Christian's in the Middle East
ishtartv.com - maltatoday.com.mt
22
July 2016, 8:05am
ARTE
is a public Franco-German TV network, a European channel that promotes
programming in the areas of culture and the arts renowned for the quality of
its documentaries. Late in 2015 it also started subtitling select programmes in
English and Spanish. A few weeks ago it broadcast a documentary which I am sure
readers will find fascinating.
As a person involved in languages, I was first of all struck by the
translations offered by the network’s various linguistic versions of the French
original “Le fin des Chrétiens d’Orient”. Spanish was closest with “El
fin de los cristianos de Oriente”; in German it was a less ominous “Christen in
der arabischen Welt”; while in English it was “The end of Christians in the
Middle East” which I felt was more accurate than the original French, or the
Spanish or German translations because the programme in fact centred on the
Christian disappearing act in the Middle East.
The basic statistic is quite stark. At the beginning of the twentieth century
one in four people in the Middle East was a Christian. At present, on the other
hand, they are 11 million in a sea of 320 million Muslims. An accompanying
dossier available on line at http://info.arte.tv/fr/la-disparition-des-chretiens-le-moyen-orient-face-une-nouvelle-crise
gives additional information, showing that over the period 2001-2015 the number
of Christians has dropped most dramatically in Iraq by 59% to 270,000; in Syria
by 37% to 1,060,000; and in Egypt by 28% to 4,290,000.
Tiny Lebanon, on the other hand, has seen its number of Christians increase by
101% to 1,620,000 as a result of an influx of refugees.
Turkey has also received many Syrian refugees and among them there are a number
of Christians, but it is unclear from the graphic how many Christians there are
there at present, although Turkey’s own Christian communities only amounted to
0.2% of a total population of over 80 million prior to the crisis in
Syria.
The documentary is a timely reminder that the Middle East is where Christianity
was born and it shows a fascinating mosaic: Copts, Chalcedonian Antiochian
Orthodox, Melkite, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Maronite, Chaldean
Catholic, Latin Catholic, Armenian Apostolic Church, Syriac Orthodox, Assyrian
Church of the East, Chalaeans, and many others whose ancient pedigree pre-dates
anything the West can offer but all have one thing in common: they are all
under threat.
The documentary is a heart-wrenching testimony of how a God-less West has
simply looked away while Christianity is wrenched from its roots. The
documentary is available here
until 29 August 2016.
Prof. Carmel Vassallo
Sliema
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