Christianity in Mongolia
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Christianity in Mongolia is a minority religion. In 2020, Christians made up 1.94% of the population.[1]
Most Christians in Mongolia became Christian after the Mongolian Revolution of 1990. According to the Christian missionary group Mission Eurasia, the number of Christians grew from less than 40 in 1989 to around 40,000 as of 2023.[2]
Statistics
According to the 2020 National Census there were 79,872 Christians (age of 15 and older) or 2.3% of total population.[3]
Nestorianism
In the 7th century, Nestorianism was the first form of Christianity to be proselytized among the Mongols,[4] although it was a minority religion and remained so.[5] However, it had great philosophical influence on other Mongolian spiritual traditions, such as Buddhism and shamanism.[6][7]
During the rise of the
There are only very few archeological traces of the prospering of Nestorianism among the Mongols.[10] In Inner Mongolia, several Nestorian gravestones have been recorded in the past, but none now remain in situ.[11]
Syncretic Christianity
Some Mongolians rejected the church structure and what was orthodox for the time, and borrowed elements from other religions and merged beliefs from several Christian denominations together.[12] Some even identified Adam with the Buddha.[12]
Syncretism along these lines influenced the way Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan Buddhism developed, and the effects of it can still be observed in the modern forms of these traditions.[citation needed]
Eastern Orthodoxy
The Orthodox Churches and their monks became victims to the Mongol invasion of Eastern Europe in the early 13th century. However, jarlig, or charter of immunity, also contributed to the strengthening of the Church. With the reign of Möngke-Temür, a jarlig was issued to Metropolitan Kirill for the Orthodox Church in 1267. While the church had been under the de facto protection of the Mongols ten years earlier (from the 1257 census conducted under Khan Berke), this jarlig formally decreed protection for the Orthodox Church. More importantly, it officially exempted the church from any form of taxation by Mongol or Russian authorities and permitted clergymen to remain unregistered during censuses and clergy were furthermore not liable for forced labor or military service. For the first time, the Orthodox Church would become less dependent on princely powers than in any other period of Russian history.[13]
From 1771 to 1845 at least eight missions of the Russian Orthodox Church visited Mongolia. The first Orthodox church on Mongolian territory, Holy Trinity Church was established in the Khalkha capital city Urga in 1872,[14] and newly rebuilt there in 2007.[15]
Roman Catholicism
Historically, much of Europe had been ruled by Turkish and Mongolian tribes both of which originated in Mongolia. The
After the Mongolian Revolution of 1990, Roman Catholic missionaries returned and rebuilt the church from scratch. As of 2006, there is an
Protestantism
Most Christians in Mongolia today are Protestant, and most have become Christians since the Mongolian Revolution of 1990. Mongolia has a local Christian TV station, Eagle Television, and a pro-Christian radio station, Family Radio.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
In 1992, six missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in Mongolia as English teachers. In 1995, the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission was established with Richard Cook as the first mission president. The Ulaanbaatar Mongolia West Stake with six congregations was formed in 2009 growing to nine congregations by May 2016. The Ulaanbaatar Mongolia East Stake was created in May 2016 with six congregations. About 2010 new visa laws went into effect limiting foreigners causing many of the foreign Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionaries to be reassigned to other countries. There were, however, about 110 Mongolian missionaries serving full time missions inside Mongolia. By the end of 2015, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had 11,250 members in twenty-three congregations.[19][20]
See also
References
- ^ World Religions Database at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ Mission Eurasia website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ National Census 2010 Archived 15 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Mongolia Profile". OMF International. Archived from the original on 2016-03-11. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
- Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Archived from the originalon 2022-09-21.
- ^ "Nestorians". McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia Online. StudyLamp Software. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
- ^ Jenott, Lance. "The Eastern (Nestorian) Church". Silk Road Seattle. University of Washington. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
- ^ "A History of Religion in Mongolia". Mongolus.Net. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
- ^ Gaby Bamana, ed., Christianity and Mongolia: Past and Present (Ulaanbaatar: Antoon Mostaert Center, 2006).
- ^ "Nestorianism in Central Asia during the First Millennium" (PDF). jaas.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2010-09-15., p.45
- ^ Tjalling H. F. Halbertsma, Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia: Discovery, Reconstruction, and Appropriation (Leiden: Brill, 2008).
- ^ )
- ^ Halperin, Charles J. "George Vernadsky, Eurasianism, the Mongols, and Russia", Slavic Review, Vol. 41, No. 3, Autumn, 1982: 477-493
- ^ L. Altanzayaa, "Regarding the Protection of Russian Orthodox Priests in Mongolia", in Bamana, ed., 79-88.
- ^ "A Russian Orthodox church to be built in Mongolia". www.orthodox.cn.
- ^ Jeroom Heyndrickx, "The Catholic Mongol Mission", in Bamana, ed., 89-104.
- ^ "Pope John Paul II cancels visits to Mongolia and Kazan". News from Russia. 2003-08-30. Archived from the original on 2005-12-19. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
- ^ Cheney, David M. "Ulaanbaatar (Prefecture Apostolic) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org.
- ^ "Some Mormon missionaries leave Mongolia".
- ^ "LDS Statistics and Church Facts - Total Church Membership".
External links
Media related to Christianity in Mongolia at Wikimedia Commons