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{{infobox ethnic group
{{infobox ethnic group
|group = Iranian Christians/Persian Christians
|group = Iranian Christians/Persian Christians
|population= 300,000<ref name="Christian Converts 2015. p. 9">Country Information and Guidance "Christians and Christian Converts, Iran" 19 March 2015. p. 9</ref>–370,000<ref name="Christian Converts 2015. p. 9"/>
|population= 300,000<ref name="Christian Converts 2015. p. 9" />–370,000<ref name="Christian Converts 2015. p. 9"/>
|popplace=
|popplace=
|langs= [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Aramaic languages|Aramaic (Syriac)]]
|langs= [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Suret|Assyrian (Sureth)]]
|rels=
|rels=
}}
}}
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{{Christianity by country}}
{{Christianity by country}}


'''Christianity in Iran''' dates back to the early years of the religion during the time of [[Jesus]], predating [[Islam]]. Through this time the Christian faith has always been followed by a minority of the population of [[Iran]] under its different [[state religion]]s: [[Zoroastrianism]] in historical [[Name of Iran|Persia]], followed by [[Sunni Islam]] in the [[Middle Ages]] after the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Arab conquest]], then [[Shia Islam]] since the [[Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam|Safavid conversion of the 15th century]]. However, Christians comprised a larger share of the population in the past than they do today. Iranian Christians have played a significant part in the historical [[Christian mission]]: currently, there are at least 600 [[Church (building)|churches]] and 300,000<ref name="Christian Converts 2015. p. 9">Country Information and Guidance "Christians and Christian Converts, Iran" 19 March 2015. p. 9</ref>–370,000 converts;<ref name="Christian Converts 2015. p. 9"/> some sources claim significantly higher numbers.
'''Christianity in Iran''' dates back to the early years of the religion during the time of [[Jesus]]. Through this time the Christian faith has always been followed by a minority of the population of [[Iran]] under its different [[state religion]]s: [[Zoroastrianism]] in historical [[Name of Iran|Persia]], followed by [[Sunni Islam]] in the [[Middle Ages]] after the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Arab conquest]], then [[Shia Islam]] since the [[Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam|Safavid conversion of the 15th century]]. However, Christians comprised a larger share of the population in the past than they do today. Iranian Christians have played a significant part in the historical [[Christian mission]]: currently, there are at least 600 [[Church (building)|churches]] and 300,000<ref name="Christian Converts 2015. p. 9">Country Information and Guidance "Christians and Christian Converts, Iran" 19 March 2015. p. 9</ref>–370,000 converts.<ref name="Christian Converts 2015. p. 9"/>


== Major denominations ==
== Major denominations ==
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** [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] (3,900 adherents as of 2014)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/rite/dch2.html |title=Current Chaldean Dioceses |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=5 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905135550/http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/rite/dch2.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
** [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] (3,900 adherents as of 2014)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/rite/dch2.html |title=Current Chaldean Dioceses |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=5 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905135550/http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/rite/dch2.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
** [[Armenian Catholic Church]] and [[Latin Church]]
** [[Armenian Catholic Church]] and [[Latin Church]]
* [[Assyrian Evangelical Church]] [[Presbyterian]]
Other particularities and churches include:
* [[Assyrian Pentecostal Church]] [[Pentecostal]]
* [[Presbyterianism]], including the [[Assyrian Evangelical Church]]
* [[Pentecostalism]], including the [[Assyrian Pentecostal Church]]
* [[Jama'at-e Rabbani|Jamaʿat-e Rabbani]] (Iranian [[Assemblies of God]])
* [[Jama'at-e Rabbani|Jamaʿat-e Rabbani]] (Iranian [[Assemblies of God]])
* [[Diocese of Iran|Anglican Diocese of Iran]]
* [[Diocese of Iran|Anglican Diocese of Iran]]
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| image14 = Benjamin von Persien.jpg| caption14 = [[Saint Benjamin the Deacon and Martyr]]
| image14 = Benjamin von Persien.jpg| caption14 = [[Saint Benjamin the Deacon and Martyr]]
}}
}}
[[File:Qareh kelissa.jpg|right|thumb|[[Qara Kelissa]], [[West Azerbaijan]], [[Iran]]. Believed by some to have been first built in 66 AD by [[Saint Jude]]. Local [[Armenians]] believe that he and Simon were both buried here. In 1329, the church was reconstructed after an earthquake destroyed the structure in 1319.]]
[[File:Qareh kelissa.jpg|right|thumb|[[Monastery of Saint Thaddeus|Armenian Monastery of Saint Taddeus]], [[West Azerbaijan]], [[Iran]]. Believed by some to have been first built in 66 AD by [[Saint Jude]]. Local [[Armenians]] believe that he and Simon were both buried here. In 1329, the church was reconstructed after an earthquake destroyed the structure in 1319.]]
[[File:Mar Toma church urmia.jpg|thumb|Assyrian [[St. Thomas Church, Balowlan|Mar Toma church]] near [[Urmia]], [[Iran]].]]
[[File:Mar Toma church urmia.jpg|thumb|Assyrian [[St. Thomas Church, Balowlan|Mar Toma church]] near [[Urmia]], [[Iran]].]]
According to the ''[[Acts of the Apostles]]'' there were [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Parthian people|Parthian]]s and [[Medes]] among the first new Christian converts at [[Pentecost]].<ref>{{bibleverse| Acts|2:9|NIV}}</ref> Since then there has been a continuous presence of Christians in [[Iran]].
According to the ''[[Acts of the Apostles]]'' there were [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Parthian people|Parthian]]s and [[Medes]] among the first new Christian converts at [[Pentecost]].<ref>{{bibleverse| Acts|2:9|NIV}}</ref> Since then there has been a continuous presence of Christians in [[Iran]].
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Many old churches remain in Iran from the early days of Christianity. Some historians{{which|date=November 2018}} regard the Assyrian [[St. Mary Church, Urmia|Church of Mart Maryam (St. Mary)]] in northwestern Iran, for example, as the second-oldest church in Christendom after the Church of Bethlehem in the West Bank. A Chinese princess, who contributed to its reconstruction in 642 AD, has her name engraved on a stone on the church wall. The famous Italian traveller [[Marco Polo]] also described the church following his visit.
Many old churches remain in Iran from the early days of Christianity. Some historians{{which|date=November 2018}} regard the Assyrian [[St. Mary Church, Urmia|Church of Mart Maryam (St. Mary)]] in northwestern Iran, for example, as the second-oldest church in Christendom after the Church of Bethlehem in the West Bank. A Chinese princess, who contributed to its reconstruction in 642 AD, has her name engraved on a stone on the church wall. The famous Italian traveller [[Marco Polo]] also described the church following his visit.


The [[Arab]] [[Islamic conquest of Persia]], in the 7th century, originally benefited Christians as they were a protected minority under Islam. However, from about the 10th century religious tension led to persecution once more. The influence of European Christians placed Near Eastern Christians in peril during the [[Crusades]]. From the mid-13th century, [[Mongol]] rule was a relief to Persian Christians until the [[Ilkhanate]] adopted Islam at the turn of the 14th century. The Christian population gradually declined to a small minority. Christians disengaged from mainstream society and withdrew into ethnic [[ghetto]]s (mostly [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]]- [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]- and [[Armenian language|Armenian]]-speaking). Persecution against Christians revived in the 14th century; when the Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent [[Tamerlane|Timur (Tamerlane)]] conquered Persia, [[Mesopotamia]], [[Syria]], and [[Asia Minor]], he ordered large-scale massacres of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria. Most of the victims were indigenous Assyrians and Armenians, members of the Assyrian Church of the East and of Orthodox Churches.
The [[Arab]] [[Islamic conquest of Persia]], in the 7th century, originally benefited Christians as they were a protected minority under Islam. However, from about the 10th century religious tension led to persecution once more. The influence of European Christians placed Near Eastern Christians in peril during the [[Crusades]]. From the mid-13th century, [[Mongol]] rule was a relief to Persian Christians until the [[Ilkhanate]] adopted Islam at the turn of the 14th century. The Christian population gradually declined to a small minority. Christians disengaged from mainstream society and withdrew into ethnic [[ghetto]]s (mostly [[Sureth language|Assyrian]] and [[Armenian language|Armenian]] speaking). Persecution against Christians revived in the 14th century; when the Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent [[Tamerlane|Timur (Tamerlane)]] conquered Persia, [[Mesopotamia]], [[Syria]], and [[Asia Minor]], he ordered large-scale massacres of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria. Most of the victims were indigenous Assyrians and Armenians, members of the Assyrian Church of the East and of Orthodox Churches.


In 1445 a part of the [[Assyria]]n Aramaic-speaking [[Church of the East]] entered into communion with the [[Catholic Church]] (mostly in the [[Ottoman Empire]], but also in Persia). This group had a faltering start but has existed as a separate church since [[Pope Julius III]] consecrated [[Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa|Yohannan Sulaqa]] as ''Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon'' in 1553. Most [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] Catholics in Iran today are members of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]]. The Aramaic-speaking community that remains independent is the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]. Both churches now have much smaller memberships in Iran than the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]].
In 1445 a part of the [[Sureth]]-speaking [[Church of the East]] entered into communion with the [[Catholic Church]] (mostly in the [[Ottoman Empire]], but also in Persia). This group had a faltering start but has existed as a separate church since [[Pope Julius III]] consecrated [[Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa|Yohannan Sulaqa]] as ''Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon'' in 1553. Most [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] Catholics in Iran today are members of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]]. The community that remains independent is the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], but both churches now have much smaller memberships in Iran than the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]].


The number of Christians in Iran was further significantly boosted through various policies of the subsequent kingdoms that ruled from 1501. For example, in 1606 during the [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18)]], king [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas I]] resettled some 300,000 Armenians deeper within modern-day Iran, as well as establishing their own quarter in the then-capital Isfahan, which is still largely populated by Christian [[Armenians|Armenian]]s some four centuries later: the [[New Julfa]] district. Other hundreds of thousands of Christian [[Iranian Georgians|Georgians]] and [[Iranian Circassians|Circassians]] were furthermore deported and resettled during the same Safavid era and in the later [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar]] era within Iran, although both communities are exclusively Muslim nowadays.<ref name="Rezvani">{{cite journal|last= Rezvani|first= Babak|title= The Fereydani Georgian Representation|journal= Anthropology of the Middle East|date= Winter 2009|volume= 4|issue= 2|pages= 52–74|doi= 10.3167/ame.2009.040205}}<!--|access-date= 27 June 2010--></ref>
The number of Christians in Iran was further significantly boosted through various policies of the subsequent kingdoms that ruled from 1501. For example, in 1606 during the [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18)]], king [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas I]] resettled some 300,000 Armenians deeper within modern-day Iran, as well as establishing their own quarter in the then-capital Isfahan, which is still largely populated by Christian [[Armenians|Armenian]]s some four centuries later: the [[New Julfa]] district. Other hundreds of thousands of Christian [[Iranian Georgians|Georgians]] and [[Iranian Circassians|Circassians]] were furthermore deported and resettled during the same Safavid era and in the later [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar]] era within Iran, although both communities are exclusively Muslim nowadays.<ref name="Rezvani">{{cite journal|last= Rezvani|first= Babak|title= The Fereydani Georgian Representation|journal= Anthropology of the Middle East|date= Winter 2009|volume= 4|issue= 2|pages= 52–74|doi= 10.3167/ame.2009.040205}}<!--|access-date= 27 June 2010--></ref>
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Muslims who [[apostasy in Islam|change their faith]] to Christianity are subject to societal and official pressure which may lead to the [[death penalty]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title= Iran to Punish Apostasy with Death |url= http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-price-of-faithlessness-iran-to-punish-apostasy-with-death-a-538466.html |magazine= [[Der Spiegel]] |date= 28 February 2008 |access-date= 2 January 2018 |archive-date= 3 December 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181203173946/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-price-of-faithlessness-iran-to-punish-apostasy-with-death-a-538466.html |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=Iran |access-date=25 February 2018 |title=Archived copy |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407144305/https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm%3Fcountry%3Diran |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Rapport_Iran_final.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=25 February 2018 |archive-date=19 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419061540/https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Rapport_Iran_final.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Although the Civil Code does not provide explicitly for the death penalty – with the crime being punishable by fines, lashing, and prison terms – judges can impose the death penalty if they desire.<ref name="Afshari2011140">Afshari, Reza (2011). ''Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism''. [[University of Pennsylvania Press]], p. 140, {{ISBN|978-0-8122-2139-8}}</ref> Iran was number nine on [[Open Doors]]’ 2022 World Watch List, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/iran/?ref=wwmap | title=Iran is number 9 on the World Watch List }}</ref>
Muslims who [[apostasy in Islam|change their faith]] to Christianity are subject to societal and official pressure which may lead to the [[death penalty]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title= Iran to Punish Apostasy with Death |url= http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-price-of-faithlessness-iran-to-punish-apostasy-with-death-a-538466.html |magazine= [[Der Spiegel]] |date= 28 February 2008 |access-date= 2 January 2018 |archive-date= 3 December 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181203173946/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-price-of-faithlessness-iran-to-punish-apostasy-with-death-a-538466.html |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=Iran |access-date=25 February 2018 |title=Archived copy |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407144305/https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm%3Fcountry%3Diran |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Rapport_Iran_final.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=25 February 2018 |archive-date=19 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419061540/https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Rapport_Iran_final.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Although the Civil Code does not provide explicitly for the death penalty – with the crime being punishable by fines, lashing, and prison terms – judges can impose the death penalty if they desire.<ref name="Afshari2011140">Afshari, Reza (2011). ''Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism''. [[University of Pennsylvania Press]], p. 140, {{ISBN|978-0-8122-2139-8}}</ref> Iran was number nine on [[Open Doors]]’ 2022 World Watch List, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/iran/?ref=wwmap | title=Iran is number 9 on the World Watch List }}</ref>


[[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] pastor Hossein Sudmand was charged with apostasy and executed in 1990.<ref name="Afshari2011140"/> [[Mehdi Dibaj]] was arrested and imprisoned for more than 10 years before he was sentenced to death in 1993, but after international pressure, he was freed in 1994, although the death sentenced was not lifted. He was murdered the next year.<ref>Afshari, Reza (2011). ''Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism''. [[University of Pennsylvania Press]], p. 140f., {{ISBN|978-0-8122-2139-8}}</ref><ref>[https://www.iranrights.org/memorial/story/12920/mehdi-dibaj Mehdi Dibaj] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702220223/https://www.iranrights.org/memorial/story/12920/mehdi-dibaj |date=2 July 2017 }} Human Rights & Democracy for Iran.</ref> In 2011, [[Youcef Nadarkhani]], an [[Jama'at-e Rabbani|Jammiat-e Rabbani]] pastor, was allegedly sentenced to death for refusing to recant his faith.<ref>{{cite news |title= Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's potential execution rallies U.S. Christians |first= Adelle M. |last= Banks |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/on-faith/us-christians-rally-around-iranian-pastor/2011/09/28/gIQA11YJ5K_story.html |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |date= 28 September 2011 |access-date= 5 October 2011 |quote= Religious freedom advocates rallied Wednesday (Sept. 28) around an Iranian pastor who is facing execution because he has refused to recant his Christian faith in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190502051126/https://www.washingtonpost.com/on-faith/us-christians-rally-around-iranian-pastor/2011/09/28/gIQA11YJ5K_story.html |archive-date= 2 May 2019 |url-status= dead}}</ref> More recently the Iranian-American pastor and former Muslim [[Saeed Abedini]], who in 2013 was sentenced to eight years prison, allegedly "Helped to build the country’s underground Christian church network".<ref>{{cite news |title= Iran's Oppressed Christians |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/opinion/irans-oppressed-christians.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 14 March 2014 |access-date= 28 June 2014 |archive-date= 29 August 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140829152721/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/opinion/irans-oppressed-christians.html |url-status= live }}</ref> [[Television in Iran|Satellite TV networks]], such as Mohabat TV, Sat7 Pars, and [[Trinity Broadcasting Network|TBN]] Nejat TV, distribute educational and encouraging programs for Christians, especially targeting Persian speakers. Some Christian ex-Muslims emigrate from Iran for educational, political, security or economic reasons.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=Duane Alexander|title=The Conversion Narrative of Samira: From Shi'a Islam to Mary, her Church, and her Son|journal=St Francis Magazine|date=October 2009|volume=5|issue=5|pages=81–92|url=http://stfrancismagazine.info/ja/images/pdf/7DuaneMillerSFM5-5.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029201952/http://stfrancismagazine.info/ja/images/pdf/7DuaneMillerSFM5-5.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=Duane Alexander|title=The Secret World of God: Aesthetics, Relationships, and the Conversion of 'Frances' from Shi'a Islam to Christianity|journal=Global Missiology|date=April 2012|volume=9|issue=3|url=http://nazarethseminary.org/datadir/en-events/ev78/files/Miller%20Duane%20Secret%20World%20of%20God%20v2.pdf|access-date=19 November 2012|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195123/http://nazarethseminary.org/datadir/en-events/ev78/files/Miller%20Duane%20Secret%20World%20of%20God%20v2.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Nasser|first=David|title=Jumping through Fires|year=2009|publisher=Baker|location=Grand Rapids}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rabiipour|first=Saiid|title=Farewell to Islam|year=2009|publisher=Xulon}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tbn.org/press-releases/tbn-nejat-television-takes-powerful-message-hope-millions-across-iran-middle-east|title=TBN Nejat Television Takes Powerful Message of Hope to Millions Across Iran, Middle East, Europe, and Beyond|date=2015-02-12|work=TBN|access-date=2017-10-06|archive-date=6 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006062335/https://www.tbn.org/press-releases/tbn-nejat-television-takes-powerful-message-hope-millions-across-iran-middle-east|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] pastor Hossein Sudmand was charged with apostasy and executed in 1990.<ref name="Afshari2011140"/> [[Mehdi Dibaj]] was arrested and imprisoned for more than 10 years before he was sentenced to death in 1993, but after international pressure, he was freed in 1994, although the death sentenced was not lifted. He was murdered the next year.<ref>Afshari, Reza (2011). ''Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism''. [[University of Pennsylvania Press]], p. 140f., {{ISBN|978-0-8122-2139-8}}</ref><ref>[https://www.iranrights.org/memorial/story/12920/mehdi-dibaj Mehdi Dibaj] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702220223/https://www.iranrights.org/memorial/story/12920/mehdi-dibaj |date=2 July 2017 }} Human Rights & Democracy for Iran.</ref> In 2011, [[Youcef Nadarkhani]], an [[Jama'at-e Rabbani|Jammiat-e Rabbani]] pastor, was allegedly sentenced to death for refusing to recant his faith.<ref>{{cite news |title= Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's potential execution rallies U.S. Christians |first= Adelle M. |last= Banks |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/on-faith/us-christians-rally-around-iranian-pastor/2011/09/28/gIQA11YJ5K_story.html |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |date= 28 September 2011 |access-date= 5 October 2011 |quote= Religious freedom advocates rallied Wednesday (Sept. 28) around an Iranian pastor who is facing execution because he has refused to recant his Christian faith in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190502051126/https://www.washingtonpost.com/on-faith/us-christians-rally-around-iranian-pastor/2011/09/28/gIQA11YJ5K_story.html |archive-date= 2 May 2019 |url-status= dead}}</ref> More recently the Iranian-American pastor and former Muslim [[Saeed Abedini]], who in 2013 was sentenced to eight years prison, allegedly "Helped to build the country's underground Christian church network".<ref>{{cite news |title= Iran's Oppressed Christians |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/opinion/irans-oppressed-christians.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 14 March 2014 |access-date= 28 June 2014 |archive-date= 29 August 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140829152721/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/opinion/irans-oppressed-christians.html |url-status= live }}</ref> [[Television in Iran|Satellite TV networks]], such as Mohabat TV, Sat7 Pars, and [[Trinity Broadcasting Network|TBN]] Nejat TV, distribute educational and encouraging programs for Christians, especially targeting Persian speakers. Some Christian ex-Muslims emigrate from Iran for educational, political, security or economic reasons.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=Duane Alexander|title=The Conversion Narrative of Samira: From Shi'a Islam to Mary, her Church, and her Son|journal=St Francis Magazine|date=October 2009|volume=5|issue=5|pages=81–92|url=http://stfrancismagazine.info/ja/images/pdf/7DuaneMillerSFM5-5.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029201952/http://stfrancismagazine.info/ja/images/pdf/7DuaneMillerSFM5-5.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=Duane Alexander|title=The Secret World of God: Aesthetics, Relationships, and the Conversion of 'Frances' from Shi'a Islam to Christianity|journal=Global Missiology|date=April 2012|volume=9|issue=3|url=http://nazarethseminary.org/datadir/en-events/ev78/files/Miller%20Duane%20Secret%20World%20of%20God%20v2.pdf|access-date=19 November 2012|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195123/http://nazarethseminary.org/datadir/en-events/ev78/files/Miller%20Duane%20Secret%20World%20of%20God%20v2.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Nasser|first=David|title=Jumping through Fires|year=2009|publisher=Baker|location=Grand Rapids}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rabiipour|first=Saiid|title=Farewell to Islam|year=2009|publisher=Xulon}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tbn.org/press-releases/tbn-nejat-television-takes-powerful-message-hope-millions-across-iran-middle-east|title=TBN Nejat Television Takes Powerful Message of Hope to Millions Across Iran, Middle East, Europe, and Beyond|date=2015-02-12|work=TBN|access-date=2017-10-06|archive-date=6 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006062335/https://www.tbn.org/press-releases/tbn-nejat-television-takes-powerful-message-hope-millions-across-iran-middle-east|url-status=live}}</ref>


It is difficult to obtain accurate figures for Protestants of all denominations and [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] in Iran.<ref name="Sanasarian200044">Sanasarian, Eliz (2000). ''Religious Minorities in Iran'' (Cambridge Middle East Studies). [[Cambridge University Press]], p. 44, {{ISBN|0-521-77073-4}}</ref> Complicating the matter is the mixture of ethnic identity with religious affiliation, and the number of Muslim converts to Christianity, who as discussed above have a strong incentive to conceal themselves.<ref name="Sanasarian200044"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/may/12/iran-converted-christians-sanctuary-germany-muslim|title='Our second mother': Iran's converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany|first=Liana Aghajanian for the Tehran|last=Bureau|date=12 May 2014|website=the Guardian|access-date=26 August 2021|archive-date=14 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214213046/https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/may/12/iran-converted-christians-sanctuary-germany-muslim|url-status=live}}</ref> Most informants often referred to "only a few thousand" in estimating the overall numbers of non-ethnic Christians in Iran. According to the data from the mid 1990s, all Protestant churches in Iran claimed an ethnic and Iranian membership of 5,000, 8,000, 10,000 or 15,000.<ref name="Afshari2011140"/><ref name="Sanasarian200044"/> A 2015 study estimated (describing this as a conservative estimate) that there were 100,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background living in Iran, most of them evangelical or Pentecostal Christians.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnstone|first1=Patrick|last2=Miller|first2=Duane Alexander|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|journal=Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion|date=2015|volume=11|page=8|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|access-date=30 October 2015|archive-date=28 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928201901/https://www.academia.edu/16338087/Believers_in_Christ_from_a_Muslim_Background_A_Global_Census|url-status=live}}</ref> Significant numbers of Muslim converts to Christianity in Iran are estimated to range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://landinfo.no/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Iran-Christian-converts-and-house-churches-1-prevalence-and-conditions-for-religious-practice.pdf|title=Report: Iran: Christian converts and house churches (1) –prevalence and conditions for religious practice Translation provided by the Office of the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium|date=22 February 2009|publisher=Office of the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium|quote=In his research article, Miller (2015, p. 71) points to an anonymous, but the well-informed source that estimated that in 2010, there were about 100,000 converts in Iran... estimated the number of Christian ethnic Persians to be about 175,000. these were claimed to be converts of Shiite Muslim background. }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/iranians-turn-away-from-the-islamic-republic/#f19-text|title=Iranians Turn Away from the Islamic Republic|date=22 January 2020|publisher=Journal of Democracy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/may/12/iran-converted-christians-sanctuary-germany-muslim|title='Our second mother': Iran's converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany|date=12 May 2014|work=The Guardian|quote=The underground nature of the Christian conversion movement has made numbers impossible to determine accurately. Estimates range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/iran/|title=2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Iran|date=12 May 2019|publisher=United States Department of State|quote=estimates citing figures lower than 10,000, and others, such as Open Doors USA, citing numbers above 800,000, Many Protestants and converts to Christianity from Islam reportedly practice in secret.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/are-irans-christian-converts-at-greater-risk-after-soleimanis-demise-616790|title=Are Iran's Christian converts at greater risk after Soleimani's demise?|date=7 February 2018|publisher=The Jerusalem Post|quote=Conservative estimates place the number of Christians in Iran between 500,000 to 800,000 believers, but others claim there are more than one million. Traditionally, Christian families amount to around 250,000, while the remainder consists of converts from Islam. Most converts from Islam belong to the underground Protestant house-church movement, which Iran considers to be illegal. Meanwhile, according to Islamic and Iranian law, conversion from Islam is a capital offense.}}</ref> Other estimates put the numbers between 800,000 and 3 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1253351/download|title=Iran: Christians and Christian converts - Department of Justice|date=20 February 2020|publisher=Home Office|quote=Open Doors, interviewed by the UK Home Office on 8 August 2017, stated that many converts do not publicly report their faith due to persecution, so it is difficult to record the exact numbers of Iranian Christian converts. Open Doors believes the number to be 800,000, although this is a conservative estimate. Other estimates put the number between 400,000-500,000 right up to 3 million... A March 2019 US Congressional Research Service report on Iran put the 300,000|access-date=25 May 2022|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101033507/https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1253351/download|url-status=dead}}</ref>
It is difficult to obtain accurate figures for Protestants of all denominations and [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] in Iran.<ref name="Sanasarian200044">Sanasarian, Eliz (2000). ''Religious Minorities in Iran'' (Cambridge Middle East Studies). [[Cambridge University Press]], p. 44, {{ISBN|0-521-77073-4}}</ref> Complicating the matter is the mixture of ethnic identity with religious affiliation, and the number of Muslim converts to Christianity, who as discussed above have a strong incentive to conceal themselves.<ref name="Sanasarian200044"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/may/12/iran-converted-christians-sanctuary-germany-muslim|title='Our second mother': Iran's converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany|first=Liana Aghajanian for the Tehran|last=Bureau|date=12 May 2014|website=the Guardian|access-date=26 August 2021|archive-date=14 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214213046/https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/may/12/iran-converted-christians-sanctuary-germany-muslim|url-status=live}}</ref> Most informants often referred to "only a few thousand" in estimating the overall numbers of non-ethnic Christians in Iran. According to the data from the mid 1990s, all Protestant churches in Iran claimed an ethnic and Iranian membership of 5,000, 8,000, 10,000 or 15,000.<ref name="Afshari2011140"/><ref name="Sanasarian200044"/> A 2015 study estimated (describing this as a conservative estimate) that there were 100,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background living in Iran, most of them evangelical or Pentecostal Christians.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnstone|first1=Patrick|last2=Miller|first2=Duane Alexander|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|journal=Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion|date=2015|volume=11|page=8|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|access-date=30 October 2015|archive-date=28 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928201901/https://www.academia.edu/16338087/Believers_in_Christ_from_a_Muslim_Background_A_Global_Census|url-status=live}}</ref> Significant numbers of Muslim converts to Christianity in Iran are estimated to range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://landinfo.no/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Iran-Christian-converts-and-house-churches-1-prevalence-and-conditions-for-religious-practice.pdf|title=Report: Iran: Christian converts and house churches (1) –prevalence and conditions for religious practice Translation provided by the Office of the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium|date=22 February 2009|publisher=Office of the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium|quote=In his research article, Miller (2015, p. 71) points to an anonymous, but the well-informed source that estimated that in 2010, there were about 100,000 converts in Iran... estimated the number of Christian ethnic Persians to be about 175,000. these were claimed to be converts of Shiite Muslim background. }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/iranians-turn-away-from-the-islamic-republic/#f19-text|title=Iranians Turn Away from the Islamic Republic|date=22 January 2020|publisher=Journal of Democracy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/may/12/iran-converted-christians-sanctuary-germany-muslim|title='Our second mother': Iran's converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany|date=12 May 2014|work=The Guardian|quote=The underground nature of the Christian conversion movement has made numbers impossible to determine accurately. Estimates range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/iran/|title=2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Iran|date=12 May 2019|publisher=United States Department of State|quote=estimates citing figures lower than 10,000, and others, such as Open Doors USA, citing numbers above 800,000, Many Protestants and converts to Christianity from Islam reportedly practice in secret.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/are-irans-christian-converts-at-greater-risk-after-soleimanis-demise-616790|title=Are Iran's Christian converts at greater risk after Soleimani's demise?|date=7 February 2018|publisher=The Jerusalem Post|quote=Conservative estimates place the number of Christians in Iran between 500,000 to 800,000 believers, but others claim there are more than one million. Traditionally, Christian families amount to around 250,000, while the remainder consists of converts from Islam. Most converts from Islam belong to the underground Protestant house-church movement, which Iran considers to be illegal. Meanwhile, according to Islamic and Iranian law, conversion from Islam is a capital offense.}}</ref> Other estimates put the numbers between 800,000 and 3 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1253351/download|title=Iran: Christians and Christian converts - Department of Justice|date=20 February 2020|publisher=Home Office|quote=Open Doors, interviewed by the UK Home Office on 8 August 2017, stated that many converts do not publicly report their faith due to persecution, so it is difficult to record the exact numbers of Iranian Christian converts. Open Doors believes the number to be 800,000, although this is a conservative estimate. Other estimates put the number between 400,000-500,000 right up to 3 million... A March 2019 US Congressional Research Service report on Iran put the 300,000|access-date=25 May 2022|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101033507/https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1253351/download|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Line 197: Line 196:
* Bradley, Mark, ''Iran and Christianity: Historical Identity and Present Relevance'' Continuum, London, 2008
* Bradley, Mark, ''Iran and Christianity: Historical Identity and Present Relevance'' Continuum, London, 2008
* Jenkins, Philip, ''The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia and How it Died'', HarperOne, New York, 2008
* Jenkins, Philip, ''The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia and How it Died'', HarperOne, New York, 2008
* Römer, Benedikt, ''The Iranian Christian Diaspora: Religion and Nationhood in Exile'', I.B. Tauris, London/New York, 2024


== External links ==
== External links ==

Latest revision as of 22:04, 16 November 2024

Iranian Christians/Persian Christians
Total population
300,000[1]–370,000[1]
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Persian, Armenian, Assyrian (Sureth)

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    Christianity in Iran dates back to the early years of the religion during the time of Jesus. Through this time the Christian faith has always been followed by a minority of the population of Iran under its different state religions: Zoroastrianism in historical Persia, followed by Sunni Islam in the Middle Ages after the Arab conquest, then Shia Islam since the Safavid conversion of the 15th century. However, Christians comprised a larger share of the population in the past than they do today. Iranian Christians have played a significant part in the historical Christian mission: currently, there are at least 600 churches and 300,000[1]–370,000 converts.[1]

    Major denominations

    [edit]
    The Armenian Orthodox Vank Cathedral of Isfahan (completed 1664) is a relic of the Safavid era.

    A number of Christian denominations are represented in Iran. Many members of the larger and older churches belong to minority ethnic groups, with the Armenians and Assyrians having their own distinctive culture and language. The members of the newer and smaller churches are drawn both from the traditionally Christian ethnic minorities and converts from a non-Christian background.

    The main Christian churches in Iran are:

    According to Operation World, there are between 7,000 and 15,000 members and adherents of the various Protestant, Evangelical, and other minority Christian denominations in Iran.[5]

    In the 2016 census, the Statistical Center of Iran reported there were 117,700 Christians in the country;[7] other reports put the figure at over half a million people.

    The "Country Information and Guidance: Christians and Christian Converts, Iran" report published in December 2014 by the U.K. Home Office states that there were 370,000 Christians in Iran.[1]

    History

    [edit]
    See also: Church of the East and Maphrianate of the East
    Gregory
    Mirian
    Bademus
    Tiridates
    Asyncritus
    Maruthas
    Razhden the Protomartyr
    James
    Eustathius
    Teresia Sampsonia
    Josef
    Shams Pahlavi
    Abdas of Susa
    Saint Benjamin the Deacon and Martyr
    Armenian Monastery of Saint Taddeus, West Azerbaijan, Iran. Believed by some to have been first built in 66 AD by Saint Jude. Local Armenians believe that he and Simon were both buried here. In 1329, the church was reconstructed after an earthquake destroyed the structure in 1319.
    Assyrian Mar Toma church near Urmia, Iran.

    According to the Acts of the Apostles there were Persians, Parthians and Medes among the first new Christian converts at Pentecost.[8] Since then there has been a continuous presence of Christians in Iran.

    During the apostolic age Christianity began to establish itself throughout the Mediterranean. However, a quite different Semitic-speaking Christian culture developed on the eastern borders of the Roman Empire and in Persia. Syriac Christianity owed much to preexistent Jewish communities and to the Aramaic language. This language had been spoken by Jesus, and, in various modern Eastern Aramaic forms is still spoken by the ethnic Assyrian Christians in Iran, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey and Iraq today (see Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, and Senaya language).

    From Persian-ruled Assyria (Assuristan), missionary activity spread Eastern-Rite Syriac Christianity throughout Assyria and Mesopotamia, and from there into Persia, Asia Minor, Syria, the Caucasus and Central Asia, establishing the Saint Thomas Christians of India and erecting the Nestorian Stele and the Daqin Pagoda in China.

    Early Christian communities straddling the Roman-Persian border found themselves in the midst of civil strife. In 313, when Constantine I proclaimed Christianity a tolerated religion in the Roman Empire, the Sassanid rulers of Persia adopted a policy of persecution against Christians, including the double-tax of Shapur II in the 340s. The Sassanids feared the Christians as a subversive and possibly disloyal minority. In the early-5th century official persecution increased once more. However, from the reign of Hormizd III (457–459) serious persecutions grew less frequent and the Persian church began to achieve a recognized status. Through the Battle of Avarayr (451) and the resultant treaty of 484, for example, the Persian Empire's numerous Armenian subjects gained the official right to profess Eastern Christianity freely.[9][10] Political pressure within Persia and cultural differences with western Christianity were mostly to blame for the Nestorian schism, in the course of which the Roman Empire church hierarchy labelled the Church of the East heretical. The bishop of Ctesiphon (the capital of the Sassanid Empire) acquired the title first of catholicos, and then patriarch, completely independent of any Roman/Byzantine hierarchy.

    Some[who?] regard Persia as having very briefly been officially Christian. Khosrau I, Shahanshah from 531 to 579, married a Christian wife, and his son Nushizad was also a Christian. When the king was taken ill at Edessa a report reached Persia that he was dead, and at once Nushizad seized the crown and made the kingdom Christian (c. 550). Very soon the rumour proved false, but people who appear to have been in the pay of Justinian persuaded Nushizad to endeavour to maintain his position. The actions of his son deeply distressed Khosrau; he had to take prompt measures, and sent the commander, Ram Berzin, against the rebels. In the battle which followed Nushizad was mortally wounded and carried off the field. In his tent he was attended by a Christian bishop, probably[original research?] Mar Aba I, the Patriarch of the Church of the East from 540 to 552. To this bishop Nushizad confessed his sincere repentance for having taken up arms against his father, an act which, he was convinced, could never win the approval of Heaven. Having professed himself a Christian he died, and the rebellion was quickly put down.[citation needed]

    Many old churches remain in Iran from the early days of Christianity. Some historians[which?] regard the Assyrian Church of Mart Maryam (St. Mary) in northwestern Iran, for example, as the second-oldest church in Christendom after the Church of Bethlehem in the West Bank. A Chinese princess, who contributed to its reconstruction in 642 AD, has her name engraved on a stone on the church wall. The famous Italian traveller Marco Polo also described the church following his visit.

    The Arab Islamic conquest of Persia, in the 7th century, originally benefited Christians as they were a protected minority under Islam. However, from about the 10th century religious tension led to persecution once more. The influence of European Christians placed Near Eastern Christians in peril during the Crusades. From the mid-13th century, Mongol rule was a relief to Persian Christians until the Ilkhanate adopted Islam at the turn of the 14th century. The Christian population gradually declined to a small minority. Christians disengaged from mainstream society and withdrew into ethnic ghettos (mostly Assyrian and Armenian speaking). Persecution against Christians revived in the 14th century; when the Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Timur (Tamerlane) conquered Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor, he ordered large-scale massacres of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria. Most of the victims were indigenous Assyrians and Armenians, members of the Assyrian Church of the East and of Orthodox Churches.

    In 1445 a part of the Sureth-speaking Church of the East entered into communion with the Catholic Church (mostly in the Ottoman Empire, but also in Persia). This group had a faltering start but has existed as a separate church since Pope Julius III consecrated Yohannan Sulaqa as Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon in 1553. Most Assyrian Catholics in Iran today are members of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The community that remains independent is the Assyrian Church of the East, but both churches now have much smaller memberships in Iran than the Armenian Apostolic Church.

    The number of Christians in Iran was further significantly boosted through various policies of the subsequent kingdoms that ruled from 1501. For example, in 1606 during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18), king Abbas I resettled some 300,000 Armenians deeper within modern-day Iran, as well as establishing their own quarter in the then-capital Isfahan, which is still largely populated by Christian Armenians some four centuries later: the New Julfa district. Other hundreds of thousands of Christian Georgians and Circassians were furthermore deported and resettled during the same Safavid era and in the later Qajar era within Iran, although both communities are exclusively Muslim nowadays.[11]

    In the 18th and 19th centuries, Protestant missionaries began to evangelize in Persia. They directed their operations towards supporting the extant churches of the country while improving education and health-care. Unlike the older, ethnic churches, these evangelical Protestants began to engage with the ethnic Persian Muslim community. Their printing presses produced much religious material in various languages. Some Persians subsequently converted[12] to Protestantism and their churches still exist within Iran (using the Persian language).

    In the early 20th century, once again Iran's stable and extant Christian population was boosted – this time due to the effects of the Assyrian genocide (1914–1924) and the Armenian genocide (1914–1923), as many tens of thousands of refugees poured in. However, both massacres drastically negatively affected Iran's Christian population as well, as Ottoman troops crossed the Iranian border in the later stages of World War I and massacred many tens of thousands of Armenians and Assyrians within Iran's borders as well, especially in West Azerbaijan Province, but also in adjacent provinces.[13][14] Vibrant, huge and millennia-old native Christian communities in these parts of Iran were virtually shattered by the Ottoman actions, being reduced from formerly composing majorities in some of the regions, to very small – though noticeable – surviving communities. Prior to World War I and the Assyrian genocide, the population of Urmia was 40% to 50% Christian, for example.[15][16] Nowadays, this number for the same city lies at 1% to 2%.[citation needed]

    In 1918, during the Persian Campaign, about half of the Assyrians of Persia died in Turkish and Kurdish massacres and in related outbreaks of starvation and disease. About 80 percent of Assyrian clergy and spiritual leaders perished, threatening the nation's ability to survive as a unit.[17][need quotation to verify]

    Current situation

    [edit]
    Saint Mary Park in Tehran (2011)
    Greek church of Virgin Mary; Tehran
    The Russian Church of Qazvin.

    In 1976, the census reported that the Christian population of Iran holding citizenship there numbered 168,593 people, with most of them being Armenians. Due to the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, almost half of the Armenians migrated to the newly independent Armenia, but one estimate from 1999 placed the number as high as 310,000.[18] Other estimates since 2000 have placed the number of Christians with Iranian citizenship as high as 109,415 in 2006.

    Significant immigration of Assyrians from Iraq has been recorded during this period, due to massacres and harassment in post-Saddam Iraq. However, most of those Assyrians in Iran do not have Iranian citizenship, and therefore are not included in the data. In 2008, the central office of the International Union of Assyrians was officially transferred to Iran after being hosted in the United States for more than four decades.[19]

    Census Total Christians +/−
    # %
    1976[20] 33,708,744 168,593 0.500% ...
    1986[20] 49,445,010 97,557 0.197% Decrease −42%
    1996[21] 60,055,488 78,745 0.131% Decrease −19%
    2006[22] 70,495,782 109,415 0.155% Increase +39%
    2011[23] 75,149,669 117,704 0.157% Increase +8%

    The government guarantees the recognized Christian minorities a number of rights (production and sale of non-halal foods), [citation needed] representation in parliament, special family law etc.[citation needed] According to US-based Barnabas Fund government intrusion, expropriation of property, forced closure and persecution, particularly in the initial years after the Iranian Revolution, have all been documented.[citation needed]

    On 2 February 2018, four United Nations human rights experts said that members of the Christian minority in Iran, particularly those who have converted to Christianity, are facing severe discrimination and religious persecution in Iran. They expressed their concerns over treatment of three Iranian Christians imprisoned in Iran.[24]

    Iranian Christians tend to be urban, with 50% living in Tehran.[25]

    Christianity remains the second-largest non-Muslim minority religion in the country.[26]

    A June 2020 online survey found a much smaller percentage of Iranians stating they believe in Islam, with half of those surveyed indicating they had lost their religious faith.[27] The poll, conducted by the Netherlands-based GAMAAN (Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran), using online polling to provide greater anonymity for respondents, surveyed 50,000 Iranians and found 1.5% identified as Christians.[27][28]

    Christian converts from Islam

    [edit]

    Beginning in the 1970s, some Protestant pastors started to hold church services in homes in Persian, rather than in one of the ethnic Christian minority languages such as Armenian or Syriac. One of the key leaders who spearheaded this movement was the Assemblies of God bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr. Worship in homes rather than in church buildings, and the utilization of the national language (Persian), which was spoken by nearly all Iranians, combined with dissatisfaction at violence connected to the Iranian Revolution, led to substantial numbers of Iranian Muslims departing Islam and converting to Christianity. This took place both within Iran and abroad, among the Iranian diaspora.[29] It is currently illegal to distribute Christian literature in the official language, Persian.[30]

    Muslims who change their faith to Christianity are subject to societal and official pressure which may lead to the death penalty.[31][32][33] Although the Civil Code does not provide explicitly for the death penalty – with the crime being punishable by fines, lashing, and prison terms – judges can impose the death penalty if they desire.[34] Iran was number nine on Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. [35]

    Pentecostal pastor Hossein Sudmand was charged with apostasy and executed in 1990.[34] Mehdi Dibaj was arrested and imprisoned for more than 10 years before he was sentenced to death in 1993, but after international pressure, he was freed in 1994, although the death sentenced was not lifted. He was murdered the next year.[36][37] In 2011, Youcef Nadarkhani, an Jammiat-e Rabbani pastor, was allegedly sentenced to death for refusing to recant his faith.[38] More recently the Iranian-American pastor and former Muslim Saeed Abedini, who in 2013 was sentenced to eight years prison, allegedly "Helped to build the country's underground Christian church network".[39] Satellite TV networks, such as Mohabat TV, Sat7 Pars, and TBN Nejat TV, distribute educational and encouraging programs for Christians, especially targeting Persian speakers. Some Christian ex-Muslims emigrate from Iran for educational, political, security or economic reasons.[40][41][42][43][44]

    It is difficult to obtain accurate figures for Protestants of all denominations and Catholics in Iran.[45] Complicating the matter is the mixture of ethnic identity with religious affiliation, and the number of Muslim converts to Christianity, who as discussed above have a strong incentive to conceal themselves.[45][46] Most informants often referred to "only a few thousand" in estimating the overall numbers of non-ethnic Christians in Iran. According to the data from the mid 1990s, all Protestant churches in Iran claimed an ethnic and Iranian membership of 5,000, 8,000, 10,000 or 15,000.[34][45] A 2015 study estimated (describing this as a conservative estimate) that there were 100,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background living in Iran, most of them evangelical or Pentecostal Christians.[47] Significant numbers of Muslim converts to Christianity in Iran are estimated to range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources.[48][49][50][51][52] Other estimates put the numbers between 800,000 and 3 million.[53]

    According to scholar Ladan Boroumand, "Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world."[54] According to scholar Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University, “Islam is the fastest shrinking religion in there [Iran], while Christianity is growing the fastest”,[55] and in 2018 "up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families, and most of these Christians are evangelicals."[56] He adds that "recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between 1 million and 3 million".[57]

    In May 2019 Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi expressed concern over Iranian Muslims converting to Christianity and said the Intelligence Ministry have dispatched agents active in "countering the advocates of Christianity" to areas where there is a potential for people to convert.[58] In June 2024, it was reported that the Iranian judiciary sentenced five Christian converts to a total of over 25 years in prison.[59]

    The Bible in languages of Iran

    [edit]
    St. Sarkis Church, Tehran

    Armenian and Assyrian Christians use Bibles in their own languages.

    Multiple Persian translations and versions of the Bible have been translated in more recent times, although distribution of Christian literature in Persian is currently illegal.[60][61][62][63]

    Portions of the Bible are translated into Azeri,[64] Mazanderani, Gilaki,[65] Bakhtiari, Luri, Kurdish (Kurmanji and Sorani).

    Freedom of religion

    [edit]

    In 2023, the country was given a score of zero out of four for religious freedom.[66]

    In the same year, it was ranked as the eighth most difficult place in the world to be a Christian.[67]

    See also

    [edit]

    References

    [edit]
    1. ^ a b c d e f Country Information and Guidance "Christians and Christian Converts, Iran" 19 March 2015. p. 9
    2. ^ "In Iran, 'crackdown' on Christians worsens". Christian Examiner. Washington D.C. April 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
    3. ^ Price, Massoume (December 2002). "History of Christians and Christianity in Iran". Christianity in Iran. FarsiNet Inc. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
    4. ^ "In Iran, 'crackdown' on Christians worsens". Christian Examiner. Washington D.C. April 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
    5. ^ a b c "Iran". Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
    6. ^ "Current Chaldean Dioceses". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
    7. ^ US State Dept 2022 report
    8. ^ Acts 2:9
    9. ^ Hewsen, Robert H. (17 August 2011). "AVARAYR". Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2015. So spirited was the Armenian defense, however, that the Persians suffered enormous losses as well. Their victory was pyrrhic and the king, faced with troubles elsewhere, was forced, at least for the time being, to allow the Armenians to worship as they chose.
    10. ^ Susan Paul Pattie (1997). Faith in History: Armenians Rebuilding Community. Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 40. ISBN 1560986298. The Armenian defeat in the Battle of Avarayr in 451 proved a pyrrhic victory for the Persians. Though the Armenians lost their commander, Vartan Mamikonian, and most of their soldiers, Persian losses were proportionately heavy, and Armenia was allowed to remain Christian.
    11. ^ Rezvani, Babak (Winter 2009). "The Fereydani Georgian Representation". Anthropology of the Middle East. 4 (2): 52–74. doi:10.3167/ame.2009.040205.
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    13. ^ Richard G. Hovannisian (2011). The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies. Transaction Publishers. pp. 270–271. ISBN 978-1-4128-3592-3. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
    14. ^ Alexander Laban Hinton; Thomas La Pointe; Douglas Irvin-Erickson (2013). Hidden Genocides: Power, Knowledge, Memory. Rutgers University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-8135-6164-6. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
    15. ^ "Urmia". Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
    16. ^ Orūmīyeh Archived 3 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine Britannica.com
    17. ^ Baumer, Church of the East, at 263. The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity, Christoph Baumer, I.B. Tauris, 2006.
    18. ^ Gorder, Christian (2010). Christianity in Persia and the Status of Non-Muslims in Iran. Lexington Books. p. 19.
    19. ^ Tehran Times: Assyrians’ central office officially transferred to Iran Archived 31 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine
    20. ^ a b Statistical Centre of Iran: 6. Followers of selected religions in the 1976 & 1986 censuses Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
    21. ^ Statistical Centre of Iran: 2. 17. Population by religion and ostan, 1375 census Archived 18 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
    22. ^ Statistical Centre of Iran: 2. 15. Population by religion and ostan, 1385 census Archived 18 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
    23. ^ Statistical Centre of Iran: Population by religion, 2006–2011
    24. ^ Iran must ensure rights of Christian minority and fair trial for the accused– UN experts Iran must ensure rights of Christian minority and fair trial for the accused– UN experts Archived 10 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine
    25. ^ University of Maryland "Minorities at Risk" Project. Assessment for Christians in Iran Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Page dated 31 December 2006. Assessed on 9 October 2011.
    26. ^ Barry Rubin (2015). The Middle East: A Guide to Politics, Economics, Society and Culture. Routledge. p. 354. ISBN 978-1-317-45578-3. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
    27. ^ a b "Iranians have lost their faith according to survey". Iran International. 25 August 2020. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
    28. ^ "گزارش نظرسنجی درباره نگرش ایرانیان به دین". گَمان – گروه مطالعات افکارسنجی ایرانیان (in Persian). 23 August 2020. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
    29. ^ Miller, Duane Alexander (2015). "Power, Personalities and Politics: The Growth of Iranian Christianity since 1979". Mission Studies. 32 (1): 66–86. doi:10.1163/15733831-12341380. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
    30. ^ (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "What it's like to be a Christian in Iran | DW | 25.01.2016". DW.COM. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
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    34. ^ a b c Afshari, Reza (2011). Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism. University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 140, ISBN 978-0-8122-2139-8
    35. ^ "Iran is number 9 on the World Watch List".
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    37. ^ Mehdi Dibaj Archived 2 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine Human Rights & Democracy for Iran.
    38. ^ Banks, Adelle M. (28 September 2011). "Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's potential execution rallies U.S. Christians". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2011. Religious freedom advocates rallied Wednesday (Sept. 28) around an Iranian pastor who is facing execution because he has refused to recant his Christian faith in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.
    39. ^ "Iran's Oppressed Christians". The New York Times. 14 March 2014. Archived from the original on 29 August 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
    40. ^ Miller, Duane Alexander (October 2009). "The Conversion Narrative of Samira: From Shi'a Islam to Mary, her Church, and her Son" (PDF). St Francis Magazine. 5 (5): 81–92. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013.
    41. ^ Miller, Duane Alexander (April 2012). "The Secret World of God: Aesthetics, Relationships, and the Conversion of 'Frances' from Shi'a Islam to Christianity" (PDF). Global Missiology. 9 (3). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
    42. ^ Nasser, David (2009). Jumping through Fires. Grand Rapids: Baker.
    43. ^ Rabiipour, Saiid (2009). Farewell to Islam. Xulon.
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    45. ^ a b c Sanasarian, Eliz (2000). Religious Minorities in Iran (Cambridge Middle East Studies). Cambridge University Press, p. 44, ISBN 0-521-77073-4
    46. ^ Bureau, Liana Aghajanian for the Tehran (12 May 2014). "'Our second mother': Iran's converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2021. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
    47. ^ Johnstone, Patrick; Miller, Duane Alexander (2015). "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census". Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. 11: 8. Archived from the original on 28 September 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
    48. ^ "Report: Iran: Christian converts and house churches (1) –prevalence and conditions for religious practice Translation provided by the Office of the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium" (PDF). Office of the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Belgium. 22 February 2009. In his research article, Miller (2015, p. 71) points to an anonymous, but the well-informed source that estimated that in 2010, there were about 100,000 converts in Iran... estimated the number of Christian ethnic Persians to be about 175,000. these were claimed to be converts of Shiite Muslim background.
    49. ^ "Iranians Turn Away from the Islamic Republic". Journal of Democracy. 22 January 2020.
    50. ^ "'Our second mother': Iran's converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany". The Guardian. 12 May 2014. The underground nature of the Christian conversion movement has made numbers impossible to determine accurately. Estimates range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources.
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    52. ^ "Are Iran's Christian converts at greater risk after Soleimani's demise?". The Jerusalem Post. 7 February 2018. Conservative estimates place the number of Christians in Iran between 500,000 to 800,000 believers, but others claim there are more than one million. Traditionally, Christian families amount to around 250,000, while the remainder consists of converts from Islam. Most converts from Islam belong to the underground Protestant house-church movement, which Iran considers to be illegal. Meanwhile, according to Islamic and Iranian law, conversion from Islam is a capital offense.
    53. ^ "Iran: Christians and Christian converts - Department of Justice". Home Office. 20 February 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2022. Open Doors, interviewed by the UK Home Office on 8 August 2017, stated that many converts do not publicly report their faith due to persecution, so it is difficult to record the exact numbers of Iranian Christian converts. Open Doors believes the number to be 800,000, although this is a conservative estimate. Other estimates put the number between 400,000-500,000 right up to 3 million... A March 2019 US Congressional Research Service report on Iran put the 300,000
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    55. ^ "Iran's Christian Boom". JewishPress. 29 June 2021. Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University wrote last year about Iran that "Islam is the fastest shrinking religion there, while Christianity is growing the fastest."
    56. ^ "America Must Focus on Religious Persecution against Iranian Christian Converts". providence. 3 August 2020. Speaking of faith and Iran, most people think of Islam. Yet Islam is the fastest shrinking religion there, while Christianity is growing the fastest. According to a report by the Department of State from 2018, up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families, and most of these Christians are evangelicals. Recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between one million and three million. This is up from 100,000 in 1994, and a majority of these converts are reportedly women. A recent documentary, Sheep among Wolves, documents the lives of these converts and shows how Iran is the "fastest-growing church" in the world.
    57. ^ "America Must Focus on Religious Persecution against Iranian Christian Converts". providence. 3 August 2020. Recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between one million and three million.
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    67. ^ Open Doors website, retrieved 2023-08-08

    Further reading

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