The Greek- and the Syriac-Orthodox Patriarchates of Antioch in the context of the Syrian Conflict

Abstract

Oriental Christianity is not only a special part of global Christianity, but also its oldest one. The members of the ancient Christian community in the Hellenistic city of Antioch were the first to be called christianoi — Christians. But with the recent developments of the Syrian Crisis, the deep- rooted Christians of the region see themselves as a threatened minority. Since the Islamist rebel militia, the so called al-Dawlah al-lslamiyah ("The Islamic State") announced the establishment of a caliphate in parts of the region of northeastern Syria and northwestern Iraq, threats against local Christians have been occurring more frequently. Recently, Islamists have forced Christians to either convert to Islam, to flee, or in the case of refusal, they have even been killed (Gol 2014).