1.
Gregory the Illuminator
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Saint Gregory the Illuminator is the patron saint and first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He was a leader who is credited with converting Armenia from paganism to Christianity in 301. Armenia thus became the first nation to adopt Christianity as its official religion, Gregory was the son of the Armenian Parthian nobles Anak the Parthian and Okohe. His father Anak, was a Prince said to be related to the Arsacid Kings of Armenia or was from the House of Suren, Anak was charged with assassinating Khosrov II, one of the kings of the Arsacid dynasty and was put to death. Gregory narrowly escaped execution with the help of Sopia and Yevtagh and he was taken to Caesarea in Cappadocia where Sopia and Yevtagh hoped to raise him. Gregory was given to the Christian Holy Father Phirmilianos to be educated and was brought up as a devout Christian, upon coming of age, Gregory married a woman called Miriam, a devout Christian who was the daughter of a Christian Armenian Prince in Cappadocia. From their union, Miriam bore Gregory two children, their sons Vrtanes and Aristaces, through Vrtanes, Gregory and Miriam would have further descendants and when Gregory died, Aristaces succeeded him. At some point Miriam and Gregory separated in order that Gregory might take up a monastic life, Gregory left Cappadocia and went to Armenia in the hope of atoning for his fathers crime by evangelizing his homeland. At that time Tiridates III, son of the late King Khosrov II, Gregory was eventually called forth from his pit in c.297 to restore to sanity Tiridates III, who had lost all reason after he was betrayed by Roman emperor Diocletian. Diocletian invaded and vast amounts of territory from western provinces of Greater Armenia became protectorates of Rome, in 301 Gregory baptized Tiridates III along with members of the royal court and upper class as Christians. Tiridates III issued a decree by which he granted Gregory full rights to begin carrying out the conversion of the nation to the Christian faith. The same year Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion, the newly built cathedral, the Mother Church in Etchmiadzin became and remains the spiritual and cultural center of Armenian Christianity and center of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Most Armenians were baptized in Aratsani and Yeraskh rivers, two princes from Ujjain, India had founded a large kingdom in Armenia in 165 BCE and they established 22 cities covering most of modern Armenia. According to Zenob Glak, one of the first disciples of Gregory the Illuminator, the saint of Armenia. In 302, Gregory received consecration as Patriarch of Armenia from Leontius of Caesarea, in his later years, Gregory withdrew to a small sanctuary near Mount Sebuh in the Daranali province with a small convent of monks, where he remained until his death. After his death his corpse was removed to the village of Thodanum and his remains were scattered near and far in the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno. His head is believed to be now in Armenia, his hand at Echmiadzin. In the 8th century, the iconoclast decrees in Greece caused a number of orders to flee the Byzantine Empire
2.
Mirian III of Iberia
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Mirian III was a king of Iberia or Kartli, contemporaneous to the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. The founder of the royal Chosroid dynasty, according to the early medieval Georgian annals and hagiography, Mirian was the first Christian king of Iberia, converted through the ministry of Nino, a Cappadocian female missionary. He is credited with establishment of Christianity as his kingdoms state religion and is regarded by the Georgian Orthodox Church as saint and is canonized as Saint Equal to the Apostles King Mirian. Traditional chronology after Prince Vakhushti assigns to Mirians reign—taken to have lasted for 77 years—the dates 268–345 and he is also known to the contemporary Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus and the medieval Armenian chronicles. The kings name, Mirian, is a Georgian adaptation of the Iranian Mihran, the medieval Georgian records give other versions of his name, both in its original Iranian as well as closely related Georgian forms. Writing in Latin, the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus renders the name of his contemporary Iberian king as Meribanes, the Armenian chronicles, possibly compiled in the 8th century and traditionally ascribed to Moses of Chorene, gives Mihran and speaks about his conversion to Christianity. The regnal numbers as in Mirian III are modern and were not used by the medieval Georgian authors, since two kings preceded first Christian ruler of Iberia with that name, Mirian has been assigned the ordinal “III” in Georgian historiography. Mirian was an Iranian prince of the House of Mihran, one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran, in 284, the Sasanians secured the Iberian throne for Mirian, and laid the foundation for Mihranid rule in Iberia, which would last into the sixth century. Thus, the Chosroid dynasty of which Mirian III became its first head in 284, was a branch of the Mihranid princely family. According to the medieval Georgian chronicle Life of the Kings, Mirian was a Persian prince married to an Iberian princess Abeshura, daughter of the last Georgian Arsacid king Aspagur. Upon the death of Aspagur, Mirian was installed on the throne of Iberia by his father whom the medieval Georgian chronicles refer to as Kasre and this being during the rule of the Sassanid dynasty over Iran, the medieval author of the chronicles assumed Mirians descent from the Sassanids. Another medieval Georgian account, Conversion of Kartli, is at odds with the tradition of Life of the Kings and identifies Mirian as the son of Lev, the Life of the Kings recount Mirians reign in much details. In the 298 Peace of Nisibis with Iran, Rome was acknowledged their suzerainty over Armenia and Iberia and he quickly adapted to this change in political situation, and established close ties with Rome. This association was cemented by Mirians conversion to Christianity—according to tradition—through the ministry of Nino, Mirians conversion to Christianity might have occurred in 334, followed by the declaration of Christianity as Iberias state religion in 337. He was, thus, among the first monarchs of the ancient world to have adopted this new religion. A legend has it that when Mirian, staunchly pagan, was hunting in the woods near his capital Mtskheta, the darkness fell upon the land, the light did not resume until Mirian prayed to Ninos God for aid. Upon his arrival he requested the audience with Nino and converted to Christianity soon after, according to tradition, Mirians second wife, Nana, preceded her husband in conversion. The Georgian tradition than relates a story of the construction of a cathedral in Mtskheta at Mirians behest, according to tradition, Mirian and his wife Nana were interred at the Samtavro convent in Mtskheta, where their tombs are still shown
3.
Bademus
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Bademus was a rich, noble citizen of Bethlapeta in Persia, who founded a monastery nearby. He and some of his disciples were arrested and Bademus was martyred in the year 376, in the thirty-sixth year of Shapur IIs persecution, Bademus was arrested with seven of his monks. For months, he lay in chains in a dungeon, at the same time, a Christian lord named Nersan, Prince of Aria, was also imprisoned because he refused to convert to Zoroastrianism. At first, he appeared resolved to keep the faith, but at the sight of tortures he gave in, in order to test Nersans sincerity, King Shapur ordered that Bademus be moved into Nersans cell, which was actually a chamber in the royal palace. Shapur further instructed Nersan that if he would kill Bademus, his princely rights, a sword was placed in his hand, and he advanced so as to plunge it into the abbots chest. However, he was seized with a sudden terror, so he stopped short, even so, he attempted to harden himself, and continued, trembling, to aim at Bademus sides. A combination of fear, shame, remorse, and respect made his strokes weak, the martyrs wounds were so numerous that the bystanders are said to have been in admiration of his invincible patience. The resolute martyr chided his torturer, saying, Unhappy Nersan, with joy I run to meet death, but could wish to fall by some other hand than yours, why must you be my executioner. It took four strokes for Nersan to successfully separate Bademus head from his body, a short time after, Nersan committed suicide. The body of Saint Bademus was cast out of the city by the Sassanids and his disciples were released from their chains in 379, after the death of King Shapur. Hagiography from Butlers Lives of the Saints,1864 Saint of the Day - Bademus of Persia, Abbot M
4.
Tiridates III of Armenia
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In 301, Tiridates proclaimed Christianity as the state religion of Armenia, making the Armenian kingdom the first state to embrace Christianity officially. Tiridates III was the son of Khosrov II of Armenia by an unnamed mother, Tiridates had one known sibling, a sister called Khosrovidukht and was the namesake of his paternal grandfather, Tiridates II of Armenia. Anak was captured and executed along with most of his family, while his son, Gregory the Illuminator, were sheltered in Caesaria, being the only surviving heir to the throne, Tiridates was quickly taken away to Rome soon after his father’s assassination while still an infant. He was educated in Rome and was skilled in languages and military tactics, in addition he firmly understood, the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi described him as a brave and strong warrior who participated in the battles against enemies. He personally led his army to victories in many battles, in 270 the Roman emperor Aurelian engaged the Sassanids, who had now replaced the Parthians, on the eastern front and he was able to drive them back. Tiridates, as the heir to the now Persian-occupied Armenian throne, came to Armenia and quickly raised an army. When Tiridates returned to Armenia, he made the city of Vagharshapat, for a while, fortune appeared to favour Tiridates. He not only expelled his enemies, but he carried his arms into Assyria, at the time the Persian Empire was in a distracted state. The throne was disputed by the ambition of two contending brothers, Hormuz and Narses, the civil war was, however, soon terminated and Narses was universally acknowledged as King of Persia. Narses then directed his force against the foreign enemy. The contest then became too unequal, Tiridates once more took refuge with the Romans. The Roman-Armenian alliance grew stronger, especially while Diocletian ruled the empire and this can be attributed to the upbringing of Tiridates, the consistent Persian aggressions and the murder of his father by Anak. With Diocletians help, Tiridates pushed the Persians out of Armenia, in 299, Diocletian left the Armenian state in a quasi-independent and protectorate status possibly to use it as a buffer in case of a Persian attack. The traditional story of the conversion of the king and the nation is based on the fifth-century work of Agathangelos titled “The History of the Armenians. Christianity in Armenia had a strong footing by the end of the 3rd century but the nation by, Tiridates was no exception as he too worshiped various ancient gods. During a pagan religious ceremony Tiridates ordered Gregory to place a wreath at the foot of the statue of the goddess Anahit in Eriza. Gregory refused, proclaiming his Christian faith and his fury was only exacerbated when several individuals declared that Gregory was in fact, the son of Anak, the traitor who had killed Tiridates’s father. Gregory was tortured and finally thrown in Khor Virap, an underground dungeon
5.
Asyncritus of Hyrcania
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Asyncritus of Hyrcania, also Asynkritos, was numbered among the Seventy Disciples. He was bishop of Hyrcania in Asia, saint Paul mentions him in his letter to the Romans. The Church remembers St. Asyncritus on April 8, troparion Let us praise in hymns the six–fold choir of Apostles, Herodion and Agabus, Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon and holy Hermes. They ever entreat the Trinity for our souls, kontakion You became the disciples of Christ And all-holy Apostles, O glorious Herodion, Agabus and Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon and Hermes. Ever entreat the Lord To grant forgiveness of transgressions To us who sing your praises, kontakion Like stars, O holy Apostles, You illumine the way of the faithful with the light of the Holy Spirit. You dispel the darkness of error as you gaze on God the Word, St. Nikolai Velimirovic, The Prologue from Ohrid This article is derived in whole or in part from Asyncritus of Hyrcania at OrthodoxWiki, which is dually licensed under CC-By-SA and GFDL. All relevant terms must be followed
6.
Maruthas
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Saint Maruthas or Marutha of Martyropolis was a Syrian monk who became bishop of Maypherkat in Mesopotamia for a period beginning before 399 through 410. Hes believed to have died before 420 and he is venerated as a Saint by Catholics, Greek Orthodox believers and Copts, his feast being kept on 4 December. He brought into his city the relics of so many martyrs that it received the surname Martyropolis. He was a friend of Saint John Chrysostom and he acted as an ambassador between the East Roman Emperor and the Persian Emperor. So Marutha managed to negotiate a peace between the two empires and he was present at the general First Council of Constantinople in 381 and at a Council of Antioch in 383, at which the Messalians were condemned. For the benefit of the Persian Church he is said to have two synods at Ctesiphon. A great organizer, he was one of the first to give a structure to the church. Maruthas from the Catholic Encyclopedia De Lacy OLeary, The Syriac Church and Fathers Smith, William & Wace, Henry, A dictionary of biography, literature, sects and doctrine. A History of Christianity in Asia, p. 154-155 This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles
7.
Razhden the Protomartyr
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Razhden was a 5th-century Persian nobleman in the service of the Georgian king Vakhtang I of Iberia and a convert to Christianity who was executed by the Sassanid military in Iberia. He was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church as St. Razhden the Protomartyr, the source relates Razhdens death as a martyr during the war of Sassanids against Vakhtang I. Razhden was a guardian or tutor of Balendukht, a daughter of the king of the Persians, Razhden converted to Christianity and entered Vakhtang’s service, proving himself an able soldier. He was eventually taken captive by the Persians and tortured to death for refusing to reject Christianity, Vakhtang later built the church of Nikozi at the site of Razhdens burial and installed a bishop there. According to the History of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, Vakhtang also built a church in St. Razhdens honor in the suburb of Ujarma. In the 1720s, the medieval narrative of Juansher was transformed into hagiography by the Georgian catholicos Besarion Orbelishvili. According to Besarion, the captive Razhden was pressured by the king of the Persians himself into denouncing his Christian faith. The sources on Razhden were compiled by Mikhail Sabinin into his account of the saints life, Razhdens passion was translated into Latin and published, in 1914, by Paul Peeters
8.
James Intercisus
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Saint James Intercisus, also known as Saint James the Mutilated was a Persian christian saint. His surname, Intercisus, is derived from the Latin word for cut into pieces and he survived this loss of limbs before being ultimately beheaded. Tradition states that he was an officer and courtier to Yazdegerd I who had apostatized after this ruler began to persecute Christians. Under the influence of his Christian family, however, he expressed his faith to Yazdegerds successor, Bahram V and his death started the Roman-Sassanid War. The ruins of this city are near Dezful, Iran, James story is recounted in The Golden Legend. The Church of St. James Intercisus in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem is dedicated to him and his feast day is November 27. Patron Saints, James Intercisus San Giacomo lInterciso Martire in Persia The Holy Martyr James the Persian Monastery of St. Jacob Persian Thieleman J. van Braght, Martyrs Mirror,1660
9.
Eustathius of Mtskheta
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Eustathius or Eustace of Mtskheta is an Orthodox Christian saint, executed for his apostasy from Zoroastrianism by the Sasanian military authorities in Caucasian Iberia. His story is related in the anonymous 6th-century Georgian hagiographic novel The Passion of Eustathius of Mtskheta, the morphology of the work as well as some theological phrases also supports this dating, although the earliest surviving manuscript dates from c. The Passion was first published by Mikhail Sabinin in 1882, Eustathius is reported by the hagiographer to have been an Iranian cobbler originally called Gvirobandak, son of a high-ranking Zoroastrian priest, from Ganzak. Having converted to Christianity, he flees persecution to Georgia, then under the Iranian military authority and he settles at the Christian town of Mtskheta and marries a Christian woman. The local Iranian cobblers’ guild denounces Eustathius to the marzban Arvand Gushnasp with seven other converts to be judged, Arvand punishes the apostates by having their noses pierced and casts them in prison under sentence of death. Six months later, Arvand releases them, however, as a gesture to the local people. Four years later, under the new marzban Vezhan Buzmihr, Eustathius is rearrested, eventually, the marzban, albeit reluctant, has him beheaded in Tbilisi. The remains of Eustathius were taken to Mtskheta and buried at its principal church, the Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes, Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature
10.
Teresia Sampsonia
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After the death of her husband, and due to impediments from grandees at the court and the authorities, she decided to leave Iran. She lived in a convent in Rome for the rest of her life, as a pious Christian and because of her love for her husband, she had Shirleys remains transported to Rome from Isfahan and reburied in the grave where she would also be buried. She was named Sampsonia by birth, the daughter of Ismail Khan, a brother-in-law of the Shah, she grew up in Isfahan at the Iranian royal court as an accomplished horsewoman who enjoyed embroidery and painting. On 2 February 1608, with the approval of her aunt and Abbas, Shirley was an English adventurer who was sent to the Safavids after a Persian embassy was sent to Europe to forge an alliance against the neighbouring Ottoman Empire, rivals of the Safavids. During Shirleys attendance at court, Teresia met him and fell in love, around the time of their February 1608 marriage, she was baptised by the Carmelites with the name Teresia. She accompanied Shirley on his missions to England and other royal houses in Europe for Shah Abbas. He gave up his career after their marriage, becoming part of English culture through a spate of treatises, stage plays. On their first trip together, Teresia and Shirley visited the Grand Duke of Muscovy, Pope Paul V in Rome and they arrived in Rome around November 1608 and met Ali Quli Baig before leaving for Savoy, France, Flanders and Spain, where they remained for fourteen months. In Madrid Teresia came to know the Carmelite nuns, particularly Mother Beatrix de Jesus, Teresia and Shirley then left for Holland and England. Their only child, a son named Henry, was born in the autumn of 1611 at the Shirley home in Sussex and his godparents were the Prince of Wales, for whom he was named, and Queen Anne. On their way back to Safavid Iran in 1613, they decided to turn young Henry over to the care of the queen, during Shirleys diplomatic missions, their portraits were painted several times. Although he cultivated a Near Eastern air, she posed in the European fashion of the day, on Teresias last mission with her husband they visited Rome in 1622, where Anthony van Dyck painted their portraits. They then went to Poland, and visited England in 1623 for the last time and they sailed for the Safavid Empire in 1627 with Dodmore Cotton, an envoy from the king of England to Persia and other courts. Returning to Qazvin from the last mission with Shirley, he, Shirley and the envoy, however, became seriously ill with fever shortly after their arrival. Shirley and Teresia were troubled by the jealousy of several nobles and grandees at court and they disgraced her to the shah, and it was published in the court that the king intended to execute her by burning. Fifteen days after hearing the report, Robert died of fever on 13 July 1628 in Qazvin at the royal court, according to his wishes, he was buried in the Barefoot Carmelite church in Isfahan. The shah summoned Teresia, asking her why the grandees were so opposed to her and she remained silent to protect them, the shah advised her not to be afraid, because it would be harder for him to put one woman to death than a hundred men. His officials continued to plunder her wealth, Teresia became severely ill and she recovered, and decided to move to a Christian land
11.
Shams Pahlavi
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Princess Shams Pahlavi was the elder sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. During her brothers reign she was the president of the Red Lion, Princess Shams was born in Tehran on 28 October 1917. She is the daughter of Rezā Shāh and Tadj ol-Molouk. She was deprived of her ranks and titles for a period of time after her second marriage to Mehrdad Pahlbod. Later, a reconciliation with the court was achieved and the returned to Tehran only to leave again during the upheavals of the Abadan Crisis. She converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1940s, Princess Shams was persuaded to convert to Catholicism by Ernest Perron, the best friend of the Shah. Her husband and children adopted Catholicism after her, in the late 1960s she commissioned the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation architects to build her the Morvarid Palace in Mehrshahr near Karaj, and Villa Mehrafarin in Chalous, Mazandaran. She left Iran for the United States after the Islamic Revolution, Order of the Pleiades, 2nd Class, Order of Aryamehr, 2nd Class, Genealogy of the Pahlavi Dynasty Picture of a young Princess Shams Pahlavi
12.
Persian language
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Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and it is mostly written in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script. Its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages, Persian gets its name from its origin at the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persis, hence the name Persian. A Persian-speaking person may be referred to as Persophone, there are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, with the language holding official status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. For centuries, Persian has also been a cultural language in other regions of Western Asia, Central Asia. It also exerted influence on Arabic, particularly Bahrani Arabic. Persian is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-European family, other Western Iranian languages are the Kurdish languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Talysh, and Balochi. Persian is classified as a member of the Southwestern subgroup within Western Iranian along with Lari, Kumzari, in Persian, the language is known by several names, Western Persian, Parsi or Farsi has been the name used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the latter decades of the 20th century, for reasons, in English. Tajiki is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Tajiks, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Native Iranian Persian speakers call it Fārsi, Farsi is the Arabicized form of Pārsi, subsequent to Muslim conquest of Persia, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The origin of the name Farsi and the place of origin of the language which is Fars Province is the Arabicized form of Pārs, in English, this language has historically been known as Persian, though Farsi has also gained some currency. Farsi is encountered in some literature as a name for the language. In modern English the word Farsi refers to the language while Parsi describes Zoroastrians, some Persian language scholars such as Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, and University of Arizona professor Kamran Talattof, have also rejected the usage of Farsi in their articles. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa, as its system is mostly based on the local names. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the name Persian for the dialect continuum spoken across Iran and Afghanistan and this consists of the individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. Currently, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also includes a Tajik service and an Afghan service. This is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, Persian is an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages
13.
Armenian language
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The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. Like Hellenic Greek, it has its own branch in the language tree. It is the language of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It has historically been spoken throughout the Armenian Highlands and today is spoken in the Armenian diaspora. Armenian has its own script, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots. Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages and it is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological developments within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization, although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups, Armenia was a monolingual country by the 2nd century BC at the latest. Its language has a literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian, and to an extent by Greek, Persian. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, with which most contemporary dialects are mutually intelligible and he is also credited by some with the creation of the Caucasian Albanian alphabet. In The Anabasis, Xenophon describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. W. M. However, unlike shared innovations, the retention of archaisms is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, loan words from Iranian languages, along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two meant that Iranian and Armenian were the same language. The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann used the method to distinguish two layers of Iranian loans from the older Armenian vocabulary. Meillets hypothesis became popular in the wake of his Esquisse, eric P. Hamp supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis, anticipating even a time when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian. Nevertheless, as Fortson comments, by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, graeco--Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family, ancestral to the Greek language, the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages. Graeco-Aryan unity would have divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-third millennium BC
14.
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
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In recent years, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic has spread throughout the Assyrian diaspora. Speakers of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Turoyo are ethnic Assyrians and are descendants of the ancient Assyrian inhabitants of Northern Mesopotamia, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is the largest speaking Neo-Aramaic group, followed by Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Turoyo. Despite the terms Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic indicating an ethnic identity. Assyrian is a moderately inflected, fusional language with a two-gender noun system and it is also a null-subject language and it features a pronoun drop to some degree. The word order of modern Assyrian is predominately SVO, although other sentence structures are used too. There is some Akkadian vocabulary and influence in the language, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is written from right to left, and it uses the Madnhāyā version of the Syriac alphabet. To a moderate degree, Assyrian is also intelligible with Senaya, Lishana Deni and it is somewhat partially intelligible with Lishan Didan, Hulaulá and Lishanid Noshan. Its mutual intelligibility with Turoyo is rather limited, the Syriac language had evolved from Imperial Aramaic, an Akkadian infused dialect introduced as the lingua franca of Assyria and the Neo Assyrian Empire by Tiglath-Pileser III in the 8th century BC. Aramaic was the language of commerce, trade and communication and became the language of Assyria in classical antiquity. It became the lingua franca of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Babylonian Empire, the Achaemenid Empire, the Parthian Empire, after the conquest of Assyria, Syriac and other Aramaic dialects gradually lost their status as imperial languages but continued to flourish as lingua francas alongside Ancient Greek. By the 1st century AD, Akkadian was extinct, although some loaned vocabulary still survives in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic to this day. The Neo-Aramaic languages are descended from Old Aramaic, the lingua franca in the later phase of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Neo-Aramaic languages evolved from Middle Aramaic by the 13th century, the Assyrian Empire resorted to a policy of deporting troublesome conquered peoples into the lands of Mesopotamia. Consequently, during the Persian rule of Assyria, Aramaic gradually became the language spoken by the Assyrians. Even before the Empire fell, the Assyrians had made the language the lingua franca of its empire, there is evidence that the adoption of Syriac, the language of the Assyrian people, was led by missionaries. Much literary effort was put into the production of a translation of the Bible into Syriac. At the same time, Ephrem the Syrian was producing the most treasured collection of poetry, by the 3rd century AD, churches in Edessa began to use Syriac as the language of worship and the language became the literary and liturgical language of many churches in the Fertile Crescent. Syriac was the lingua franca of the Middle East until 900 AD, the differences with the Assyrian Church of the East led to the bitter Nestorian schism in the Syriac-speaking world
15.
Christianity by country
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As of the early 21st century, Christianity has approximately 2.4 billion adherents, out of about 7.2 billion people. The largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church, with 1.09 billion adherents, the second largest Christian branch is either Protestantism, or the Eastern Orthodox Church. Christianity is the predominant religion in Europe, Russia, the Americas, there are also large Christian communities in other parts of the world, such as Indonesia, Central Asia and the Middle East, where Christianity is the second-largest religion after Islam. The United States of America has the largest Christian population in the world, followed by Brazil, note, Population statistics by religious affiliations are based upon statistical science and are subject to observational error. The proportion of Christians is based on the proportion of the population in each country who are members of a Christian denomination or who identify themselves as Christian and it says nothing about the proportion of such as believe in God and are regularly in the church. People who mix Christianity with tribal religions are defined in this article as Christians. com, note, Includes non-United Nations member states not recognized by any state, non-UN member states recognized only by non-UN members and non-UN member states recognized by at least one UN member. On the left, A list of the top ten countries by largest number of Christians, on the right, a list of the top ten countries by highest percentage of the population that is Christian. In total,126 countries have a Christian majority, while 71 countries have a Christian minority, according to Pew Research study, of the 232 countries and territories,157 have Christian majorities. According to 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there are 2.18 billion Christians around the world in 2010, and according to 2012 Pew Research Center survey if current trends continue, Christianity will remain the worlds largest religion by year 2050. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion, another study made in 2015, also by the Pew Research Center extends that precedence to the year 2070, after which Islam will take its spot. Many charismatic movements that have well established over large parts of the world, is growing especially in Africa, Latin America, Muslim world
16.
Christianity in Africa
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Christianity in Africa began in Egypt in the middle of the 1st century. By the end of the 2nd century it had reached the region around Carthage, both the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches profess their own distinct religious customs, a unique canon of the Bible and unique architectures. Neither of these communities of Christians in the Horn of Africa are the product of European missionary work, Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population in most Southern African, Southeast African, and Central African states and others in some parts of Northeast and West Africa. The Coptic Christians make up a significant minority in Egypt, the World Book Encyclopedia has estimated that in 2002 Christians formed 80% of the continents population, with Muslims forming 20%. In a relatively short time, Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians, since 2013, traditional African religions are declared as the majority religion only in Togo. Importantly, today within most self-declared Christian communities in Africa, there is significant and sustained syncretism with African Traditional Religious beliefs, mark the Evangelist became the first bishop of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria in about the year 43. At first the church in Alexandria was mainly Greek-speaking, by the end of the 2nd century the scriptures and liturgy had been translated into three local languages. Christianity in Sudan also spread in the early 1st century, Christianity also grew in northwestern Africa. The churches there were linked to the Church of Rome and provided Pope Gelasius I, Pope Miltiades and Pope Victor I, all of them Christian Berbers like Saint Augustine, at the beginning of the 3rd century the church in Alexandria expanded rapidly, with five new suffragan bishoprics. At this time, the Bishop of Alexandria began to be called Pope, in the middle of the 3rd century the church in Egypt suffered severely in the persecution under the Emperor Decius. Many Christians fled from the towns into the desert, when the persecution died down, however, some remained in the desert as hermits to pray. This was the beginning of Christian monasticism, which over the years spread from Africa to other parts of the Gohar. The early 4th century in Egypt began with renewed persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, the conventional historical view is that the conquest of North Africa by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate between AD 647–709 effectively ended Catholicism in Africa for several centuries. However, new scholarship has appeared that disputes this, there are reports that the Roman Catholic faith persisted in the region from Tripolitania to present-day Morocco for several centuries after the completion of the Arab conquest by 700. A Christian community is recorded in 1114 in Qala in central Algeria, there is also evidence of religious pilgrimages after 850 to tombs of Catholic saints outside the city of Carthage, and evidence of religious contacts with Christians of Arab Spain. Local Catholicism came under pressure when the Muslim regimes of the Almohads and Almoravids came into power, by 1830, when the French came as colonial conquerors to Algeria and Tunis, local Catholicism had been extinguished. As of the last census in Algeria, taken on 1 June 1960, in 2009, the UNO counted 45,000 Roman Catholics and 50,000 to 100,000 Protestants in the Algeria. Conversions to Christianity have been most common in Kabylie, especially in the wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou, in that wilaya, the proportion of Christians has been estimated to be between 1% and 5%
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Christianity in Algeria
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Christianity came to North Africa in the Roman era. According to historian Theodore Mommsen what is now Mediterranean Algeria was fully Christian by the fifth century, a notable Berber Christian of Algeria was SaintAugustine, important saints of Roman Catholicism. Christianitys influence declined during the period of the Vandal invasions but was strengthened in the succeeding Byzantine period. After the Arab invasions of the 7th century, Christianity began to gradually disappear, currently, North Africa is primarily Muslim, Islam is the state religion of Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. While the practice and expression of other faiths is guaranteed by law, converts to Christianity may be investigated and searched by the authorities. There is some evidence that there has been an increase in conversions to Christianity among North African Muslims in recent years, despite this, the total number of Christians remains very low relative to the populations of these countries. In 2009, the percentage of Christians in Algeria was less than 2%, in this same survey, the UNO counted 100,000 Roman Catholics and 45,000 Protestants in the country. A2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria, although Christians are a religious minority in Algeria, churches built during the French and to a lesser extent Italian rule can still be found. Conversions to Christianity have been most common in Kabylie, especially in the wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou, in Tizi-Ouzou, the proportion of Christians has been estimated to be between 1% and 5%. Christians have at times subjected to religiously motivated attacks. In 1996, Pierre Claverie, bishop of Oran, was assassinated by terrorists and this murder occurred soon after that of seven monks of the Trappistes of Tibérine, and of six nuns. This terrorist act was part of a trend of violence during the Algerian Civil War in the 1990s. During this time, between 100,000 and 200,000 Algerians lost their lives, Protestants number approximately 45,000 in Algeria, according to more conservative estimates. A2015 study, however, estimated 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria and this small population generally practices its faith without government interference but incidences of persecution were more frequently recorded of late. Missionary groups are permitted to conduct humanitarian activities without government interference as long as they are discreet, since 2006 missionary outreach among Muslims can be punished with up to five years of prison. The Protestant Church of Algeria is a church formed by the Methodist Church. The Protestant Church of Algeria is one of two officially recognized Christian organizations in the country. According to the ICC, most Christians meet in homes, to protect themselves, the countrys Minister of Religious Affairs has called the evangelical churches dangerous
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Christianity in Angola
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Christianity in Angola has existed since 1491. Today over 75% of Angolans practise some form of Christianity, Christianity in Angola began in 1491, with a Catholic mission in the São Salvador area. João I, Manikongo of the powerful Kongo Kingdom, converted to Christianity, in 1878, the first Protestant missionaries, British Baptists, arrived in Angola. In 1897, the Angola Evangelical Mission was established in Cabinda, in contemporary Angola, the Bakongo are one of the most heavily Christian groups, with only 1. 5% holding indigenous beliefs. Groups that are not Christian include the Mumuila, Mbwela, Mungambwe, Kwangali, Himba, according to the CIA World Factbook, Roman Catholicism is practiced by 50% of the population. 25% are Protestants, while 25% practice indigenous beliefs, sometimes the Christian sphere of the life of a community was institutionally separate from the indigenous sphere. In other cases, the meaning and practice of Christianity were modified by indigenous patterns of belief. Missionary activity was placed under the authority of Portuguese priests, all of this was consistent with the Colonial Act of 1930, which advanced the view that Portuguese Catholic missions overseas were instruments of civilization and national influence. In 1940, the education of Africans was declared the exclusive responsibility of missionary personnel, all church activities, education included, were to be subsidized by the state. In reality, Protestant missions were permitted to engage in educational activity and their early years, therefore, were little affected by Portuguese policy and practice. Before the establishment of the New State in Portugal in 1926, settlers and local administrators often were hostile, however, because Protestant missionaries tended to be protective of what they considered their charges. Protestant missionaries were more likely than administrators and settlers to know a local language. Roman Catholic missionaries did not similarly emphasize the translation of the Bible and, with some exceptions, because specific Protestant denominations were associated with particular ethnic communities, the structure of religious organization was linked to the structure of these communities. This connection was brought about in part by the tendency of entire communities to turn to the variety of Protestantism offered locally, the conversion of isolated individuals was rare. Those members of a community who had not yet become Christians were tied by kinship, on the one hand, indigenous patterns of social relations affected church organization, on the other hand, the presence of Christians in the community affected the local culture to varying degrees. Estimates of the number of Roman Catholics in Angola varied, one source claimed that about 55 percent of the population in 1985 was Roman Catholic, another put the proportion in 1987 at 68 percent. The most heavily Roman Catholic area before independence was Cabinda Province, Bakongo in Angola proper were not quite so heavily Roman Catholic, and Protestantism was very influential there. There was a proportion of Roman Catholics among the Mbundu in Luanda
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Christianity in Benin
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Christianity first reached Benin in 1680, gaining more permanent footing in the 19th century. English Methodists arrived in 1843, operating amongst the coastal Gun people, the Catholic hierarchy in Benin consists of the Archdiocese of Cotonou and the Parakou. In 2011 it was reported that in Benin there were 440 priests and 900 men and women in religious orders, many nominal Christians also practice traditional local religious beliefs. Religion in Benin Islam in Benin Archdiocese of Cotonou
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Christianity in Botswana
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Anglicans in Botswana are part of the Church of the Province of Central Africa. Membership in the Roman Catholic Church includes about 5% of the nations population, recently the number of Pentecostal churches has been rising. A strong revival has been going on and most churches conduct all-night prayer meetings, in these meetings the prayer requests include the leadership of the country and all the ministers in the body of Christ. Theres also the presence of Eastern Orthodox Church, one of the first missionaries to bring the gospel to the land of Botswana was David Livingstone. The churches normally meet occasionally to worship together under the name Evangelic Fellowship of Botswana, Botswana citizens identify themselves as Christians. Anglicans, Methodists, and the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa make up the majority of Christians, a survey of the Botswana identified the percentages of these groups as 66%, 7% and 1%. Protestant denominations set up Sunday school programs and they provide a major source of new members. 20 percent are referred to as Professing Christians,24 percent fall into a category named Liturgical Christians. They are predominantly Lutheran and Roman Catholic and they are regular churchgoers, have a high level of spiritual activity and recognize the authority of the church. 16 percent are considered Private Christians and they own a Bible but dont tend to read it. Only about one-third attend church at all and they believe in God and in doing good things, but not necessarily within a church context. This was the largest and youngest segment,21 percent in the research are called Cultural Christians. These do not view Jesus as essential to salvation and they exhibit little outward religious behavior or attitudes. They favor a universality theology that sees many ways to God, yet, they clearly consider themselves to be Christians. A study from 2015 estimated that about 100 Botswana Muslims convert to Christianity and its been also reported that conversion into Christianity is significantly increasing among Korean, Chinese, and Japanese in Botswana. The majority of Botswana Christians attend mixed gender schools, mostly government schools. Most commonly known Christian school in Botswana is Roman Catholic school St. Josephs College, every weekday public channel BTV broadcasts short religious programmes at 05h30. Religion in Botswana Islam in Botswana Balmer, Randall, the Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism excerpt and text search
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Christianity in Burundi
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Christianity is the majority religion of Burundi. According to estimate, between 75–94 percent of the Burundian population are Christian, of these, the majority are Catholics and Protestants make up the remainder. The religion first entered the country under European colonial rule and remains popular, there are estimated to be 557 separate Churches registered in the country. Christianity is not indigenous to Burundi and arrived during the period of European colonial rule, under German rule, Christianity remained a minority religion in the country. At the start of Belgian rule there were just 7,000 Christians in the entire country and their number grew rapidly during the interwar period when the Belgian authorities encouraged the spread of Christianity, especially Catholicism, as part of the colonial civilising mission. The religion remained popular after independence in 1962, among the observant Christians is the incumbent president Pierre Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader during the Burundian Civil War, who is a born again Protestant. Although Burundi is officially a state, several religious observances are celebrated as national holidays. This includes Christian festivals such as the Feasts of the Ascension, although it is accepted that Christians represent the majority of the population of Burundi, there is no consensus about the exact size of the population that they represent. The United States Department of State estimated in 2010 that 75 percent of Burundians are Christian of which 60 percent are Catholic and 15 percent Protestant. According to the Pew Research Center from 2010, the number of Christians represents 94.1 percent of the population of whom 73 percent are Catholic and 20 percent Protestant. Burundian Christians are divided into separate Churches, often small in size. According to a 2014 estimate, there are 557 different Christian Churches in the country, religion in Burundi Islam in Burundi Roman Catholicism in Burundi National Council of Churches of Burundi Gahama, Joseph. Le Burundi sous administration belge, la période du mandat 1919-1939
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Religion in Cameroon
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Christianity, Islam and Traditionalist are the three main religions in Cameroon. Christian churches and Muslim centers of various denominations operate freely throughout Cameroon while the traditionalists operate in their shrines and temples which are becoming popular today. Approximately 70 percent of the population is at least nominally Christian,19 percent is nominally Muslim and 10 percent practice traditional religious beliefs. Other religious groups that constitute less than or just 1 percent of the population include Orthodox Jews, Baháís, the Christian population is divided between Roman Catholics, Protestants, and other Christian denominations 6 percent). The vast majority of the Muslims are Sunni belonging to Maliki school of jurisprudence, with approximately 12% Ahmadiyya, Christians and Muslims are found in every region, although Christians are chiefly in the southern and western provinces. It is worthy to note that unlike common belief, the population of the three regions is almost equally divided between the Christians and the Muslim. Not all in the north are Muslim tribes especially in North and far north there are tribes like the Tupuri, Mundang. Islam can be said to fully concentrated in the Adamawa region of Cameroon, the two Anglophone provinces of the western region largely are Protestant, and the Francophone provinces of the southern and western regions are largely Catholic and Evangelicals. The Bamoun ethnic group of the West Province is largely Muslim, there are about 4,000 adherents of the Baháí Faith in the country. By 2001 the Baháí National Spiritual Assembly was registered with the Government of Cameroon as one of the few non-Christian foreign religions, there is a tiny population of Jews in Cameroon who have established ties with the wider global Jewish community. A community of approximately 50 people practice some form of Judaism in the country today. Hinduism is the faith practiced by some South Asian migrants, the Constitution provides for freedom of religion in Cameroon, and the government generally respects this right in practice. The country is characterized by a high degree of religious tolerance. Freedom of religion in Cameroon Islam in Cameroon Roman Catholicism in Cameroon Baháí Faith in Cameroon Judaism in Cameroon
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Religion in Cape Verde
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More than 93% of the population of Cape Verde is nominally Roman Catholic, according to an informal poll taken by local churches. About 5% of the population is Protestant, the largest Protestant denomination is the Church of the Nazarene. There are small Baháí communities and a small Muslim community, the number of atheists is estimated at less than 1 percent of the population. There are foreign missionary groups operating in the country, the Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. The US government received no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice, christianity in Cape Verde Roman Catholicism in Cape Verde Islam in Cape Verde Freedom of religion in Cape Verde The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cape Verde
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Religion in the Central African Republic
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According to 2010 estimates, about 80 percent of the population of the Central African Republic are Christians. Islam is practiced by 15 percent of the population, the vast majority of Muslims are Malikite Sunni. It is believed many of these followers incorporate traditional indigenous elements into their faith practices. Roman Catholic and Protestant missions are scattered throughout the territory, Islam is practised primarily in the north. About 51 percent of the population are Protestant, another 29 percent are Roman Catholic, traditional indigenous beliefs are practised by about 5 percent of the population as a primary or exclusive belief system. Missionary groups within the country include Lutherans, Baptists, Grace Brethren, the constitution provides for freedom of religion while prohibiting certain forms of religious fundamentalism. This prohibition is generally considered to be directed toward Christian and Muslim fundamentalists, Christian holidays are celebrated as national holidays. All religious groups must be registered through the Ministry of Interior, the Unification Church has been banned since the mid-1980s. The practice of witchcraft is considered an offense, however, prosecution is generally made only in conjunction with other criminal activity. Roman Catholicism in the Central African Republic Islam in the Central African Republic Central African Republic conflict - A sectarian civil conflict
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Christianity in Chad
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Christianity arrived in Chad much more recently with the arrival of Europeans. Its followers are divided into Roman Catholics and Protestants, the Protestants came to southern Chad in the 1920s. American Baptists were the first, but missionaries of other denominations, many of the American missions were northern offshoots of missionary networks founded farther south in the Ubangi-Shari colony of French Equatorial Africa. These early Protestant establishments looked to their own churches for material resources, such independence allowed them to maintain a distance from the French colonial administration. In addition, the missionaries arrived with their wives and children, some of the missionaries who arrived at that time had grown up with missionary parents in missions founded earlier in the French colonies to the south. Some missionary children from this era later founded missions of their own, many remained after independence, leaving only in the early and or mid-1970s when Tombalbayes authenticité movement forced their departure. The puritanical message preached by many Protestant missionaries undermined the appeal of the faith, rather than allowing a local Christian tradition to develop, the missionaries preached a fundamentalist doctrine native to parts of the United States. They inveighed against dancing, alcohol, and local customs, which they considered superstitions, new converts found it almost impossible to observe Protestant teachings and remain within their communities. In the early years, Chadian Protestants often left their villages, but abandoning village and family was a sacrifice that most people were reluctant to make. Although language and doctrine probably discouraged conversion, the educational and medical projects of the Protestant missions probably attracted people, the missionaries set up schools, clinics, and hospitals long before the colonial administration did. In fact, the mission schools produced the first Western-educated Chadians in the 1940s and 1950s, in general, the Protestant missionary effort in southern Chad has enjoyed some success. In 1980, after a half-century of evangelization, Protestants in southern Chad numbered about 80,000, from bases in the south, Protestants founded missions in other parts of Chad. For the most part, they avoided settling among Muslims, who were not responsive to their message, in the colonial capital of Fort-Lamy, the missions attracted followers among resident southerners. The missionaries also proselytized among the populations of Guéra, Ouaddaï. Although Christianity appealed to some in the capital, efforts in parts of the Sahel were relatively unsuccessful. In the late 1980s, the future of the Protestant missions in Chad remained unclear, as noted, many Protestant missionaries were forced to leave the country during the cultural revolution in the early and mid-1970s. Outside the south, other missions have been caught in the fire of warring factions. Rebel forces have pillaged mission stations, and the government has accused the missionaries of complicity with the opposition, the Roman Catholic missions came to Chad later than their Protestant counterparts
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Christianity in the Comoros
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Christianity in the Comoros is a minority religion. Roman Catholics in the Comoros number about 4,300 persons, in 2006 four persons were detained in the town of Moroni in the Comoros. The constitution guarantees religious liberty, although Christians are not allowed to witness publicly, there are foreign religious groups that take part in humanitarian action in the Comoros. They do not engage in proselytizing there, however, religious groups do not have a duty to register. A law states that whoever preaches another religion to any of the countrys Muslims will be subject to both a prison sentence and a fine, on the island of Ngazidja, Christian liberty is greater than in other parts of the Comoros. There is a Roman Catholic church in Moroni on the island, another Roman Catholic church is in Mutsamudu. There is also a Protestant church in Moroni, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia, there is at least one congregation of both Seventh Day Adventists and the reformed Eglise de Jésus Christ aux Comores. Roman Catholicism in Comoros article Protestantism by country article
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Demographics of the Republic of the Congo
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The Republic of the Congos sparse population is concentrated in the southwestern portion of the country, leaving the vast areas of tropical jungle in the north virtually uninhabited. In rural areas, industrial and commercial activity has declined rapidly in recent years, leaving rural economies dependent on the government for support, before the 1997 war, about 15,000 Europeans and other non-Africans lived in Congo, most of whom were French. Pygmies make up 2% of Congos population, according to the 2010 revision of the World Population Prospects the total population was 4043000 in 2010, compared to only 808000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40. 6%,55. 7% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3. 7% was 65 years or older, registration of vital events in the Republic of the Congo is incomplete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates, lingala is influential in the sparsely inhabited northern half of the country. The adult prevalence rate for HIV/AIDS was 3. 4% as of 2009, the Republic of Congo is considered to have a high degree of risk of infectious diseases, particularly bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and typhoid fever, and malaria. As of 2003,83. 8% of the population was considered literate. This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document 2006 edition
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Christianity in Djibouti
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Christianity is the religion of 6% of the population of Djibouti. Christians are mostly of Ethiopian and European ancestry, most Christians are Ethiopian Orthodox or Roman Catholic. The constitution of Djibouti includes freedom of religion, although Islam is the state religion, there are likely no current prisoners for Christian religious reasons. There is a tolerant attitude between religions in general, proselytizing of Muslims is not allowed. Converts from Islam to Christianity have to fear persecution, less than 2% of the Djiboutians are Christians, but many of the Ethiopians in Djibouti are Christians. 3. 2% of the population are Orthodox,0. 07% to 1% of the population are Protestants. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, among other denominations are the Eglise Protestante de Djibouti, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Mennonite Mission is active in Djibouti. The Eglise Protestante Evangelique de Djibouti was founded in 1960 and it is active in the care for refugees, among other things. There is a Djibouti Parish of the New Apostolic Church, Djibouti is included in the Episcopal Area of the Horn of Africa of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, though there are no current congregations in the country. There are around 7,000 Catholics in Djibouti, the only Roman Catholic diocese there is the Diocese of Djibouti, divided into five parishes. Just over 1% to 2% of the population are members of the diocese, Djibouti maintains diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Islam in Djibouti Roman Catholicism in Djibouti US State Dept, report on Religious Liberty in Djibouti
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Christianity in Egypt
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Christianity is one of the religions in Egypt. The history of Christianity in Egypt dates to the Roman era, Alexandria was an early center of Christianity. Egypt was a majority christian country until 1453, the vast majority of Egyptian Christians are Copts. The word Copt is indirectly derived from the Greek Αἰγύπτιος Aigýptios meaning simply Egyptian, over 95% of Egyptian Christians belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Church. 10% is the accepted figure, but it may be higher. The actual number may be between 15 to 18 million according to an article cited in Coptic Christianity in Egypt, other estimates of the ethnic Coptic population within Egypt range between 9 and 15 million. The Coptic Orthodox Church is headed by the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy See of Saint Mark, affiliated sister churches are located in Armenia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Lebanon and Syria. Other native Egyptian Christians are adherents of the Coptic Catholic Church, scattered among the various churches are a number of believers in Christ from a Muslim background. A2015 study estimates some 14,000 such believers in Egypt, the Christian apologists Clement of Alexandria and Origen both lived part or all of their lives in that city, where they wrote, taught, and debated. With the Edict of Milan in 313, Constantine I ended the persecution of Christians, over the course of the 4th century, paganism was suppressed and lost its following, as the poet Palladius bitterly noted. Graffiti at Philae in Upper Egypt proves worship of Isis persisted at its temples into the 5th century, many Egyptian Jews also became Christians, but many others refused to do so, leaving them as the only sizable religious minority in a Christian country. The Arian controversy caused years of riots and rebellions throughout most of the 4th century, in the course of one of these, the great temple of Serapis, the stronghold of paganism, was destroyed. Athanasius was alternately expelled from Alexandria and reinstated as its Archbishop between five and seven times, another religious development in Egypt was the monasticism of the Desert Fathers, who renounced the material world in order to live a life of poverty in devotion to the Church. Under Muslim rule, the ethnic Copts were cut off from the stream of Christianity. They were assigned to Dhimmi status and their position improved dramatically under the rule of Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century. He abolished the Jizya and allowed ethnic Copts to enroll in the army, Pope Cyril IV, 1854–61, reformed the church and encouraged broader Coptic participation in Egyptian affairs. Khedive Ismail Pasha, in power 1863–79, further promoted the Copts and he appointed them judges to Egyptian courts and awarded them political rights and representation in government. Some ethnic Copts participated in the Egyptian national movement for independence, two significant cultural achievements include the founding of the Coptic Museum in 1910 and the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in 1954
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Equatorial Guinea
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Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country located in Central Africa, with an area of 28,000 square kilometres. Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name evokes its location near both the Equator and the Gulf of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea is the only sovereign African state in which Spanish is an official language. As of 2015, the country has an population of over 1.2 million. Equatorial Guinea consists of two parts, an insular and a mainland region, the insular region consists of the islands of Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea and Annobón, a small volcanic island south of the equator. Bioko Island is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea and is the site of the countrys capital, the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is located between Bioko and Annobón. The mainland region, Río Muni, is bordered by Cameroon on the north and Gabon on the south and it is the location of Bata, Equatorial Guineas largest city, and Oyala, the countrys planned future capital. Rio Muni also includes several small islands, such as Corisco, Elobey Grande. The country is a member of the African Union, Francophonie, since the mid-1990s, Equatorial Guinea has become one of sub-Saharan Africas largest oil producers. The country ranks 144th on the UNs 2014 Human Development Index, the UN says that less than half of the population has access to clean drinking water and that 20% of children die before reaching the age of five. Reporters Without Borders ranks President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo among its predators of press freedom, the report rates Equatorial Guinea as a Tier 3 country, the lowest ranking, Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so. Pygmies probably once lived in the region that is now Equatorial Guinea. Bantu migrations between the 18th and 19th centuries brought the coastal ethno-linguistic groups as well as the Fang people, elements of the latter may have generated the Bubi, who migrated from Cameroon to Río Muni and Bioko in several waves and succeeded former Neolithic populations. The Annobón population, originally native to Angola, was introduced by the Portuguese via São Tomé island, the Portuguese explorer Fernando Pó, seeking a path to India, is credited as being the first European to discover the island of Bioko in 1472. He called it Formosa, but it took on the name of its European discoverer. The islands of Fernando Pó and Annobón were colonized by Portugal in 1474, Spain thereby tried to gain access to a source of slaves controlled by British merchants. Between 1778 and 1810, the territory of Equatorial Guinea was administered by the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, based in Buenos Aires. From 1827 to 1843, the United Kingdom had a base on Bioko to combat the slave trade, in 1844, on restoration of Spanish sovereignty, the area became known as the Territorios Españoles del Golfo de Guinea. Spain had neglected to occupy the area in the Bight of Biafra to which it had right by treaty
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Christianity in Eritrea
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According to the Pew Research Center,62. 9% are followers of Christianity, mostly followers of Orthodox Christianity and, to a lesser extent, Roman Catholicism. Eritrea along with its southern neighbour Ethiopia was one of the first Christian countries in the world having officially adopted Christianity as the religion in the 4th century. At the same time, it was one of the first Muslim settlements in Africa. Christians in Eritrea constitute to three groups, the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church. The Catholic dioceses in Eritrea are the Eparches of Asmara, Barentu, Keren, in 2002, Isaias Afewerki, the president of Eritrea, declared all independent Protestant Churches, enemies of the state. For this reason, more than 2000 independent Protestants are detained due to their faith, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was granted autocephaly by Pope Joseph II of Alexandria, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in 1950. At that time Eritrea was regarded as a province of Ethiopia, however, the Ethiopian Church has recognized the Autocephalous status of the Church of Eritrea although it objected to the method in which the Coptic Church went about granting it. The first Patriarch of Eritrea was Abune Phillipos who died in 2004 and was succeeded by Abune Yacob. The reign of Abune Yacob as Patriarch of Eritrea was very brief as he died not long after his enthronement, Abune Antonios was elected in 2004-03-05, and enthroned as the third Patriarch of Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Eritrea on 2004-04-24. Pope Shenouda III presided at the ceremony in Asmara, together with the Holy Synod of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, in August 2005, the Patriarch of Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Eritrea, Abune Antonios, was confined to a strictly ceremonial role. In a letter dated 2006-01-13 Patriarch Abune Antonios was informed that following several sessions of the churchs Holy Synod, Patriarch Antonios also appealed his case to the Council of the Monasteries of the Eritrean Orthodox Church and to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Abune Antonios was deposed by the Eritrean Holy Synod, many believe that Abune Antonios was wrongly deposed and still consider him Patriarch. Many Eritrean Orthodox followers disagree with the Eritrean government making decisions in religious matters, the Portuguese voyages of discovery at the end of the fifteenth century opened the way for direct contacts between the Catholic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In 1839, Saint Justin de Jacobis arrived in the country as Prefect Apostolic of Ethiopia and he preferred instead to use the Ethiopic liturgical rite. Eritrea, an Italian possession since 1894, already had an ecclesiastical jurisdiction, headed by an Italian titular bishop, for Latin-rite Catholics. The Latin Rite had become established in the south of Ethiopia in areas that had not been Christian, accordingly, in 1951, the Ethiopic Rite Apostolic Exarchate of Addis Ababa was established, and the ordinariate for Eritrea was elevated to the rank of exarchate. Ten years later, on 9 April 1961, an Ethiopic metropolia was established, with Addis Ababa as the see and Asmara. In 1995, two new eparchies, Barentu and Keren, were established in Eritrea, and the Latin Rite apostolic vicariate was abolished and he appointed Father Fikremariam Hagos Tsalim, until now the Vicar General of the Eparchy of Asmara, as the first Bishop of the new Diocese
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Christianity in Ethiopia
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Christianity in Ethiopia dates to the 1st century AD, arguably the first nation in the world to accept Christianity and this long tradition makes Ethiopia unique amongst sub-Saharan African countries. Christianity in this country is divided several groups. Next in size are the various Protestant congregations, who include 13.7 million Ethiopians, the largest Protestant group is the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, with about 5 million members. Roman Catholicism has been present in Ethiopia since the century, in total, Christians make up about 60% of the total population of the country. Although Christianity existed long before the rule of King Ezana the Great of the Kingdom of Axum, pinpointing a date as to when Christianity emerged in Ethiopia is uncertain. The earliest and best known reference to the introduction of Christianity is in the New Testament when Philip the Evangelist converted an Ethiopian court official in the 1st Century AD. Scholars, however, argue that Ethiopian was a term used for black Africans. The word Candace may also refer to the position of queen rather than to a specific person, Judaism was practiced in Ethiopia long before Christianity arrived and the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible contains numerous Jewish Aramaic words. The Old Testament in Ethiopia may be a translation of the Hebrew with possible assistance from Jews, according to church historian Nicephorus, the apostle St. Matthew later preached the Christian Gospel to modern-day Ethiopia after having preached in Judea. Rufinus of Tyre, a church historian, recorded a personal account as did other church historians such as Socrates. The Garima Gospels are thought to be the worlds oldest illuminated Christian manuscripts, after being shipwrecked and captured at an early age, Frumentius was carried to Aksum, where he was treated well with his companion Edesius. At the time, there was a population of Christians living there who sought refuge from Roman persecution. Once of age, Frumentius and Edesius were allowed to return to their homelands, in doing so, they began to secretly promote Christianity through the lands. During a trip to meet with church elders, Frumentius met with Athanasius, after recommending that a bishop be sent to proselytize, a council decided that Frumentius be appointed as a bishop for Ethiopia. By 331 AD, Frumentius returned to Ethiopia, he was welcomed with open arms by the rulers who were at the time not Christian. Ten years later, through the support of the kings, the majority of the kingdom was converted, the efforts of the Syriac missionaries facilitated the Church’s expansion deep into the interior and caused friction with the traditions of the local people. These translations were vital to the spread of Christianity, no longer a religion for the percentage of Ethiopians who could read Greek. Newly trained Ethiopian ministers opened their own schools in their parishes, by the beginning of the sixth century, there were Christian Churches throughout northern Ethiopia
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Religion in Gabon
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Major religions practiced in Gabon include Christianity, Islam, and traditional indigenous religious beliefs. Many people practice elements of both Christianity and traditional religious beliefs. Approximately 88 percent of the population practice one of the denominations of Christianity,6 percent practice Islam,6 percent practice traditional religion or are atheists, Christianity arrived in Gabon through the Portuguese traders in early 16th century. The Italian Capuchin monks set up Christian missions in the 17th century, the Portuguese missionaries and Italian monks cooperation ended in the 18th century, and the Portuguese officials expelled the Capuchin monks in 1777. New missions such as the Sacred Heart and Holy Ghost, as well as Protestant missions from Europe arrived in the mid 19th century, Catholicism had established itself in Gabon with the Portuguese colonial efforts in 18th century, and grown to be the leading denomination by 1900. With the start of French colonial rule, Christian missions from Paris arrived between 1890s and 1960, more evangelical Churches have grown since the mid 20th century. The Babongo are a forest people of Gabon on the west coast of equatorial Africa and they are the originators of the Bwiti religion. Other peoples in Gabon have combined traditional Bwiti practices with animism, the Bwiti rituals form part of the initiation into the Babongo people. Babonga peoples lives are highly ritualised through dance, music and ceremony associated with natural forces, foreign missionaries are active in the country. Islam has had a presence in Gabon, with about 6% of the people following Sunni practice. One of the presidents, Bongo converted to Islam in 1971, added Omar to his name. Despite being a predominantly Christian nation, Omar Bongo led Gabon to join the Islamic coalition of nations in 1974, after Bongos political power ended in 1991, after allegations of nepotistic corruption and a popular revolt, Gabon reverted from the one party system to multiparty system. The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice, the US government received no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice during 2007. On February 3,2016, the Gabonese Republic granted official recognition to the local Orthodox Church, hinduism in Gabon Islam in Gabon Roman Catholicism in Gabon
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Christianity in the Gambia
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Article 25 of the Constitution protects the rights of citizens to practise any religion that they choose. In 1963 the Gambia Christian Council was formed as an association of Roman Catholic, Anglican. Intermarriage between Muslims and Christians is common, in some areas, Islam and Christianity are syncretized with animism. In 1931 from the Apostolic Vicariate of Senegambia was established Mission “sui iuris” of Gambia, in 1951 Mission was promoted as the Apostolic Prefecture of Bathurst, in 1957 promoted as Diocese of Bathurst in Gambia. Now there are about 42,400 Catholics in the Gambia, the Diocese of Banjul is divided into 56 parishes. Bishop Robert Ellison is the present Catholic Bishop of the diocese of Banjul, the Anglican Diocese of Gambia and the Rio Pongas was founded in 1935. John Daly was the first bishop of the new diocese, in 1951 five West African Anglican dioceses, including the Diocese of Gambia, were formed into the Church of the Province of West Africa. In 1985 from the Diocese of Gambia was separated the Diocese of Guinea and now the jurisdiction of Anglican Diocese of Gambia comprises the Republics of the Gambia, Senegal, and Cape Verde. In 2000 the Church of the Province of West Africa adopted legislation permitting women priests, but only Liberia, solomon Tilewa Johnson, who died in 2014, was the first Gambian national to hold the post of Anglican Bishop of Gambia. Religion in the Gambia Islam in the Gambia The Catholic Diocese of Banjul Anglican Diocese of Gambia
35.
Christianity in Ghana
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The arrival of the Europeans in 15th century into the then Gold Coast brought Christianity to the land. There were many different cultural groups across the West African region who were practicing different forms of spirituality, as the Europeans explored and took control of parts of the country during the colonial days, so did their religion. Christianity is the religion with the largest following in Ghana, Christian denominations include Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Seventh-Day Adventists, Pentecostals, Baptists etc. According to the figures of the year 2000, out of Ghanas 18.8 million people. A2015 study estimated some 50,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background, like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Anglican background. Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century, a school was established in Cape Coast by the Anglicans during the time of Philip Quaque, a Ghanaian priest. Those who came out of school had scriptural knowledge and scriptural materials supplied by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. A member a resulting Bible study groups, William De-Graft, requested Bibles through captain Potter of the ship Congo, not only were Bibles sent, but also a Methodist missionary. In the first eight years of the Church’s life,11 out of 21 missionaries who worked in the Gold Coast died, thomas Birch Freeman, who arrived at the Gold Coast in 1838 was a pioneer of missionary expansion. Between 1838 and 1857 he carried Methodism from the areas to Kumasi in the Asante hinterland of the Gold Coast. He also established Methodist Societies in Badagry and AbeoKuta in Nigeria with the assistance of William De-Graft, by 1854, the church was organized into circuits constituting a district with T. B. Freeman as chairman. Freeman was replaced in 1856 by William West, the district was divided and extended to include areas in the then Gold Coast and Nigeria by the synod in 1878, a move confirmed at the British Conference. The district were Gold Coast District, with T. R. Picot as chairman and Yoruba and Popo District, Methodist evangelization of northern Ghana began in 1910. After a long period of conflict with the government, missionary work was established in 1955. Paul Adu was the first indigenous missionary to northern Ghana, in July 1961, the Methodist Church in Ghana became autonomous, and was called the Methodist Church Ghana, based on a deed of foundation, part of the churchs Constitution and Standing Orders. The Methodist Church Ghana has a membership of close to 600,000. The church has 15 dioceses,3,814 societies,1,066 pastors,15,920 local preachers,24,100 lay leaders, many schools, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has 62,000 members in 207 congregations in Ghana. They also have 28 family history centers,3 missions, and 1 temple in Ghana, the purpose was the search for unity and to work with members on issues of social concern and be the voice of the voiceless in society
36.
Guinea
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Guinea /ˈɡɪni/, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a country on the West coast of Africa. Guinea has a population of 10.5 million and an area of 245,860 square kilometres, the president is directly elected by the people and is head of state and head of government. The unicameral Guinean National Assembly is the body of the country. The judicial branch is led by the Guinea Supreme Court, the highest, the country is named after the Guinea region. Guinea is a name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the tropical regions and ends at the Sahel. Guinea is a predominantly Islamic country, with Muslims representing 85 percent of the population, Guineas people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. French, the language of Guinea, is the main language of communication in schools, in government administration, and the media. Guineas economy is dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It is the second largest producer of bauxite, and has rich deposits of diamonds. The country was at the core of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, human rights in Guinea remain a controversial issue. In 2011 the United States government claimed that torture by security forces, the land that is now Guinea belonged to a series of African empires until France colonized it in the 1890s, and made it part of French West Africa. Guinea declared its independence from France on 2 October 1958, from independence until the presidential election of 2010, Guinea was governed by a number of autocratic rulers. What is now Guinea was on the fringes of the major West African empires, the Ghana Empire is believed to be the earliest of these which grew on trade but contracted and ultimately fell due to the hostile influence of the Almoravids. It was in period that Islam first arrived in the region. The Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa, the most famous being Kankou Moussa, shortly after his reign the Mali Empire began to decline and was ultimately supplanted by its vassal states in the 15th century. The most successful of these was the Songhai Empire, which expanded its power from about 1460 and it continued to prosper until a civil war over succession followed the death of Askia Daoud in 1582. The weakened empire fell to invaders from Morocco at the Battle of Tondibi just three years later, the Moroccans proved unable to rule the kingdom effectively, however, and it split into many small kingdoms
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Religion in Guinea-Bissau
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There are diverse religions in Guinea-Bissau with no one religion having a majority. Sunni and Sufi Islam are most concentrated in the northern and northeastern parts of the country, practitioners of traditional indigenous religious beliefs generally live in all but the northern parts of the country. Christians are mostly found along the regions, and belong to the Roman Catholic Church. Christians are concentrated in Bissau and other large towns, about 20% of the Guinea-Bissaus Muslims belong to Sufi order and others follow the Malikite Sunni denomination. Initial growth of Islam was limited to the rulers and trading elites of Guinea-Bissau, Christianity arrived in Guinea-Bissau with Portuguese traders and missionaries in the 15th century, but only in its coastal regions. Active missionary efforts started only in the 20th century, and in 1977 it became a diocese of the Holy See, Protestant mission arrived in Guinea-Bissau in 1939, and Evagelical Churches have been active through the second half of the 20th century. The Christian missions became a target of destruction during the 1999 civil war in Guinea-Bissau, according to estimates of Christian community in 2050 there will be more than 30% Christians in the country as the result of many indegenous people will adopt to Christianity. Foreign missionaries operate in the country without restriction, the Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice though religious groups do have to have licenses. In 2015, the US government received no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice, Christianity in Guinea-Bissau Islam in Guinea-Bissau Roman Catholicism in Guinea-Bissau
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Religion in Kenya
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The predominant religion in Kenya is Christianity, which is adhered to by an estimated 84. 8% of the total population. Islam is the second largest religion in Kenya, practiced by about 9. 7% of the total population, other faiths practiced in Kenya are Bahai, Buddhism, Hinduism and traditional religions. Since 1999, Buddhism has grown in Kenya, there are more than 1000 Buddhists in Kenya. Buddhism is also one of the fastest growing traditions in Kenya, Nairobi Buddhist Vihara/Temple is the main centre of Buddhism in Kenya. Nairobi Vihara conducts missions and meditation programs to promote Buddhism in Kenya. Present in Kenya from 1945, the religion grew to an estimated 308,000 people in 2005 or about 1% of the population, in the 1990s the Baháís in Kenya participated in a nationwide community health project including vaccinations, maintaining latrines and developing clean water sources. Roman Catholicism was first brought to Kenya in the century by the Portuguese. Today, the main Christian denominations in Kenya are Protestant confessions and they include the Anglican Church of Kenya, and the Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, and Pentecostal churches. The Roman Catholic Church represents 23. 3% of the population, the Eastern Orthodox Church has over 650,000 members in Kenya, making it the largest Orthodox Church in Africa. The non-Protestant and non-Catholic groups make up about 11. 8% of the population, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has more than 10,000 members in 39 congregations in Kenya. They also have 2 family history centres in Kenya, and an employment resource center in Nairobi, a 2015 study estimates some 70,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism. Islam is the religion of approximately 11. 1% of the Kenyan population, islamic organisations dispute the figures suggested. Some sources suggest the number of Muslims in Kenya between 35% and 45%, most Muslims in Kenya are Sunni, mostly of the Shafii rite. Approximately 7% percent identify themselves as Shia and about 4% identify themselves as Ahmadi Muslims, Muslims are concentrated mainly in the Coastal and North Eastern Regions. Nairobi has several mosques and a notable Muslim population, there are large and historically significant populations of Swahili Muslims on the coast, in the Western Province, and smaller numbers of Somali, Arab and South Asian Muslims. Religious Shariah courts, called Kadhi courts, are given jurisdiction over civil matters such as divorce and inheritance under the constitution of Kenya. Muslims have complained that they are targeted and discriminated against by the government, particularly since the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi, the religions subsiding in Kenya do not display the distinctions between the 42 cultures. They mainly display the traditions of the larger umbrella cultures, there are Hindus living in Kenya. The numbers are estimated to be around 0. 14% of the population and they are mainly located in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, and other urban areas such as Mombasa, Eldoret, Thika and Kisumu
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Religion in Liberia
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According to the 2008 National Census,85. 5% of Liberias population practices Christianity. Muslims comprise 12. 2% of the population, largely coming from the Mandingo, the vast majority of Muslims are Malikite Sunni, with sizeable Shia and Ahmadiyya minorities. Traditional indigenous religions are practiced by 0. 5% of the population, some of the Pentecostal movements are affiliated with churches outside the country, while others are independent. There are also members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a religious context, the term kwi connotes a style of worship of a particular Christian church which is marked by formality and decorum. Kwi is a Liberian term used to connote Westernization, services in churches considered to be non-kwi have more outward spiritualist expression, with dancing and even street processions in colorful costumes as key elements. Non-kwi churches also have self-proclaimed prophets who interpret dreams and visions, Liberias educated elite have historically regarded the apostolic churches as churches of the uneducated and thus non-kwi. The Muslim population is found among the Mandingo and the Vai ethnic groups. Vai live predominantly in the west, regardless of public statements of identification with Christianity, a vast majority of Liberians believe a supernatural world of ancestral and bush spirits that impact daily life. Liberian religious culture is characterised by a predisposition towards secrecy and a belief in the intervention of mysterious forces in human affairs. Both elite and non-elite Liberians usually attribute events to the activities of secret powers, beliefs include the conviction that there are deep and hidden things about an individual that only diviners, priests, and other qualified persons can unravel. This presupposes that whatever exists or happens in the realm has foundations in the spirit world. In addition, Sande champions womens social and political interests and promotes their solidarity vis-a-vis the Poro society, today this social institution is found among the Bassa, Gola, Kissi, Kpelle, Loma, People and Vai of Liberia. Throughout the region, the complementarity of mens and womens gender roles – evident in such activities as farming, cloth production. The womens Sande and mens Poro associations alternate political and ritual control of the land for periods of three and four years respectively, during Sandes sovereignty, all signs of the mens society are banished. At the end of this period, the Sande leadership turns over the land to its counterparts in the Poro Society for another four years. The community was disrupted by the First Liberian Civil War. Almost 9,500 Baháís are believed to have been in Liberia in 2006, a large number of foreign missionary groups work openly and freely in the country. The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice, despite frequent interaction among religious groups, some tensions remain
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Christianity in Libya
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Christianity is a minority religion in Libya. Since Roman times it has always been present in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, the largest Christian group in Libya is the Coptic Orthodox Church, with a population of 60,000. The Coptic Church is known to have roots in Libya long before the Arabs advanced westward from Egypt into Libya. However, the Roman Catholics have a number as well. Orthodox communities other than that of the Egyptian Copts include the Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, there is one Anglican congregation in Tripoli, made up mostly of African immigrant workers, that belongs to the Egyptian Anglican diocese. The Anglican bishop of Libya has his seat in Cairo, there is also a priest in Sabha. There are relatively peaceful relations between Christians and Muslims in Libya, however, there are restrictions for Christian religious activity. It is prohibited to proselytize Muslims, even though a man must convert to Islam if he wants to marry a Muslim woman. Currently, there are 60,000 Copts in Libya, as they have roots in North Africa. Synesius was raised to the episcopate by Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, the Council of Nicaea in 325 made Cyrenaica an ecclesiastical province of the See of Alexandria. The Pope of Alexandria to this day includes the Pentapolis in his title as an area within his jurisdiction, the Coptic congregations in several countries were under the ancient Eparchy of the Western Pentapolis, which was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church for centuries until the thirteenth century. This was also a part of the restructuring of the Church as a whole and they are currently three Coptic Orthodox Churches in Libya, one in Tripoli, Libya, one in Benghazi, Libya, and one in Misrata, Libya. There are about 50,000 Roman Catholics, mostly Italian Libyans, before World War II the number of Catholics increased in Libya due to Italian colonialism. The Catholic Cathedral of Tripoli was converted to a mosque, Roman Catholic Vicariates Apostolic exist in Benghazi, Derna and Tripoli. There is a Prefecture Apostolic in Misrata, there are two Bishops, one in Tripoli. and one in Benghazi. These churches are primarily worship groups who gather together every Friday, though these groups are not officially approved by the government of Libya, they practice their faith without any interference from the government. On January 12,2015, twenty-one Coptic Christians were abducted by forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On February 15,2015 those twenty-one Christians were executed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Shown in a video A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross
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Christianity in Madagascar
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Christianity in Madagascar is practiced by just under half the population of the island, often in syncretic form with traditional religious practices. This prompted widespread popular conversion to Protestantism throughout the highlands in the late 1800s, practitioners of Protestantism slightly outnumber adherents to Catholicism. Approximately half of the population practice traditional religion, which attributes all of creation to a single god. In addition, it tends to emphasize links between the living and the razana, the first formal European-style school was established in 1818 on the east coast of Madagascar at Toamasina by members of the London Missionary Society. This first school, known as the Palace School, was established by LMS missionary David Jones on 8 December 1820 within Besakana, a Rova building of great historic and cultural significance. Within months, due to the increase in the number interested in studying there, classes were transferred to a larger. Beginning in December 1820, LMS missionaries established workshops in Antananarivo to teach trades and technical skills, by 1822, LMS missionaries had successfully transcribed the Merina dialect of the Malagasy language using the Latin alphabet. This dialect, spoken in the highlands around Antananarivo, was declared the official version of the Malagasy language that year – a status that the highlands dialect has retained ever since. The Bible, which was translated into this dialect and printed on a press, was the first book printed in the Malagasy language. Convinced that Western schooling was vital to developing Madagascars political and economic strength, schools were constructed in larger towns throughout the central highlands and staffed with teachers from the LMS and other missionary organizations. An additional 600 students received training under Scottish missionary James Cameron. Despite high attendance at the schools, the LMS were initially unsuccessful in converting pupils to Christianity, near the end of Radamas reign, the king perceived the few Malagasy who had been converted as irreverent toward royal authority. He forbade Malagasy people from being baptized or attending Christian services, Radama died in 1828 and was succeeded by his widow, Ranavalona I. Her succession initially resulted in a relaxation of control over Christianity. The islands first printing press, which was imported by LMS missionaries at the end of Radamas reign, was effectively put into operation in 1828. The press was in heaviest use during the first several years of Ranavalonas reign, translation of the New Testament was completed in the second year of her reign, and 3,000 copies were printed and distributed between 1829 and 1830. From the beginning of her reign, Ranavalona forbade the distribution of books within the military to prevent subversion and she allowed missionaries free rein in operating the printing press, however, and exempted from military service all Malagasy personnel trained to operate the press. In 1835, translation of the Old Testament was completed and the first copies were printed, in 1831 Ranavalona authorized Malagasy attendance at church services, administration of the sacrament, and baptism of her subjects
42.
Malawi
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Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, Malawi is over 118,000 km2 with an estimated population of 16,777,547. Its capital is Lilongwe, which is also Malawis largest city, the second largest is Blantyre, the third is Mzuzu, the name Malawi comes from the Maravi, an old name of the Nyanja people that inhabit the area. The country is also nicknamed The Warm Heart of Africa, Malawi is among the smallest countries in Africa. Lake Malawi takes about a third of Malawis area, the area of Africa now known as Malawi was settled by migrating Bantu groups around the 10th century. Centuries later in 1891 the area was colonised by the British, in 1953 Malawi, then known as Nyasaland, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, became a protectorate within the semi-independent Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Federation was dissolved in 1963, in 1964 the protectorate over Nyasaland was ended and Nyasaland became an independent country under Queen Elizabeth II with the new name Malawi. Two years later it became a republic, upon gaining independence it became a one-party state under the presidency of Hastings Banda, who remained president until 1994, when he lost an election. Arthur Peter Mutharika is the current president, Malawi has a democratic, multi-party government. The country has a Malawian Defence Force that includes an army, a navy, Malawi is among the worlds least-developed countries. The economy is based in agriculture, with a largely rural population. The Malawian government depends heavily on aid to meet development needs. The Malawian government faces challenges in building and expanding the economy, improving education, healthcare, environmental protection, Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality. There is a prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which is a drain on the labour force. There is a population of native peoples, Asians and Europeans, with several languages spoken. Although there was periodic regional conflict fuelled in part by ethnic divisions in the past, by 2008 it had diminished considerably and the concept of a Malawian nationality had re-emerged. The area of Africa now known as Malawi had a small population of hunter-gatherers before waves of Bantu peoples began emigrating from the north around the 10th century. Although most of the Bantu peoples continued south, some remained permanently, by 1500 AD, the tribes had established the Kingdom of Maravi that reached from north of what is now Nkhotakota to the Zambezi River and from Lake Malawi to the Luangwa River in what is now Zambia
43.
Religion in Mali
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An estimated 90 percent of Malians are Muslim, mostly Sunni belonging to Maliki school of jurisprudence influenced with Sufism. Ahmadiyya and Shia minorities are also present, approximately 5 percent are Christian, the remaining 5 percent of Malians adhere to indigenous or traditional animist beliefs. Atheism and agnosticism are believed to be rare among Malians, most of practice their religion on a daily basis. According to the 2005 U. S. Department of State’s annual report on freedom, Islam as traditionally practiced in Mali was characterized as moderate, tolerant. Women were allowed to participate in social economical and political activities, the constitution establishes a secular state and provides for freedom of religion, and the government largely respects this right. Relations between Muslims and practitioners of minority religious faiths are generally friendly, and foreign groups are tolerated. In spite of this, a 2015 study estimated some 8,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country, application of Sharia included banning of music, with groups showing up randomly in villages, armed with weaponry, to burn musical instruments and musical items. One guitarist was threatened that his fingers would be chopped off if he showed his face in one town again. Other rules such as cutting off hands or feet of thieves, stoning of adulterers and public whipping of smokers, alcohol drinkers, however, the occupation and Sharia law were both short-lived, cut short by a French and Chadian military intervention that began in January 2013. In 2012 several Islamic sites in Mali were destroyed or damaged by vigilante activists linked to Al Qaeda, Islam in Mali Roman Catholicism in Mali
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Christianity in Mauritania
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Christianity is a small minority in Mauritania. All of the roughly 4,500 Roman Catholics in Mauritania are within the only diocese. There are several expatriate African churches in Mauritania, though there are no more than 200 Protestants in the country, in spite of a strict law against evangelization, the Mauritanian Christian community is growing and there estimated to be 400 -1,000 ethnic Mauritanian Christians. For a period of eight months the Miracle Channel, a Norwegian/Swedish Christian channel, the distribution of Christian literature and the evangelizing of Muslims are prohibited by law. Bibles are rarely printed or distributed, state oppression has included the arrest of Mauritanian Christians due to their religious beliefs and the closure of churches. Conversion from Islam is punishable by death and other religions are not recognized by the state, Roman Catholicism in Mauritania Status of religious freedom in Mauritania article http, //parl. gc. adventist. org/documents/world_reports/WorldReport05. pdf
45.
Christianity in Mauritius
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Christianity in Mauritius is a religion adhered to by 32.7 per cent of the population of Mauritius. Of these,80.3 per cent are Roman Catholics, the Mauritian Creole and Franco-Mauritian ethnic groups are mostly Christian and significant parts of the Sino-Mauritian ethnic group are also mainly Christian. Mauritius got independence during 1968 and there was no religion in Mauritius defined in the constitution. The major and the oldest church in Mauritius is the St. Louis Cathedral, Port-Louis, Christianity first came to Mauritius with the first inhabitants, the Dutch. However, the Dutch abandoned the island in 1710, the French brought Christianity again when they arrived in 1715. From 1723, there was a law whereby all slaves coming to the island must be baptised Catholic and this law does not seem to have been strictly adhered to. Decaen, the French Governor, was expecting the forces in Port Louis and was surprised to see them in the Ille de France and he readily surrendered with a token resistance in the capital. The British forces allowed the French soldiers to leave and allowed the settlers to stay back, to prevent inhibition in the mind of settlers, the British pledged to preserver the laws of the land, religion, custom, language and property. After they had taken Mauritius from the French during the Napoleonic Wars, Roman Catholics were the majority Christians with a total of 26 per cent of the total Mauritian population, while all others accounted for six per cent of the total population. They were Seventh-day Adventists, Anglicans, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Evangelicals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, among the spread of Christianity in the nation, Port Louis and the island of Rodrigues had a majority of Roman Catholics. Reformed tradition in Mauritius dates back to 1598 during the period of Dutch, Roman Catholic sect is believed to have been induced by the French during 1721. It is part of Bishops Conference of Indian Ocean, it had 47 parishes and 97 priests as of 2001. The Anglican Church in Mauritius was introduced during the British from 1810, the Seventh day Adventist was formed in 1914, Brethren Church in 1942, New Jerusalem Church in 1907, Christian Science in 1950, Jenovahs Witness in 1951 and Assemblies of God in 2000. Mauritius got independence during 1968 and there was no religion in Mauritius defined in the constitution. The nation had no indigenous population nor any indigenous tribes or religion, the constitution and other laws protect freedom of religion. The groups recognized by the government before independence receive a sum for paying their adherents. The government allows overseas missionary groups to operate on a case-by-case basis, the missionaries should obtain both residence permit and work permit to operate, which is provided for a maximum of three years, without any extension. There are lot of government holidays, most of which are religious indicating the heterogeneity of religions, as per the International Religious Freedom report of 2012 published by the United States Department of States, there were no incidence of religious abuses
46.
Christianity in Morocco
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Christians in Morocco constitute approximately less than 1% of the countrys population of 33,600,000. Most of them are Catholic and Protestants, the U. S. State Department estimates the number of Moroccan Christians at between 5,000 and 25,000. Pew-Templeton estimates the number of Moroccan Christians at 20,000, the number of the Moroccans who converted to Christianity are estimated between 8, 000-40,000. Some sources estimates about 150,000 Muslim converted to Christianity in Morocco, article 3 of the Moroccan constitution guarantees to all the free exercise of beliefs, but the Moroccan criminal code prohibits conversions to other religions than Islam. Conversions of Muslims to Christianity were often in colonial period because laws against such conversions didnt exist yet, any attempt to induce a Muslim to convert is illegal. Foreign missionaries either limit their proselytizing to non-Muslims or attempt to conduct their work discreetly, in spite of these limitations, a 2015 study estimates some 3,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background. A popular Christian program by Brother Rachid has led many former Muslims in North Africa and his programs have been credited with assisting in the conversion of over 150,000 former Muslims to Christianity in Morocco. Christianity in Morocco appeared during the Roman times, when it was practiced by Christian Berbers in Roman Mauretania Tingitana, according to tradition, the martyrdom of St. Marcellus took place on 28 July 298 at Tingis. Since the Tetrarchy, Mauretania Tingitana became part of the Diocese of Hispaniae and hence in the Praetorian Prefecture of the Gauls, lucilius Constantius is recorded as governor in the mid to late fourth century. Prior to independence, Morocco was home to half a million European Christians, and during the French protectorate in Morocco European Christians formed almost half the population of the city Casablanca. Most Spaniards left Morocco after its independence in 1956 and their numbers were reduced to 13,000, today the expatriate Christian community consists of 5,000 practicing members, although estimates of Christians residing in the country at any particular time range up to 25,000. Most Christians reside in the Casablanca, Tangier and Rabat urban areas, the majority of Christians in Morocco are foreigners, although Voice of the Martyrs reports there is a growing number of native Moroccans converting to Christianity, especially in the rural areas. Many of the converts are baptized secretly in Morocco’s churches, there are two permanent chaplaincies, one in Casablanca and one in Tangier. Small groups of Anglicans have worshiped together in Marrakech, but there is no Anglican Church established here, the Anglican Church of Saint Andrew, Tangier has become a tourist attraction, partly due to certain well-known figures buried in its churchyard. The church is an early replacement for an earlier smaller building. The Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist, Casablanca, is located, near to the Hyatt Regency. It has a congregation, and holds two services every Sunday morning to accommodate all worshipers. There is a programme for children
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