneath one arch of the Roman aqueduct at Caesarea to the beach and the Mediterranean under a heavily clouded sky.
Image: Hardscarf · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Caesarea Maritima

قيصرية

The coast

Capital of the Roman province, and home to the library of Origen and Eusebius where the Ecclesiastical History was written.

The Carmelite monastery of Stella Maris on Mount Carmel: a pale stone building with rows of shuttered windows and a small dome above, and in front a stone pyramidal monument topped with an iron cross, among palms, cypresses and flowerbeds.
Image: Dan Palraz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Stella Maris

ستيلا ماريس

Mount Carmel, Haifa

The Carmelite monastery on Mount Carmel, associated with the prophet Elijah.

The Franciscan Church of St Peter in Jaffa: a cream-coloured building with a tall bell tower carrying a clock and topped by a cross, palms around it, a paved public square with passers-by, and city towers on the horizon.
Image: Berthold Werner · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Jaffa

يافا

The coast

The Church of St Peter, and the place of Peter's vision in Acts.

On the map

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Keep exploring

References

General further reading, not citations to specific pages.

Primary sources

  • Eusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History (Historia Ecclesiastica), c. 325

Further reading

  • Habib Badr, Suad Abou el-Rouss Slim, Joseph Abou Nohra (eds.). Christianity: A History in the Middle East. Middle East Council of Churches, 2005
  • 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
  • UNESCO World Heritage Centre. UNESCO World Heritage List. whc.unesco.org
  • Pew Research Center. Religious composition reports for the Middle East and North Africa. www.pewresearch.org