SOME ASPECTS OF THE SITUATION OF REFUGEES FROM THE ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

Among the many denominations of Christians living in the Middle East, one is that of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, comprising the Armenian Orthodox, the Syrian Orthodox, the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Eritrean Orthodox, who are among the most ancient Christian communities of the Middle East and Africa. Right up until the present, large groups of these people have been leaving their home places, not only for economic reasons, but aho as a consequence of major historical and more recent turmoil in their areas of origin. Some of them have become refugees, mostly in North and South America, Europe and Australia. In a number of cases, religious reasons have aho played a role in these migrations. In most of the places to which these Christians have emigrated, they have organized their own parishes.