TEHRAN, Iran (LifeSiteNews) — The city of Tehran has raised eyebrows across the world by unveiling a new metro station dedicated to the “Holy Virgin Mary,” eliciting discussions regarding the state of religious freedom for minorities in the Muslim-dominated country.
Formally referred to by its Persian name, the Maryam-e Moqaddas metro station is located near St. Sarkis Armenian Cathedral and depicts sacred images of this landmark church, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ.
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🇮🇷 Iran opens the new “Holy Virgin Mary” metro station in Tehran.
The subway is filled with Christian symbols. pic.twitter.com/qXgS2Z2RPe
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) October 13, 2025
The mayor of Tehran, Alireza Zakani, tweeted that the metro station which “blends the elegance of church architecture with the calming geometry of Iranian design” serves to “showcase the coexistence of Divine religions.”
Though not widely known, Muslims generally have a great reverence for the Blessed Virgin Mary and for Jesus Christ, though rejecting the Lord’s divinity as the Son of God and merely classifying him as a prophet and Messiah.
Only one chapter of the Quran is named after a woman, namely Mary the Mother of Jesus. Further, Muslims recognize the miracles of Christ, though they reject the Christian dogma that these proceed from a divine nature. They also believe Jesus will return on the Day of Judgment and will destroy the “imposter” or anti-Christ.
“The purpose of such naming of this station is to honor Saint Mary,” Zakani continued, adding the “station recalls the divine (sic) woman who awakened the world through her purity and by nurturing a great prophet.”
Christianity officially recognized, though proselytizing strictly prohibited
Award-winning British Lebanese journalist Hala Jaber described the new station as a “symbolic nod to coexistence.” She went on to point to the Iranian Constitution’s recognition of “Christians, Jews, & Zoroastrians” as religious minorities in the Islamic nation with rights to practice their religion.
They “live peacefully in Iran, with parliamentary seats reserved for each,” Jaber proposed. “While the West lectures about tolerance, Tehran quietly practices it, even underground.”
Today we visited Vank Cathedral, a 355 year old church, one of 13 in Isfahan’s Armenian quarter.
Americans may be surprised to know Christians exist in Iran and are allowed to practice their religion freely. pic.twitter.com/DGHN95YUeH
— Anya Parampil (@anyaparampil) May 12, 2025
Like the vast majority of nations in world history, Iran remains a confessional state, privileging or protecting a state religion, in this case Islam. And not unlike pre-Enlightenment nations in Christian Europe, and even Catholic Mexico just 200 years ago, Iran enforces threats to their state religion as, for example, “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
While Christian evangelization, proselytizing, or distributing Christian materials such as Bibles to the Muslim majority in the local language of Farsi is strictly prohibited, the most severe penalties for such religious crimes are reserved for those who convert from Islam to another religion such as Christianity.
READ: Daughter of a Hamas founder becomes Christian after a dream reveals Jesus as God
‘Christian converts from Islam face grave danger’
Last July, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued an updated report highlighting the “Islamic Republic of Iran’s continued violations of freedom of religion or belief both domestically and abroad.”
“For exercising their right of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including for changing their religion or belief, Christian converts from Islam face grave danger to their personal safety in Iran,” the report reads.
It cites examples of two people who were sentenced to 12 years in jail after a house raid revealed they were in possession of Bibles.
A woman who converted to Christianity was denied medical treatment in jail after she was imprisoned in April for “acting against national security through connections with Zionist Christian organizations.”
Armenian Christian leader Joseph Shahbazian has been imprisoned for conducting worship services in his home for Christian converts from Islam. He was previously arrested for his underground church activities, described by the state as “leading an organization that aims to disrupt national security.”
The USCIRF, an independent bipartisan agency under the U.S. Congress, which considers Iran an adversary state, also cited the case of Armenian Christian Hakop Gochumyan who was handed a 10-year jail term in 2024 for “engaging in deviant proselytizing activity” and for his leading role in “a network of evangelical Christianity.” This conviction was reportedly based on his possession of seven New Testaments in Farsi and visits to a house-church while on holiday with his family in Iran.
Other cases have logged significant prison sentences, including even death in 1990 for a male convert from Islam to Christianity.
Catholic Church recognizes ‘duty’ of states to be confessional and obedient ‘to the rule of Christ’
Similar penalties have been imposed by Christian confessional states in the past including in Christian Europe during the Middle Ages where apostasy, heresy, and atheism were often equated to treason and could bring about punishments of property seizure, perpetual imprisonment, or even death, as in the unjust judgment against St. Joan of Arc.
More recently in Mexico, where the 1824 constitution declared the religion of the state be “perpetually” Roman Catholic and affirmed the nation would “protect it by wise and just laws, and prohibit the exercise of any other,” penalties were less severe. These could include the loss of citizenship, the ability to hold public office and to vote. And non-Catholic foreigners who promoted non-Catholic worship could be expelled from the country.
Indeed, the Catholic Church has consistently taught that not just individuals or families, but also nations themselves, have a duty to confess respect and submission to the authority of Jesus Christ the King. Pope Pius XI taught in 1925 that the rulers of nations have a “public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ.”
And “once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony,” the pontiff wrote.
Vatican II: Human beings have a right to religious freedom, it is oriented to ‘the one Church of Christ’
While the Second Vatican Council affirmed “traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ,” they also proclaimed “the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself.”
It is therefore also part of human dignity that the individual is “bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and to order their whole lives in accord with the demands of truth.”
Thus, the Council Fathers taught in Dignitatis Humanae, “the right to religious freedom has its foundation not in the subjective disposition of the person, but in his very nature,” and is therefore a universal right.
“It follows that a wrong is done when government imposes upon its people, by force or fear or other means, the profession or repudiation of any religion,” the document reads.
“All the more is it a violation of the will of God and of the sacred rights of the person and the family of nations when force is brought to bear in any way in order to destroy or repress religion.”
Many Iranian Christians remain loyal to their ‘sacred homeland’ despite violations of their religious freedom
While the approximately 1 million Christians of Iran enjoy recognition and the right to worship, they are simultaneously prohibited by their government to fulfill the command of their Lord Jesus Christ in making disciples of all nations.
Despite such tensions, at least many such Christians, and other religious minority Jews and Zoroastrians, remain loyal and patriotic to their Iranian nation.
For example, in response to last summer’s Israeli attacks upon their lands, some prominent Jewish communities in Iran condemned the “Zionist regime” for its “savage” air raids against their nation and called for their government to issue “a crushing and regret-inducing response that will make the Zionist regime repent its shameful deeds.”
Additionally, Christian and other minority leaders joined these voices to reaffirm national unity.
Speaking on behalf of Armenian Archbishop Sepuh Sargsyan of the Diocese of Tehran at the time, Arakel Kadehkian firmly condemned “Israeli atrocities” on Iranian civilians.
“Iran is not just our place of residence — it is our sacred homeland,” he said. “We condemn the attacks on Iranian soil and declare our full support for the Iranian people and leadership.”
Quoting from a recent message from the archbishop given at St. Sarkis Cathedral, he added: “The Iranian nation has overcome fire and sword for a thousand years. With God’s help, it will emerge victorious from this crisis too.”
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