Christianity in Syria in the context of "Conversion of Paul the Apostle"

Alawites (Arabic: العلويون, romanized: al-ʿAlawiyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, an offshoot of Shia Islam as a ghulat branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali ibn Abi Talib, the "first Imam" in the Twelver school, as a manifestation of the divine essence. It is the only ghulat sect still in existence today. The group was founded during the ninth century by Ibn Nusayr, who was a disciple of the tenth Twelver Imam, Ali al-Hadi, and of the eleventh Twelver Imam, Hasan al-Askari. For this reason, Alawites are also called Nusayris, although this term can be considered derogatory in the present day.

Surveys suggest Alawites represent an important portion of the Syrian population and are a significant minority in the Hatay Province of Turkey and northern Lebanon. There is also a population living in the village of Ghajar in the Golan Heights, where there had been two other Alawite villages (Ayn Fit and Za'ura) before the Six-Day War. The Alawites form the dominant religious group on the Syrian coast and towns near the coast, which are also inhabited by Sunnis, Christians, and Ismailis. They are often confused with the Alevis, a religious group in Turkey that shares certain similarities with the Alawites but has key differences.

Bab Tuma (Arabic: بَابُ تُومَا, romanized: Bāb Tūmā, meaning: "Gate of Thomas") is a neighborhood located in the old city of Damascus in Syria. It is one of the seven gates of Damascus, a geographic landmark of Christianity.

The Apostolic Canons, also called Apostolic canons (Latin: Canones apostolorum, "Canons of the Apostles"), Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles, or Canons of the Holy Apostles, is a 4th-century Syrian Christian text. It is an Ancient Church Order, a collection of ancient ecclesiastical canons concerning the government and discipline of the Early Christian Church, allegedly written by the Apostles. This text is an appendix to the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions. Like the other Ancient Church Orders, the Apostolic Canons uses a pseudepigraphic form.

These eighty-five canons were approved by the Council in Trullo in 692 but were rejected by Pope Sergius I. In the Western Church only fifty of these canons circulated, translated in Latin by Dionysius Exiguus in about 500 AD, and included in the Western collections and afterwards in the Corpus Juris Canonici.

Jabal al-Druze (Arabic: جبل الدروز, romanized: Jabal ad-Durūz, lit. 'Mountain of the Druze'), also known as Jabal al-Arab or Jabal Hauran, is an elevated volcanic region in Hauran in the Suwayda Governorate of southern Syria. Most of the inhabitants of this region are Druze, and there are also significant Christian communities. Safaitic inscriptions were first found in this area. The Jabal Druze State was an autonomous area in the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from 1921 to 1936, which had 42 of the Haurans ~180 towns. In the past, the name Jabal al-Druze was used for a different area, located in Mount Lebanon.

In Syria, most Druze reside in Suwayda Governorate, which encompasses almost all of Jabal al-Druze. This governorate is unique in Syria as it has a Druze majority. Additionally, it has integrated Christian communities that have long coexisted harmoniously with the Druze in these mountains.

Christianity was one of the major religions of pre-Islamic Arabia. It was likely introduced in the fourth century, during the period of Late Antiquity, and had achieved a large presence by the fifth century. Bishoprics were established in multiple areas in Eastern Arabia, as well as in Arabia Petraea, Najran, and Zafar. Churches, martyria and monasteries were constructed across the peninsula, allowing local leaders to display their benefaction in the region, communicate with locals and with local officials, and to establish points of contact with Byzantine representatives.

Christian proselytism also happened throughout the peninsula, especially in its northwest and southwest. Northern proselytization was driven by Syrian Christian missionaries, and the south, by Ethiopian Christians in the aftermath of the Ethiopian conquest of the South Arabian Kingdom of Himyar. Many conversion stories of Arabs are found in Byzantine Christian literature, especially those with a Syrian and Iraqi background. Arabian Christian communities are also known from the Quran and a growing number of pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions.