by Tammy Winand

Created on: September 02, 2008

Christianity in Arab countries encompasses different denominations and has played a major role over the course of history. It may come as a surprise to some to learn that Christianity is very much alive in countries westerners generally associate with Islam.

Of course there is the obvious location, Israel, where Judaism, Christianity and Islam all maintain a very strong presence. The Eastern Orthodox Church is very active here, as well as many other denominations.

But did you know that Egypt, Turkey, Ethiopia and Morocco all have sizable Christian congregations?

Egypt played a major role in the early development of Christianity as the country which enslaved the Israelites. It was the birthplace of Moses, who eventually led his people out of captivity to found The Holy Land. Wadi Natrun is a sacred community which featured hundreds of early monasteries, of which only four remain, founded between the fourth and seventh centuries A.D. in the Nitrian Desert northwest of modern Cairo.

Today, Christianity is practiced by between 10% and 20% of Egypt's population, with the vast majority of these worshipers belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

Ethiopia also has an estimated 45 million Christians who are members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the only pre-Colonial Christian church in sub-Saharan Africa. This church was part of the Coptic Orthodox tradition until it was granted its own Patriarch in 1959.

Some researchers believe that the lost Ark of the Covenant may be located in Ethiopia, at the church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in the town of Axum. There is some archaeological evidence that it may have been smuggled there from Solomon's Temple by Menelik I in the second century B.C.

Turkey is sometimes considered the "Cradle of Christianity". The country was the birth place of many Apostles and Saints, including the Apostle Paul of Tarsus. Antioch was where followers of Jesus were first given the name "Christians". It is the site of one of the world's oldest surviving churches, established by Saint Peter prior to 64A.D.

Many believe that the Apostle John took the Virgin Mary to Ephesus in western Turkey, where she spent her final days in a small house, which still survives and has been recognized as a holy, or pilgrimage, site by the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Turkey is where the Nicene Creed, which establishes the essential definition of modern Christianity, was adopted in 325 A.D.

There are also Christian communities of various denominations in Morocco, Zimbabwe and Palestine.

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