And Then There Were None…

I’ve been very fortunate over the past decade and a half to research and explore Christianity in the Middle East — especially in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. From studying Syrian Orthodox Christianity, Gnosticism, and Coptic at Brown University to learning Ge’ez at Harvard, I’ve long been immersed in the languages and historical texts of Christians in the Middle East and Africa. Having worked in Egypt and lived in Lebanon, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to visit so many Christian art collections, churches, mausoleums, and monasteries over the years…

So it saddens me to contemplate the statistics shared in a new article in The Economist — And Then There Were None — which documents the exodus of Christians from the Middle East as a result of the turmoil and instability in the region. While Christians made up 14% of the population in the Middle East in 1910, today they account for just 4%. As violence continues to engulf the Middle East, more Christians and other religious minorities will likely flee. In the recent words of Pope Francis: “We should ask for the grace to weep for this world, which does not recognize the path to peace.”