Christianity in Iran

[Wutang]

Was thinking about posting this in the Iran thread but that seems to be more geopolitical and I thought this was worthy of it's own thread

Something I'm watching right now:



Goes over the history of Persia and mentions it's connection with the Old Testament, how Iran was become Muslim, the Shah and the Islamic Revolution and how it affects faith today



Second part is about Christians in Iran

 

[Narekatsi]

In the spirit of some fairness and transparency, in the second video, around 3:11, he states: "There are no church buildings"

List of Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Churches (both active parishes and cathedrals, with crosses prominently displayed, and historical structures): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Armenian_churches_in_Iran - this looks like a very obvious cathedral, to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sarkis_Cathedral,_Tehran

List of Assyrian and Chaldean Catholic Churches: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Assyrian_churches_in_Iran

Catholic Churches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_Iran

Russian Orthodox Churches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Russian_Orthodox_church_buildings_in_Iran

That is not to say everything is easy in that country, but it is certainly no Saudi Arabia.

 

[Christos_NIKA]

In the spirit of some fairness and transparency, in the second video, around 3:11, he states: "There are no church buildings"

List of Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Churches (both active parishes and cathedrals, with crosses prominently displayed, and historical structures): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Armenian_churches_in_Iran - this looks like a very obvious cathedral, to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sarkis_Cathedral,_Tehran

List of Assyrian and Chaldean Catholic Churches: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Assyrian_churches_in_Iran

Catholic Churches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_Iran

Russian Orthodox Churches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Russian_Orthodox_church_buildings_in_Iran

That is not to say everything is easy in that country, but it is certainly no Saudi Arabia.

It is possible that the videos are made by Protestants, many of whom commonly believe that Catholics and Orthodox (Eastern or Oriental) are not Christian. I have come across this misguided and ignorant view many times over the years, including in Russia of all places. That being said, it has long been illegal to convert from Islam to Christianity in Iran, but they do allow the churches to exist and grow organically, through births from within.