page_title: Christianity in the Middle East
section_title: Syria
hierarchical_section_title: Christianity in the Middle East / Christians today / Syria
caption_attribution_description: English: Our Lady of Dormition Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchal Cathedral, Damascus. The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full union with the Roman Catholic Church, after an 18th century split from the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch العربية: كنيسة سيدة النياح للروم الملكيين الكاثوليك، الكنيسة الكاثوليكية اليونانية الملكية هي كنيسة كاثوليكية شرقية اتحدت بالكامل مع الكنيسة الكاثوليكية الرومانية، بعد انقسام القرن الثامن عشر عن الكنيسة اليونانية الأرثوذكسية في انطاكية- دمشق- سوريا Українська: Собор Успіння Пресвятої Богородиці, Мелькітська грецька католицька церква, Дамаск, Сирія
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: In Syria, Christians formed just under 15% of the population (about 1.2 million people) according to the 1960 census, but no newer census has been taken. Current estimates suggest that they comprise about 11.2% of the population 2,500,000 due to higher emigration rates than their Muslim compatriots. The largest Churches are the Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic. There are also Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church Christians. As of 2018, more than half of the nation's Christians left the country due to the Syrian Civil War.
  Syrian Christians are largely Arab Christians in the bulk of the country, though some may identify as Arabized Greeks (Melkites and Orthodox Church of Antioch) and ethnic Arameans (among Jacobites). In the big cities there are many ethnic Armenians and in the northeastern Al-Hasakah Governorate the majority of the Christians are ethnic Assyrians.
caption: Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Damascus
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