A Look At The Lives Of Christians In Iran

Benedict XVI expressed surprise a few weeks ago when he greeted the leader of the largest Christian community in Iran, the archbishop of Tehran.




Of the 110,000 Christians who live in Iran, 100.000 belong to the Armenian Church.




They've been in the country for centuries. Some of their churches were built during the 7th century. Their archbishop assures that Christians and Muslims have good relations and that they do not feel threatened. For example, the Constitution explicitly protects their rights.

Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian
Armenian Diocese of Tehran in Iran
Unfortunately the media is playing a tremendous role and sometimes they are using black glasses towards Iran. Which is not true, we are living there, we are experiencing our life there, what is heard about Iran is not true.
Whenever we need some help, for instance the government is helping us, they have decided and they have given us somehow a budget every year for Christian communities all over Iran, not only Armenians but others.


This doesn't mean there aren't any problems. The country's Christians are aware that they are living in a country with a Muslim majority.




Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian
Armenian Diocese of Tehran in Iran
If you by freedom you understand that we have to go and missionary Muslims we don't have that. Because it is an Islamic country. I myself wouldn't be happy if a Catholic or a Protestant comes and takes away from my church my believers. So what do you expect from Muslims to be happy when we go and tell them that your religion is false and ours is right. The time has been changed now, we're living in a mutual understanding, respect and acceptance time and dialogue together.

For this reason, the main challenge of Christians in Iran is to keep their churches, schools and culture alive and active. To achieve that they engage in dialogue with other religions in order to protect common values, such as the value of life and family. And Iran's 100,000 Christians know that it's worth living as a respected minority.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• romereports
• video
• news
• vatican
• pope
• look
• at
• the
• lives
• of
• Christians
• in
• Iran

[Gregory10000000000]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Hope that the mutual respect between Armenians and the moslems in Iran will prevail for ever. Armenians have been living in Iran for thousands of years, there are hundreds of beautiful Armenian churches which is a proof that Iranians have not burnt or destroyed churches like they did in Turkey. Wishing all the Iranians a very peaceful and happy 2012.

[karisma543]

very important video

[MyChainsAreGone7777]

Wow, saw the president of Iran talking about Jesus and now how Iran is with Christians and this seems not bad...really. Hm....

[sweet161402]

@lightiscoming1 "Christians" that speak this way may wanna get on their knees and ask Jesus to forgive them and cleanse their hearts for having HATE in their hearts for THEIR OWN Brothers & Sisters in Our Lord whose prayer was Be One.

[BERNARDO7I2]

@lightiscoming1 you're dumb. read the early church fathers. you speak heresy. start with Jesus and then read Ignatius of Antioch for starters. don't say dumb things

[outsidelight1]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++­++++++++++

[outsidelight1]

@delagrazia Nothing is that simple. Even in ancient Rome there were those who questioned Rome's legacy.." Rome creates a desert and calls it peace" Much has been romanticised since. "Genocide" it seems is a word with flexible definition. The Greek parliament decreed a Greek and Pontic Genocide without reference to evidence or the record of Greeks during and after the Greek war of independence or the record of Greek administration in Asia Minor in 1919/22. This was not only wrong but provocative.

[outsidelight1]

@delagrazia Yes they were ethnically cleansed. The Ottoman Ministry of Refugees was one of the busiest. Just because there are Muslims in western Thrace that Greece can use as exhibits does not negate the facts. I am sorry, but the Greek population participated in the maladministration and atrocities in occupied Anatolia; this is well recorded. To suggest that they had good reason to fight the Greek army is a suggestion that simply does not have legs.

[outsidelight1]

@delagrazia A huge refugee problem managed with a bankrupt economy and a contracting country loosing its most productive provinces due to unprovoked aggression and there is no other way to describe the actions of Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria in the Balkan wars, Do you think all these refugees, with bitter memories, are going to be stabilising element? Greek invasion in the west.Armenian invasion in the east. Pontic Greek agitation in the north. French/ Armenian in the southThey knew the routine