Christianity in Eastern Arabia

Christians reached the shores of the Persian Gulf by the beginning of the fourth century. According to the Chronicle of Seert,^[1] Bishop David of Perat d'Maishan was present at the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, around 325, and sailed as far as India. Gregory Bar Hebraeus, Chron. Eccles, 2.10 (v. 3, col. 28) indicates that David had earlier ordained one of the other bishops present at the Council. The monk Jonah is said to have established a monastery in the Persian Gulf "on the shores of the black island" in the middle of the fourth century.^[2] A Church of the East bishopric was established at Reishahr, nearly opposite Kharg Island in the northern Persian Gulf, before the Council of Dadisho in AD 424.

Eastern Arabia was divided into two main ecclesiastical regions: Beth Qatraye (northeastern Arabia) and Beth Mazunaye (southeastern Arabia). Christianity in Eastern Arabia was blunted by the arrival of Islam by 628.^[3] Despite this, the practice of Christianity persisted in the region until the late ninth century.^[4]

From the fifth century onward, the Persian Gulf fell under the jurisdiction of the Church of the East. Christian sites have been discovered dating from that time until after the advent of Islam in the region at Failaka Island, Kharg Island, Jubail, and the nearby settlements of Thaj, al-Hinnah and Jabal Berri, and Sir Bani Yas.