History of Christianity
Christianity arrived at Pentecost and was strengthened by the displacement that followed the death of Stephen (Acts 8). The church became institutionalized following its acceptance by the Roman Empire. As with much of the Middle East the Crusades had a profound impact, creating Catholic denominations in parallel with existing Eastern and Oriental Orthodox denominations.
Today, the largest church is the Byzantine/Greek Orthodox Church under the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East based in Damascus. There are fully recognized churches belonging to the Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox (to which the Greek Orthodox church belongs), the Oriental Orthodox and the Protestant families of churches, plus the Assyrian Church of the East which does not belong to any of these families of denominations.
