Increased interventions by Saudi Arabia impact Yemen and Syria, while descendants of Ottoman Armenians remember their “Great Catastrophe”. News from the region Changes in Saudi Arabia’s royal family structure are slowly but increasingly affecting the region. The appointments and foreign policy moves made by King Salman (crowned head of state in January) demonstrate a far more proactive Saudi Arabia in […]
The whirlwind that is the Middle East never ends. Taking centre stage in this month’s developments have been Yemen, Iran and Tunisia. News from the region The most promising development – albeit still unclear – has been a provisional agreement reached with Iran over its nuclear enrichment. While the details are yet to be made public or clearly outlined, a […]
2015 continues to be a challenging year for the region and the church. But, faced with death, faithful Christians – and the communities they belonged to – have offered the region a radical lesson in forgiveness and human dignity. News from the Region While the brutalities of ISIS continued, there were growing preparations for military campaigns against its advances in […]
Some words of Sir Winston Churchill, whose funeral 50 years ago was remembered last month, remain as relevant as ever: “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” While brutality and war-war continued to dominate news from the MENA region, talks and common sense pulled others back from the brink. News from the Region The war in Syria continues in […]
Over 20 centuries, Christianity in the Middle East has developed into varied Church communities in response to multiple challenges from inside and out. Hugh Wybrew completes his quick overview. Read part one of this series Eastern Church members join with the Roman Catholic Church (15th-20th centuries) Later, at various times, some members of all the Eastern Churches entered into communion […]
Last month we summarised the major developments in the MENA in 2014. In this Briefing we look at six key questions to highlight the issues and concerns we expect to play a major role in 2015. The year ahead The biggest question for 2015 is the ISIS/Islamic State, Syria, Iraq triangle. While analysts now forecast a decreasing reach for […]
The history of the Christian Church in the Middle East and North Africa with its numerous internal disputes and external influences is complex, as all the present conflicts in the region have underlined. In a two-part article, Revd Canon Hugh Wybrew offers an overview of the major events of the past 20 centuries which have resulted in the multi-faceted Christian […]
These are difficult days for Christians in the Middle East. In many parts of the region, Christians are facing tremendous challenges and even life-threatening situations. In Egypt, last summer we saw how Christians became scapegoats for Islamists when they were forced out of power. Still today, petty criminals plot to seize Christian lands and properties in rural areas of Upper […]
Millions of viewers of Christian TV broadcaster SAT-7 live in the eye of the storms that are currently engulfing the Middle East. Among them are large numbers watching from Iraq and an enthusiastic audience in the small Christian community in Gaza. As a Christian broadcaster, committed to strengthening the Middle East Church, SAT-7 has been seeking to support these viewers, […]
Alexandra Lilley, a curate in East London, asks how do we pray in the face of continuous heart-rending news reports, like those coming from Gaza, Iraq and the Ukraine? How do you pray for Gaza? I usually rouse from sleep, in my rumpled sheets, with John Humphries or Evan Davies. Exactly what I promised as a child to my parents, […]
