Jordan Church Records

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Jordan

Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Jordan, go to the Religious Records page.

Online Resources and Websites

Ancestry.com, findmypast.com, and MyHeritage.com can be searched free of charge at your local family history center or the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Jordan , index and images, ($)

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Jordan , index and images, ($)

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images, ($)

Historical Background

Sunni Islam is the dominant religion in Jordan. Muslims make up about 95% of the country's population.

The country also boasts one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, coexisting with the rest of the population. They made up about 4.2% of the population when the country had 5 million inhabitants in 2005, down from 20% in the 1930s, mainly due to high rates of Muslim immigration into the country. More than half are Greek Orthodox. The rest are Latin or Greek Rite Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Protestants and Armenians. Jordanian Christians in a country of almost 10 million are thought to number 250,000-400,000 excluding tens of thousands of Syrian and Iraqi Christians in the country. A 2015 study estimates some 6,500 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.

Anglicans/Episcopalians in Jordan are under the oversight of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem. The Church of the Redeemer is the largest congregation by membership of any church in the entire Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. Other Episcopal churches are in Ashrafiyya, Salt, Zarqa, Marka refugee camp, Irbid, Al Husn and Aqaba.

Christian denominations in Jordan belong to four major denominational groups:

• Eastern Orthodox
  • Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
• Oriental Orthodox:
  • Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem
  • Syriac Orthodox Church
  • Coptic Orthodox Church
• Catholic:
  • Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
  • Melkite Catholic Archeparchy of Petra
  • Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem
  • Armenian Catholic Church
• Protestantism:
  • Evangelical
  • Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem
  • Lutheran
  • Seventh-day Adventist
  • United Pentecostal
  • Presbyterian

Information Recorded in the Records

Different denominations, different time periods, and practices of different record keepers will effect how much information can be found in the records. This outline will show the types of details which might be found (best case scenario):

Baptisms

In Catholic and Anglican records, children were usually baptized a few days after birth, and therefore, the baptism record proves date of birth. Other religions, such as Baptists, baptized at other points in the member's life. Baptism registers might give:

baptism date the infant's name parents' names father's occupation

status of legitimacy occasionally, names of grandparents names of witnesses or godparents, who may be relatives

birth date and place the family's place of residence death information, as an added note or signified by a cross

Marriages

Marriage registers can give:

the marriage date the names of the bride and groom indicate whether the bride and groom were single or widowed their ages

birth dates and places for the bride and groom their residences their occupations

birthplaces of the bride and groom parents' names (after 1800) the names of previous spouses and their death dates names of witnesses, who might be relatives.

Burials

Burial registers may give:

the name of the deceased the date and place of death or burial the deceased's age place of residence

cause of death the names of survivors, especially a widow or widower deceased's birth date and place parents' names, or at least the father's name

How to Find Records

Digital Copies of Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog

Watch for digitized copies of church records to be added to the collection of the FamilySearch Library. Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a Family History Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations. To find records:

a. Click on the records of Jordan.

b. Click on Places within Jordan and a list of towns will appear.

c. Click on your town if it appears, or the location which you believe was the parish which served your town or village.

d. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.

e. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. . The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the records.

Writing for Records

You will probably need to write to or email the national archives, the diocese, or local parish priests to find records. See French Letter Writing GuideLetter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters.

• Maps.me Church Listings for Jordan

Catholic Church Records

Writing to a Local Parish

To locate the mailing address or e-mail address for a local parish, consult:

• Google Maps search results for Catholic Churches in Jordan
• Google Maps search results for Melkite Churches in Jordan
• Google Maps search results for Syrian Churches in Jordan
• Google Maps search results for Chaldean Catholic Churches in Jordan

Historical Background

The Catholic Church in Jordan is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.

There are approximately 114,000 Catholics in Jordan or 1.9% of the Jordanian population. Catholics are divided in four Rites:

• 80,000 Latin Catholics

• 32,000 Melkite Catholics

• 1,500 Syrian Catholics

• 500 Armenian Catholics

There are also thousands of Chaldean Catholics refugees from Iraq.

The whole of the country for all Melkites forms a single Archeparchy. Jordanian Catholics belonging to the Greek Catholic churches use the Melkite Rite, these are referred to as "Roum Catholiks" in Jordan (Roum or Rome referring to Byzantine, while those following the standard rites of the Catholic Church are referred to as "Lateen" and belong to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

There are currently 33 Latin Catholic parishes in Jordan. Melkite Greek Catholic Church has 28 parishes, Syrian Catholics have 3 parishes and Armenian Catholics has 2 churches. There are 66 Catholic parishes in all Jordan, belonging to four Catholic traditions.

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