page_title: Christianity in the Middle East
section_title: Iran
hierarchical_section_title: Christianity in the Middle East / Christians today / Iran
caption_attribution_description: Qara Kelisa ("black church", Sourp Thade in armenian), Chaldoran, West Azerbaïjan, Iran.
context_page_description: Christianity, which originated in the Middle East in the 1st century AD, is a significant minority religion within the region. Christianity in the Middle East is characterized by the diversity of its beliefs and traditions, compared to Christianity in other parts of the Old World. Christians now make up approximately 5% of the total Middle Eastern population, down from 20% in the early 20th century. Cyprus is the only Christian majority country in the Middle East, with Christians forming between 76% and 78% of the country's total population, and most of them adhere to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Lebanon has the second highest proportion of Christians in the Middle East, ranging between 39% and 41% and predominantly consisting of Maronite Christians. Egypt has the next largest proportion of Christians, at around 10% of its total population. Copts, numbering around 10 million, constitute the single largest Christian community in the Middle East.
context_section_description: Iran's Christian minority numbers some 300,000–370,000. Most are ethnic Armenians (up to 250,000–300,000) and Assyrians (up to 40,000), who follow Armenian Orthodox and Assyrian Church of the East Christianity respectively. There are at least 600 churches serving the nations Christian adherents.
  Christianity has a long history in Iran, dating back to Parthian times, in the early years of the Christian faith, although the major religion among the Iranian peoples themselves was Zoroastrianism. The Sasanian Empire was the centre of the Nestorian Church. Many of the early followers were Armenians, and transplanted Assyrians living in the Urmia region, and along the north western border with Mesopotamia. These were added to by other Semites, followers of the Nestorian church, some of whom were Assyrians from Mesopotamia, others being from Syria. Furthermore, there has been a thriving native Christian Armenian community since ancient times in northwestern Iran, nowadays Iranian Azerbaijan. The many Armenian churches and monasteries in the region, such as the notable St. Thaddeus Monastery, are extant remainders of this. Other significantly Christian populated areas in Parthian and Sassanid Iran included the provinces of Persian Armenia, Caucasian Albania, and Caucasian Iberia, amongst others. In the course of the 20th century, Iran's large Christian minority, mainly the native Armenians and Assyrians who have a presence in Iran for millennia, took a heavy blow due to the Assyrian Genocide (by Ottoman troops crossing the border), Armenian Genocide (by Ottoman troops crossing the border), the Iranian Revolution and the Iran–Iraq War. Especially due to the two Ottoman-conducted genocides, regions where Christians even made up majorities or had a significant native historical presence for millennia, never became the same again. However, due to the same genocides, Iran's Christian community was boosted as well at the same time as many migrated to Iran from the Ottoman regions. The 21st century war in Iraq brought another wave of Christian refugees, especially Assyrians and to a lesser extent Armenians. Continuing as of 2015, Christianity is reportedly the fastest growing religion in Iran with an average annual rate of 5.2%.
  The most famous contemporary Christian of Iranian origin is probably the American tennis player Andre Agassi, who is ethnically Armenian-Assyrian. The "Armenian Monastic Ensemble", which includes several of the nations most ancient Christian Armenian churches and monasteries, are inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list.
caption: St. Thaddeus Monastery, or "Kara Kelissa", in Iran's West Azarbaijan province.
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