Christianity in Dagestan

[5] The position of Christianity, especially Orthodoxy, in Dagestan was significantly influenced by the migration and demographic processes that took place in the second half of the 20th century.

[5] The Christian mission in Dagestan periodically faces great difficulties, and some preachers are endangered or simply killed.

Earlier the preachers of Christianity in Dagestan were predominantly Albanians and Georgians missionaries, but in the 8th century the spread of Byzantine Orthodoxy began.

The lands of the Khanate were united into the Goths diocese, which was under the omophorion of the Patriarch of Constantinople and headed by the metropolitan, whose see was in the city of Dolos (Crimea).

Simultaneously with the Byzantine missionaries, Syrian Nestorians actively preached Christianity in the Caspian region.

From the beginning of the 14th century, Christianity lost its importance in the Avar Khanate, and during the invasion of Timur in 1395-1396 and the collapse of the centralized kingdom of Georgia, Orthodoxy here gradually gave way to Islam.

Thus, at the end of the 18th century, due to oppression from the local Muslim population, Armenians from Derbent and its environs were resettled to the lands of the modern Stavropol Krai.

Due to persecution in other regions of Russia, in addition to Orthodox and Catholics, representatives of other Christian denominations - Pentecostalism, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventist Church, etc.

[11] By the beginning of the 20th century, on the territory of Dagestan (without the Khasavyurt and Kizlyar districts) there were 22 parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church.

From the first years of the establishment of Soviet power, persecution of religion began - churches and monasteries were closed, clergy were arrested and shot.

[11] From 1998 to 2011, all parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church located in the Republic of Dagestan belonged to the Diocese of Baku and Azerbaijan.

Restoration works are being carried out in the Armenian church of St. Gregory in the village of Nyugdi, Derbent region.

[13] Since 2007, the Women's Monastery of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross has been operating in Kizlyar, which is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Baku and Azerbaijan.

[14] The largest Orthodox church in the North Caucasus is in the territory of Dagestan - the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in Khasavyurt.