Abkhaz People - Religion

Religion

See also: Religion in Abkhazia

The Abkhaz people are principally divided into Orthodox Christian and Sunni Muslim communities but the indigenous non-Abrahamic beliefs have always been strong. Christianity was introduced, in the 6th century, by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, and further enforced under the kings of Georgia in the High Middle Ages. The Ottoman takeover in the 16th century, missionaries such as Sufi preachers and the pressure from the Adyghe tribes (most of whom had converted to Islam) from the North precipitated the decline of Christianity and the region became largely Muslim until the 1860s when muhajirism left Christians in majority.

  • Children waving miniature Abkhazian flags

  • Parade exhibiting Abkhazian flags

  • Abkhaz and Georgian generals

  • Conference of Abkhazian nobility in 1839

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