The concept of centrality never really took hold among the Eastern Christians like it did within the Roman Empire and the Roman Church. On the contrary, the Eastern Christians lived in a context of plurality and discontinuity since the very beginning. From the 16th century onwards, Rome, Constantinople, and Moscow considered Eastern Christianity a periphery, to be targeted by the politics of reform and centralisation. But at the same time Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians perceived Eastern Christianity also as a centre. Located in the land of “Holy Places”, it appeared as a major benchmark in the harsh competition about history and spirituality which opposed Catholic and Protestant scholars.