The Pope first mentioned the fact that the Middle East has seen "ever since the days of Jesus until today, the continued presence of Christians."
The pope wants to emphasize the apostolic nature of the churches in the Middle East and the fact that churches are alive. The Church of Antioch, there where
Christians for the first time receive this name from others (Acts 11:26). The Church of Jerusalem, which experienced the historical fact of Jesus and knew the
Apostles. The Church of Alexandria, where St. Mark the Evangelist was martyred. These churches did not receive the faith by missionaries sent from Rome, but from
the Apostles themselves, and thus are witnesses to the original message. This, for our Churches, is an important spiritual force. If they disappear, it would be a loss
for Christians everywhere.

Cultural and religious pluralism: a treasure, at times particular
The Pope continues: "In those lands, the one Church of Christ is expressed in variety of liturgical, spiritual, cultural and disciplinary traditions."
Then he talks about the variety of traditions. This variety must be emphasized: we have no less than seven Patriarchs in the East and seven liturgical, cultural,
spiritual, disciplinary, and I would add theological traditions. Dogmatically there is unity, theologically there is a great variety which are its greatest treasure. In
exegesis for example, with the two great schools of interpretation: that of Alexandria, more allegorical and mystical, with Origen at the end of the second century, and
that of Antioch, more grammatical and literal.
Even the theological positions are multiple from the outset. The variety of the liturgy is well known; however the spiritual is seldom deepened while the cultural variety
reveals a great wealth of languages and traditions. The East’s great cultural diversity is a source of great wealth but also political and theological conflict.
Instead in the West there was only Rome, as a capital of great culture. The others had no weight, neither political nor cultural. Instead, in the East, even well before
Christianity, there were important centres: Alexandria, Edessa, Jerusalem, Antioch.
This variety comes from the historical structure of the East. And the consequences are felt to this day. The unification in the West (and perhaps its homogeneity) came
about over the course of time, in our case it was the opposite. Each Church is proud of its past, even pre-Christian, they all know they are the heirs of prestigious
civilizations!
This variety is a great treasure, but sometimes it causes particularism or nationalism to creep into the Churches as well as internal divisions that weaken.

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