Christianity in Iraq

The Christians of Iraq are considered to be one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world. The vast majority of Iraqi Christians are indigenous Eastern Aramaic-speaking ethnic Assyrians who are descent from ancient Assyria, and follow the Syriac Christian tradition. Some are also known by the name of their religious denomination as well as their ethnic identity, such as Chaldo-Assyrians, Chaldean Catholics or Syriacs (see Terms for Syriac Christians). Non-Assyrian Iraqi Christians are largely Arab Christians and Armenians, and a very small minority of Kurdish, Shabaks and Iraqi Turkmen Christians. Most present-day Iraqi Christians are ethnically, linguistically, historically and genetically distinct from Kurds, Arabs, Iranians, Turks and Turkmens (as well as from fellow Syriac Christians in Western Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and South Western Turkey). Regardless of religious affiliation (Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, etc.) the Eastern Aramaic speaking Christians of Iraq and its surroundings are one genetically homogeneous people. They identify themselves as being a separate people, of different origins and with a distinct history of their own harking back to ancient Assyria and Mesopotamia (see Assyrian continuity and History of the Assyrians). Christian Assyrians also have communities in northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran as well as in the wider worldwide Assyrian diaspora. Syriac Christianity was first established in Mesopotamia, and certain subsets of that tradition (namely the Church of the East and its successor churches) were established in northern and central-southern Iraq, and would eventually spread to becoming one of the most popular Christian churches in the Middle East and Fertile Crescent Region, and would spread as far as India and China. Iraq plays a rich and vital contribution to Christian history, and after Israel, Iraq has the most biblical history of any other country in the world.

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Related concepts (16)

Christianity in the Middle East

Christianity, which originated in the Middle East during the 1st century AD, is a significant minority religion within the region, characterized by the diversity of its beliefs and traditions, compared to Christianity in other parts of the Old World. Christians now make up approximately 5% of the Middle Eastern population, down from 20% in the early 20th century. Cyprus is the only Christian majority country in the Middle East, with Christians forming between 76% and 78% of the country's total population, most of them adhering to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Demographics of Iraq

The Iraqi people (العراقيون; گه‌لی عیراق; Syriac: ܥܡܐ ܥܝܪܩܝܐ; Turkish: Iraklılar) are people originating from the country of Iraq. Iraqi Arabs are the largest ethnic group in Iraq, followed by Iraqi Kurds, then Iraqi Turkmen as the third largest ethnic group in the country.Studies indicate that Mesopotamian Arabs, who make up the considerable population of Iraq, are genetically distinct from other Arab populations in the Arabs of the Arabian peninsula. The population was estimated to be 43,533,592 in 2021 Turkmen (4.

Assyrian continuity

Assyrian continuity is the study of continuity between the modern Assyrian people, an indigenous ethnic minority in the Middle East, and the people of ancient Assyria and Mesopotamia in general. Assyrian continuity is a key part of the identity of the modern Assyrian people.