The Russian Orthodox Church has warned that rising violence against Christian minorities in the Middle East could force them out of the region and urged international cooperation to protect them and their rights.

Patriarch Kirill told a Moscow conference the region's Christians had become "hostages of big politics" and the prospect of them being completely driven from the region was "quite realistic", Interfax news agency reported on Friday.

"One of the most symbolic tendencies of our time is the mass exodus of Christians from the Middle East and North Africa, caused by an unprecedented increase in violence against religious minorities in the region," he said.

Kirill called for "a viable mechanism to protect the rights of Christians and Christian communities" with the cooperation of the United Nations and representatives of the region's faiths.

Reuters