Following the so called "Arab Spring" the world's attention has been
drawn to the presence of significant minority religious groups within
the predominantly Islamic Middle East. Of these minorities Christians
are by far the largest, comprising over 10% of the population in Syria
and as much as 40% in Lebanon.The largest single group of Christians are
the Arabic-speaking Orthodox. The author draws on archaeological
evidence and previously unpublished primary sources uncovered in Russian
archives and Middle Eastern monastic libraries to present a vivid and
compelling account of this vital but little-known spiritual and
political culture, situating it within a complex network of relations
reaching throughout the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe.