This chapter illustrates the broader historical context in which the schism (1724) in the Patriarchate of Antioch took place, examining how the Catholic apostolate affected the relationship between Ottoman authorities and their Eastern Christian subjects over time. In particular, I analyse the transition from one period (the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), in which cross‐confessional interaction and ambiguous affiliations were a wide‐spread reality in the Near East, to another (the eighteenth century), which saw the insurgence of more clear‐cut and exclusive confessional boundaries. In my view, this evolution was fundamental in re‐shaping the confessional characteristics and the self‐perception of the Eastern Christian communities of the Empire, as well as their role in the Ottoman society. To support the validity of this argument, my analysis focuses not so much on Arab Christianity as on the other Christian communities of the Empire, especially Greeks and Armenians.
