ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the missionaries’ relations with the local Orthodox and pre-Chalcedonian Christian communities, which constituted the preferential target of Catholic apostolic efforts. The religious active in the Middle East were of different origins and political affiliations, and, in many cases, national rivalries and different priorities fueled the conflicts between them: in this situation, the missionaries had to rely on appeals to Rome or, more frequently, on local solidarity networks built over time. By discussing some examples related to the cities of Jerusalem, Damascus, Constantinople, Aleppo, and Cairo, the chapter demonstrates how local circumstances influenced the missionaries in their relationship with the Ottoman Christians, with the officials of the Sublime Porte, and with the representatives of the Crown of France and the Roman Church. It shows that, contrary to widespread stereotypes, the different strategies of the missionaries did not necessarily depend on their belonging to different orders but were primarily determined by the contexts in which they interacted.
