Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country on the Atlantic Ocean in the northwestern part of Africa that reaches into the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Africa called Maghreb of which the indigenous population has been mainly Berber. Morocco is bordered in the east by Algeria and the south by Western Sahara, which is controlled by Morocco.
History
Christianity appeared in the region that is now Morocco during the second century during the expansion of the Roman Empire at which time many berbers became Christians under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome. However, during the Christological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries, most Berber Christians remained loyal to the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Church of Alexandria. During the late seventh century Morocco, with the western part of North Africa, came under the control of Muslim Arabs who introduced the religion of Islam and the Arabic language that largely replaced Christianity, particularly Orthodox Christianity.
After the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917 and World War II Orthodox Christians appeared in Morocco as refugees from Russia and other eastern European areas. These refugee Orthodox Christians organized themselves into parishes under the jurisdiction the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Presently, Morocco, as all of Africa, is under the overall jurisdiction of the Church of Alexandria.
See also
Sources
- Wikipedia:Morocco
- The Russian Colony in Morocco
- WCC: Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa
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