Christianity in Israel

View of churches on the Mount of Olives

Yardenit, Jordan River baptismal site

Christianity in Israel is one of the recognized religions in Israel and is practised by more than 161,000 Israeli citizens (about 2.1% of population). They include 127,000 Arab Christians (mostly Arab Orthodox as well as Melkite and Latin Catholics, with some Galilean Maronites, Copts and Protestants), about 25,000 Slavic Christians from the former Soviet Union (Eastern Orthodox) and a smaller minority of Arameans and Assyrians.

About 80% of Christian residents of Israel are Arab Christians, who are historically bound with neighbouring Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian Christians. A community of 1,000 Coptic Christians also exists in Israel, being registered as "Arab Christians", though their Arab identity is disputed. Christian Arabs are one of the most educated groups in Israel. Maariv has described the Christian Arabs sector as "the most successful in the education system",^[1] since Christian Arabs fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other group receiving an education in Israel.^[2]

Some 25,000 (the majority of the remaining) are immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who immigrated with Jewish relatives due to mixed marriages; there are also smaller ethnoreligious affiliations of about 7,000 Maronites (some of whom are recorded in Israel as "Arab Christians" and others as "Aramean Christians") and 1,000 Assyrians; certain number of Israelis also practice Messianic Judaism—usually considered a form of Christianity, but exact numbers are not available. Nine churches are officially recognized under Israel's confessional system, for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce. These are the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic (Latin rite), Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Chaldean (Uniate), Melkite (Greek Catholic), Ethiopian Orthodox, Maronite and Syriac Orthodox churches, and Anglicanism. The practice of religion is however free, and there is no limitation for other forms of Christianity as well as other faiths. There are approximately 300 Christians who have converted from Islam according to one 2014 estimate, and most of these belong to various Protestant and evangelical churches.^[3]

History

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, regarded as the holiest site of the Christian religion where it is believed Jesus Christ was crucified and buried.

According to historical and traditional sources, Jesus lived in Roman Judea, and died and was buried on the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, making the area a Holy Land for Christianity. However, few Christians now live in the region, compared to Muslims and Jews. This is mainly because Islam displaced Christianity throughout the Middle East, and the rise of modern Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel has seen millions of Jews emigrate to Israel. The Christian population in Israel has increased significantly with the immigration of many mixed families from the former Soviet Union (1989-late 1990s) and by the influx of some 10,000 Christian Maronites from Lebanon in 2000. Recently a further increase in Christianity came with arrival of many foreign workers and asylum seekers, some of Christian background (for instance from the Philippines and South Sudan). As a result, numerous churches have opened in Tel Aviv.^[4]

Affiliations

The largest Christian community in Israel is that of the Greek Catholics (Melkite), which comprise 40% of the total Christian population. They are followed by the Greek Orthodox 32%, the Roman Catholics 20%, and the Maronites 7%. The remaining Christian groups amount to around 1% of the total.^[5]

Eastern Orthodox

Most Christians in Israel belong primarily to branches of the Eastern Orthodox Churches oversee a variety of churches, monasteries, seminaries, and religious institutions all over the land, particularly in Jerusalem. In the 19th century the Russian Empire constituted itself the guardian of the interests of Christians living in the Holy Land, and even today large amounts of Jerusalem real estate (including the site of the Knesset building) are owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Catholic Church

Many Christian citizens of Israel belong to the Catholic Churches and affiliated Eastern churches. The most practiced are Roman Catholic Church proper (Latin Church), Greek Catholic Church (Melkite) and Maronite Church affiliations. About 500 Israeli Christians also belong to the Syrian Catholic Church.

Protestants

There has been a small Protestant community in Israel since its inception in 1948, based on either Christian Arabs who had changed their religious affiliation to Protestant teachings or European residents moving to the area. The community of Jews who hold to the tenets of the Christian faith - called Hebrew Christians or Jewish Christians are not to be confused with those adhering to the Messianic Judaism movement. Jewish Christians are not considered bona-fide Jews under Israel's Law of Return,^[6] there are an estimated 10,000 adherents in the State of Israel, both Jews and other non-Arab Israelis, many of whom are expatriates or immigrants from the former Soviet Union.^[7] In Israel Jewish Christians or Hebrew Christians prefer the name Meshikhiyyim (from Messiah, as found in the Franz Delitzsch Hebrew New Testament) rather than the traditional Talmudic name for Christians Notzrim, (from Nazarene).^[8]

Some of the earliest Protestant church buildings are Christ Church (Anglican) inside the Jaffa Gate of the contested Old City of Jerusalem, and Christ Church (Anglican) in Nazareth. Both were built during the Ottoman period.^[9]

Messianic Jews

Several thousand Israelis practice Messianic Jewish denominations, which are often considered as Christian sects. The Messianic Jews usually combine Jewish and Christian practices, but do recognize Jesus as a son of God. There are no exact numbers on those communities, but it is believed that several hundred to several thousand ethnic Jews belong to this tradition as well as several thousand Israelis of mixed ancestry (mostly mixed Jewish and Slavic).

In Jerusalem, there are twelve Messianic congregations^[10]. On 23 February 2007, Israel Channel 2 News released a news documentary about the growing number of Messianic Jews in Israel.^[11]

Relations with other religions

Christian-Jewish Relations

Persecutions

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the fate of the Christian Palestinians was similar to that of the Muslims, in term of military occupation, and land confiscations.^[12] However, Christian churches generally avoided destruction or defilement during the conquest of the West Bank out of fear of International pressure against Israel, notably by the Vatican.^[13] For the same reason, Israeli authorities have a more lenient attitude to the right of return of the Christian refugees.^[14]

Some ultra-Orthodox Jews have a decades-old practice of cursing and spitting on Christian clergymen in Jerusalem,^[15] and there have been cases where churches and cemeteries are defaced by Jewish nationalists.^{[16][17][18][19]} When the doors of the Latrun Trappist monastery were set aflame and the phrase "Jesus was a monkey" was painted on its walls, the Vatican reacted with a rare official complaint against the Israeli government's inaction.^[20]

Israel is generally regarded as the only country that Christian communities have been able to thrive in the Middle East, which is often demonstrated by the growing cooperation between the Israeli government and Christian leaders,^[21] However, there has also been criticism to the claim that Israel is the only country that Christian communities have been able to thrive in the Middle East by Palestinian Christians, with such statements being called a "manipulation" of the facts.^[22] Members of the Palestinian Christian community claim that such statements attempt to hide the discrimination that Palestinians face within Israel due to discriminatory laws as well as the effect of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza on the Christian population in these areas.^[23]

Sons of the New Testament Party

Recently, there has been a steady undercurrent of Christian Arabs who seek deeper integration into Israeli society. Under the leadership of Priest Gabriel Naddaf, the "Sons of the New Testament" is a political party that advocates Christian enlistment in the IDF and a more distinct societal separation of Christians from Muslims.^[24] This separation is partly based on the purported fact that Christians in Israel are not technically Arabs, seeing as they were present in the holy land long before the Arab conquest, hallmarked by the Siege of Jerusalem. This distinction is in the process of being formalized into law, as the Likud government is currently drafting legislation to grant this request.^[25]

This new attitude is founded largely by the perception by some that only in Israel the Christian population is growing due to natural increase and no state persecution, seeing the entire Middle East, except Lebanon, as where Christianity is and has been rapidly on the decline. In addition, increasing numbers of Christian leaders and community members are pointing to Muslim violence as a threat to their way of life in Arab majority cities and towns.^[26] Sons of the New Testament as a party and a national movement has been met with wide admiration from the Jews of Israel, harshly negative scorn from the Muslim Arabs, and mixed reactions from the Christians themselves. Because of Israel's parliamentary system where each party must attain at least 2% of the popular vote, Sons of the New Testament must be supported by non-Christians to enter the Knesset.

Christian-Muslim relations

The Christian-Muslim relations are generally calm and rely on the common ethnicity of the Israeli Arab Muslims and Arab Christians, who from the majority of Israeli Christians.

Despite the general harmony between Muslims and Christians, recently there has been an increase of anti-Christian incidents in the Nazareth area, inspired by the rise of Jihadist forces in the Middle East. In one incident during 2014, a flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was installed in front of a church in Nazareth.^[27]

There has also been increasing incitement and violence by the Muslims against Christians who voice their support for the Israel Defense Forces. In a recent case, the son of Father Gabriel Nadaf, a prominent Christian who is regarded as being pro-Israel, was severely beaten. Father Nadaf himself has been suffering from vasts amount of Muslim incitement in recent years.^[28][29]

Demographics

Education

Christian Arabs are one of the most educated groups in Israel. Maariv has described the Christian Arabs sectors as "the most successful in education system",^[1] since Christian Arabs fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other group receiving an education in Israel.^[2] Christian Arabs have one of the highest rates of success in the matriculation examinations, (64%)^[2] both in comparison to the Muslims and the Druze and in comparison to all students in the Jewish education system as a group,^[2] although lower than the secular Jewish education (64.5%) and the national religious Jewish education (65.9%).^[30] Arab Christians were also the vanguard in terms of eligibility for higher education.^[2] and they have attained a bachelor's degree and academic degree more than the median Israeli population.^[2]

The rate of students studying in the field of medicine was also higher among the Christian Arab students, compared with all the students from other sectors. the percentage of Arab Christian women who are higher education students is higher than other sectors.^[1] despite that Arab Christian account 2.1% of the total Israeli population, In 2014 the percentage of Arab Christian of the total Israeli Universities students was 17.0%, and 14.4% of the total Israeli College students,^[31]

Birth rate

The median age in 2012 was: Female: 32.1 Male: 31.2

Total fertility rate for Arab Christians: 2012: 2.07, 2013: 2.03

CBR per 1000 people: VII/2013-VI/2014, for Arab Christians 15.2, for all Christians 16.5.

Age structure 2013: 0-19: 29.6% 19-65: 60.1% 65+: 10.3%

See also

• Arameans in Israel
• Palestinian Christians
• Christianity in the Middle East
• Religion in Israel#Christianity

References

External links

• M. Avrum Ehrlich, Past, Present and Future Developments of Arab Christianity in the Holy Land