ARABIC CHURCH

ARABIC CHURCH. Christian penetration of Arabic-speaking territories, at least in their northernmost regions, certainly dates to the earliest years of the Church. Documentary evidence, other than Paul’s reference to a stay in Arabia in Gal 2 (probably the Nabateaan kingdom in present-day south Jordan), is limited to the mid-3rd c. The Dialogue with Heraclides comprises minutes of an Arabian synod starring no less than the great Alexandrian theologian, Origen (q.v.), who was imported by the local bishops to settle theological questions with one of their number. Beyond the Roman province of Arabia, though, evidence is scarce until later centuries. Certainly by the 6th c., Christian communities existed in the Persian Gulf territories (Isaac of Nineveh [q.v.] was a native of Qatar), the Yemen, and Oman. The translation of the Scripture (q.v.) into Arabic seems to have occurred coterminously with the rise of Islam (q.v.), although the version now in use dates to much more recent times. The contemporary Orthodox churches of Antioch (Damascus), Alexandria, and Jerusalem (qq.v.)-in particular the first and third-are comprised primarily of Arabic speakers who have been worshiping in their own language for several hundred years.