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Christianity in Azerbaijan

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    Christianity in Azerbaijan is a minority religion. Christians, estimated between 280,000 and 450,000 (3.1%–4.8%),[1] are mostly Russian and Georgian Orthodox. There is also a small Protestant Christian community which mostly came from Muslim backgrounds.[2][3] Due to the very hostile relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Armenian Christians have practically entirely fled the country, and so the Christians in Azerbaijan are members of various other groups, mostly Russians, but also some ethnic Azerbaijani Christians.

    History

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    Christianity spread to territory of present-day Azerbaijan in the first years of the new era. The first stage of this period is called the period of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (same ones who Christianized Armenia), who spread the new religion by the benediction of the first patriarch of Jerusalem Yegub.[citation needed]

    The Lutheran missionary Karl Gottlieb Pfander learned Azerbaijani very quickly during his stay in Shusha.[4][5]

    Masum bey Qayibov famously converted to Christianity.[6] Another influential Azerbaijani Christian was Banine.[7] In 1987, Ujal Hagverdiyev converted to Christianity.[8]

    After gaining independence in 1991, state registration of Christian communities was carried out in Azerbaijan.[9] Christians in Azerbaijan came from different ethnicities and denominations. This included ethnically Turkic Azerbaijanis who followed Christianity.[10] Azerbaijani Christians were largely divided between Protestantism, Catholicism, or Eastern Orthodoxy.[11][12][13][6]

    From 1991 to 1999, approximately 5,000 Azerbaijanis converted to various Protestant churches. Protestant Christianity had been one of the most common denominations for converts.[11][12] In 2012, Vladimir Fekete stated that many Azerbaijani Christians were Catholic.[14] In 2022, at the Cathedral of the Holy Martyrs in Baku, the Azerbaijani language was used to recite prayers for the first time.[15]

    There was also many Iranian Azerbaijanis who converted to Christianity, which was prohibited and punishable by death in the Islamic Republic of Iran.[16][17]

    In Azerbaijan, there was a historic divide between Protestant Christians. The Protestants often worshipped in two separate groups, Russian speakers and Azerbaijani speakers. The two groups had little-to-no contact. The Russian speakers were ethnically diverse but mostly Slavic, while the Azerbaijani speakers were ethnically Turkic. The Turkish language also played a role in the spread of Christianity in Azerbaijan. Christianity was attractive to Azerbaijani converts who saw Christianity as very compatible with the Azerbaijani way of life.[18]

    In 2008, Behbud Mustafayev converted to Catholicism from Islam. In 2017, he was ordained a priest by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica. He became the first ethnic Azerbaijani ordained as a Catholic priest.[19][20]

    Azerbaijani Christians played a role in the rise of Azerbaijani nationalism, and often hosted secular and national holidays in their churches, including the raising of Azerbaijani flags on Flag Day.[21] After the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijani Christians held a prayer for Azerbaijani soldiers in a Nagorno-Karabakh church, sparking much controversy among Armenians.[22]

    St. Mary Protector of Caucasus icon in Archangel Michael church, Baku.

    Eastern Orthodoxy

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    Main article: Eastern Orthodoxy in Azerbaijan

    Adherents of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Azerbaijan are mainly ethnic Russians and Georgians. Russian Orthodox communities belong to the Russian Orthodox Church in Azerbaijan. Entire territory of Azerbaijan is under ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Eparchy of Baku and Azerbaijan, centered in the Holy Myrrhbearers Cathedral in Baku.[23]

    Oriental Orthodoxy

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    Adherents of Oriental Orthodox Christianity in Azerbaijan were mainly ethnic Armenians. The Armenian Apostolic Church had no community besides the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic until the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Before the outbreak of the war, Armenians formed the largest Christian population in the country. Today, Armenian churches in Azerbaijan remain closed, because of the massacres of Armenians in the 1990s and generally being banned from entering Azerbaijan.[24] During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, despite the constitutional guarantees against religious discrimination, numerous acts of vandalism against the Armenian Apostolic Church were reported throughout Azerbaijan.[25] At the height of the Baku pogrom in 1990, the Armenian Church of St. Gregory Illuminator was set on fire,[26] but was restored in 2004 and is currently used as library.[27]

    Other denominations

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    There is only one congregation in the Catholic Church in Azerbaijan: a church in Baku was opened in 2007.

    There are eleven Molokan communities. The Molokans are a Protestant minority which, much like other Protestants, center their beliefs on the Bible and reject church hierarchy. There is also a German Lutheran community, likely to number less than 7,000 Protestants.[citation needed] According to Rev. Elnur Jabiyev, the former general secretary of the Baptist Union in Azerbaijan, up to 2010, there were eight or nine evangelical churches in Baku but these have now been prevented from openly meeting together by the authorities.[28]

    About 2.5% of the population belong to the Russian Orthodox Church (1998). The Russian Orthodox Church in Azerbaijan has the Eparchy of Baku and the Caspian region with a seat in Azerbaijan. Among the famous landmark Russian churches are Church of Michael Archangel and the Holy Myrrhbearers Cathedral; the once grand Alexander Nevsky Cathedral has been destroyed by the communists in 1937.

    The Albanian-Udi Church, established in 2003,[29] is of the Udi people minority in Azerbaijan.

    See also

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    Notes

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    1. ^ "Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population" (PDF). Pew Research Center. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
    2. ^ "5,000 Azerbaijanis adopted Christianity" (in Russian). Day.az. 7 July 2007. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
    3. ^ "Christian Missionaries Becoming Active in Azerbaijan" (in Azerbaijani). Tehran Radio. 19 June 2011. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
    4. ^ Anderson, Gerald H. (1999). Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 532. ISBN 978-0-8028-4680-8.
    5. ^ Powell, Avril Ann (1993). Muslims and Missionaries in Pre-Mutiny India. Routledge. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-0-7007-0210-7.
    6. ^ a b Çingizoğlu, Ənvər (2005). Məhəmmədxan ağanın törəmələri (Qayıbovlar). Pp. 27. Baku. Soy.
    7. ^ "Montherlant et l'écrivain Banine (1905-1992) convertie au catholicisme, par Henri de Meeûs". www.montherlant.be. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
    8. ^ Azlogos (19 April 2019). "Ucalsız keçən 15 il…". azlogos.eu. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
    9. ^ "Dini Qurumlarla İş Üzrə Dövlət Komitəsi". dqdk.gov.az (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
    10. ^ Balayev, A. Religious Communities and Cultural Interactions in Modern Azerbaijan. Baku: Qanun, 2014, p. 29–30.
    11. ^ a b Aras, Bülent (1999). Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 166. ISBN 9780275963958.
    12. ^ a b Monnier, F. le (2009). Rivista di studi politici internazionali. Facoltà di scienze politiche "Cesare Alfieri. p. 69. ISBN 9780275963958.
    13. ^ "Azərbaycanlılar arasında da katolik olanlar var". Aznews.az (in Azerbaijani). 14 November 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
    14. ^ "Azərbaycanlılar arasında da katolik olanlar var". Aznews.az (in Azerbaijani). 14 November 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
    15. ^ "Bakıda kilsədə Azərbaycan dilində dua oxundu". Oxu.az (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 1 April 2025.
    16. ^ "The cost of religious conversion in Iran – Theresa Malinowska". The Guardian. 9 May 2009. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016.
    17. ^ "Three Iranian-Azeri Christians Arrested; Their Fate Unknown". www.christiantelegraph.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016.
    18. ^ Aliyeva, Y. (2021). Everyday Nationalism and Non-Traditional Christian Communities in Baku. New Diversities, 23 (2), 43-63. pp. 53-57.
    19. ^ "Папа рукоположит диакона из санкт-петербургской духовной семинарии" [Pope ordains deacon from St. Petersburg Theological Seminary]. www.archivioradiovaticana.va (in Russian). 3 May 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
    20. ^ "Il Papa: "I preti sono eletti non per fare carriera ma per servire"" [The Pope: "Priests are elected not to make a career but to serve"]. www.lastampa.it. 7 May 2017.
    21. ^ Aliyeva, Y. (2021). Everyday Nationalism and Non-Traditional Christian Communities in Baku. New Diversities, 23 (2), 43-63. pp. 59.
    22. ^ Aliyeva, Y. (2021). Everyday Nationalism and Non-Traditional Christian Communities in Baku. New Diversities, 23 (2), 43-63. pp. 60.
    23. ^ Православие в Азербайджане / Православие.Ru Archived 19 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
    24. ^ United States Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1992 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, February 1993), p. 708
    25. ^ Memorandum from the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights to John D. Evans, Resource Information Center, 13 June 1993, p. 4.
    26. ^ Implementation of the Helsinki Accords: Human Rights and Democratization in the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union" (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, January 1993), p. 116
    27. ^ "Armenia Church Leader Meets Aliyev". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 27 April 2010. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
    28. ^ "Idea online". Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
    29. ^ "Община – АЛБАНО-УДИНСКАЯ ХРИСТИАНСКАЯ ОБЩИНА" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2020.

    Further reading

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