Christianity
Christianity was brought to Iraq in the first century by the Apostle Thomas, Addai (Thaddaeus) and his pupils Aggagi and Mari. Thomas and Thaddeus belonged to the twelve Apostles. Iraq's Syriac Christian minority represents roughly 3% of the population, mostly living in Northern Iraq, concentrated in the Ninewa and Dahuk governorates. There are no official statistics, and estimates vary greatly. In 1950 Christians numbered 10% of the population of 5.5 million. Since the 2003 Iraq war, Iraqi Christians have been dislocated to Syria in significant but unknown numbers. Iraqi Christians are divided into three church bodies:
- "Chaldeans" (Chaldean Catholic Church)
- "Assyrians" or "Nestorian" group (Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East)
- "West Syriac" or "Jacobite" group (Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church)
Read more about this topic: Religion In Iraq
Famous quotes containing the word christianity:
“He who begins by loving Christianity better than truth, will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“To die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death freely chosen, death at the right time, brightly and cheerfully accomplished amid children and witnesses: then a real farewell is still possible, as the one who is taking leave is still there; also a real estimate of what one has wished, drawing the sum of one’s life—all in opposition to the wretched and revolting comedy that Christianity has made of the hour of death.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)