Kurdish Christians
Kurdish Christians (Kurdish: Kurdên Xirîstî [1] or File) are Kurds who follow Christianity and mostly live in the Kurdistan region. The word Xirîstî is derived from the Greek words χριστιανός (khristianos) and χριστιανή (khristiani). The term Mesîhî is also sometimes used.
History
Christianity began to become a main religion in the central part of Kurdish regions from the 5th century onwards. The royal house of Adiabene in central Kurdistan converted to Christianity around this period[2]. Mar Saba succeeded to convert some sun-worshipping Kurds into Christianity in the 5th century A.D.[3][4].
Many Kurdish Christians converted to Islam after the Arab conquest of Sassanid empire. However there were Kurdish converts to Christianity even after the spread of Islam. In the 9th century CE, a Kurd named Nasr or Narseh converted to Christianity, and changed his name to Theophobos during the reign of Emperor Theophilus and was emperor's intimate friend and commander for many years.[5]
There were many Kurdish Christian communities and tribes reported by medieval writers as late as 10th[6] and 13th centuries AD.[7] They have used Aramaic (language of Jesus) for their religious affairs, and in some cases Armenian language. The first Bible translation of modern times was conducted in the 18th century in the Armenian alphabet. Kurdish Christians should not be confused with Semitic-speaking Christians such as the Assyrians or Armenian Christians in Kurdish regions.
In the 19th century, there were several Christian villages in Kurdistan whose inhabitants spoke only Kurdish and there were Muslim Kurdish tribes that recalled they were once Christians. Kurds who converted to Christianity, usually turned to the Nestorian Church.[8]. In 1884, researchers of the Royal Geographical Society reported about a Kurdish tribe in Sivas which retained certain Christian observances and sometimes identified as Christian[9]. It is also possible that many Kurdish Christians have been linguistically and hence ethnically absorbed by Semitic-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia especially after Islamic expansions in Middle East[10].
In the early 20th century, a Lutheran mission from United States and Germany began to serve the Kurds of Iran. From 1911 to 1916, it established a Kurdish congregation and an orphanage [11].
Contemporary Kurdish Christians
In recent years a number of Muslim background Kurds have converted to Christianity [12]. After the First Gulf War in 1991, Christian agencies offered help to Kurdish refugees who were amazed that the assistance came from Christians not their own Muslim co-religionists[13].
The Kurdish-Speaking Church of Christ (The Kurdzman Church of Christ) was established in Hewlêr (Arbil) by the end of 2000 and has branches in the Silêmanî, Duhok and Kirkûk governorates. This is the first evangelical Kurdish church in Iraq [14]. Its logo is formed of a yellow sun and a cross rising up behind a mountain range. Kurdzman Church of Christ held its first 3-day conference in Ainkawa north of Arbil in 2005 with the participation of 300 new Kurdish converts [15].
In Turkey, Church has attracted a number of converts both among Kurds and Turks in the past decade. In Iraqi Kurdistan, several evangelical fellowships have been formed. While in some cases they have faced intolerance by some extremist Muslims, their activities are largely tolerated by the Regional Government of Kurdistan (KRG) out of a desire to remain democratic. Since 2001, Servant Group International has established three English-language Christian schools titled Classical School of the Medes in Iraqi Kurdistan. By 2005 three campuses in Sulaimaniya, Irbil and Dohuk with a total enrolment of 700 students were operational. These schools are viewed as a vehicle to help create fertile ground for conversion in the hearts of students[16]. Kurdistan Regional Government has recently awarded legal status and an official permit to the Bible Society to open a branch in the region[17].
One of the best known Kurdish Christians is Daniel Ali who converted to Christianity in 1995 and has written two books in English on rejecting Islam[citation needed]. He entered the Catholic Church in 1998.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Xirîstî in Kurdish Wiktionary
- ^ M.R. Izady, The Kurds: A Concise Handbook, Taylor & Francis, 1992, ISBN 0844817279, p.163
- ^ Bedjan, Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum, vol. ii, pp. 672-3
- ^ G.R. Driver, The Religion of the Kurds, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, 1922, p.208
- ^ I. Sevcenko, Review of New Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, Slavic Review, p.111, 1968.
- ^ http://www.itnet.org/kurds_church.html
- ^ http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/religion/christianity/christianity.html
- ^ John Joseph, The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, & Colonial Powers, Brill Academic Publishers, 292 pp., 2000, ISBN 9004116419, p.61
- ^ Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1884, p.313
- ^ M.R. Izady, The Kurds: A Concise Handbook, Taylor & Francis, 1992, ISBN 0844817279, pp.163,164.
- ^ John Joseph, Warren D. Gribbons, Muslim-Christian Relations and Inter-Christian Rivalries in the Middle East, SUNY Press, 1983, ISBN 0873956001, p.179
- ^ [1]
- ^ God Will Start With You, Rev. David Holwick, First Baptist Church, New Jersey, Sep. 1997
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ P. Pikkert, Protestant Missionaries to the Middle East: Ambassadors of Christ or Culture?, PhD Thesis, University of South Africa, May 2006, p.247
- ^ [4]