ABSTRACT
The missionary presence added another dimension to questions relating to the status of Christians in the Ottoman state. Externally, the missionaries acted as a channel of information about the travails of the people among whom they worked. Internally, their demands for broader freedoms, their ‘poaching’ of eastern Christians and the unavoidable political complications arising from the Armenian question caused severe strains all around. They antagonised the patriarchs of the eastern churches, Muslims, the Ottoman government and even their own diplomatic representatives. It has to be said that this was an odd result for those who came bearing the gospel of love.
