Imperial distortion

What does the famous slogan “Moscow is the Third Rome” actually mean?

“Moscow is the Third Rome” - these words are known to almost every educated Russian. But what is the true meaning behind these famous words?

Is Moscow the Third Rome because it is the capital of the great Empire? Moscow - the Third Rome, since both Rome the first and Rome the second were countries with universal literacy of the free population? Moscow has become the Third Rome, since all roads in Russia lead to it, like ancient Rome, and almost all money flows converge here? Or is Moscow the Third Rome in the sense that it is the heir to the legislation of Ancient Rome, Roman law, for which Constantinople, the Second Rome, was also famous after the fall of the Western Roman Empire?

Finally, another question - who exactly is the Third Rome - the city of Moscow or the entire Russian Federation? To whom exactly - to the country or to the city - does the famous saying apply?

Now the most common interpretation, which completely coincides with the political guidelines of the authorities, is that this is the slogan of the great power of Russia and Moscow as the capital of the greatest of empires. But in reality this is not at all the case.

The phrase “Moscow - the Third Rome” has a history. These words with the addition “there will never be a fourth” were first spoken by the elder of the Pskov Elizarov Monastery Philotheus during the reign of Vasily III - the son of Ivan III (the Great) and the father of Ivan IV (the Terrible). However, very few, and most likely only a few out of 150 million of our compatriots, know that the meaning of these beautiful words initially - and over the centuries - was completely different from the one given to it today. Moreover, the original, true meaning of this expression was, one might say, almost the opposite and almost diametrically different!

Elder Philotheus used the treasured trilogy (or, in modern language, a slogan), referring primarily to the spiritual meaning of our collective place in the world. Moscow is the heir to the spiritual tradition of the first and second Romes (Rome without a number and Rome number two: Constantinople-Byzantium). This is how these words were understood.

Initially and on throughout For many centuries, this slogan meant that Moscow is the epicenter of the spiritual life of mankind. The holiness of Rome in the first centuries of our era and the holiness of Constantinople, the Eastern Roman Empire, moved here to Moscow. According to the thought and formula of Philotheus, the holiness of the Greek Church moved to Moscow, in which the spiritual principle was opposed to “Latinism,” known for its rationalism.

There were no traditions of scholasticism and scholastic disputes in the Russian Orthodox Church. And this is no coincidence. The spoken word is a lie - this is the quintessence of our understanding of holiness. A feeling is higher than a written word, a written word is lower than a spoken word, a spoken word is incommensurably lower than an unworded thought: this is our credo. Extremely, by the way, creative, constructive and original, including in the 21st technological century.

The words “Moscow is the Third Rome” in no way related to the understanding of our Motherland as a military power, to its extent, to the many peoples subject to it. And under Philotheus there were not many peoples subject to Russia. There was a powerful Moscow principality created by Ivan III, the size of modern - not for him, for us - France and England combined. The conquest of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia was still far ahead. It was not military conquests, not the expansion of the empire (which, we repeat, did not exist in his time) that Philotheus called for when he uttered these words, putting Rome, Constantinople and Moscow on a par, but for the improvement of our spirituality, the structure of social life, for holiness, if you will.

How did it happen that the meaning of such an important formula for our self-identification changed so radically? The roots of the current perception of Philotheus’ formula do not go back to the era of Vasily III, but to the ideological and political context of the reigns of Alexander II and Alexander III. It was then that the country, which had suffered the shame of defeat in the Crimean War, acutely felt the need for an idea that would compensate for the feeling of national humiliation. Subsequent victories were accompanied by diplomatic defeats, and the annexation of new territories was accompanied by increased tension in society. Even the peacekeeping of Emperor Alexander III could not soften the situation within the country.

It is no coincidence that at this very time the army changed its uniform to a purely national one (or rather, pseudo-national, because it was designed by fashion designers): from Western European-style uniforms (which it had been wearing since the time of Peter the Great) it changed into a native Russian (as it was understood then) uniform. Burkas, caftans, boots with cuffs - all this did not last long in the units of the Russian army. And it could exist only in the absence of wars: in such “national” clothes it was possible only to prance at parades and slide on the parquet floor in a mazurka, but not to win on the battlefield. Then rationalism defeated ideology, patriotism in military garb became a thing of the past, replaced by a form adequate to the military doctrines of the 20th century and the level of rapidly progressing weapons.

Under these conditions, through the efforts of Alexander Pypin, Sergei Solovyov, Evgeniy Golubinsky, Vasily Klyuchevsky and other historiographers, the myth about the imperial content of Filofeev’s formula was formed. It was then that the sovereign, political meaning of the three-word phrase “Moscow - the Third Rome” began to “unwind”.

Nowadays, when they talk about the Third Rome, they mean that image created in the 19th century, but attributed to Philotheus. This formula remained in its updated - completely different from the one Philotheus gave it - meaning. Moreover, she remained for a long time, surviving (with a break for decades of Bolshevik rule of Russia) to the present day.

So, saying “Moscow is the Third Rome,” for centuries the Russian people had referring primarily to the spiritual beginning of Russia. The vastness of her spirit, which knows no barriers. The power, intensity and uniqueness of Orthodox spiritual life. Humility and philanthropy, and not at all territorial conquests and the length of borders, which, if you think about it, is no less patriotic. Or maybe even more.

From time immemorial, these words have been unifying and attractive. Alas, often simple formulas, reinterpreted by someone, and then distorted for someone’s personal or political purposes and in this form introduced into the consciousness of the masses, are capable of perverting the spirit and clouding the vision. Not only of individuals, but also of the nation as a whole. If, pronouncing the words “Moscow is the Third Rome,” we return to their original, spiritual meaning and feeling, who knows, maybe we will arrange Russia in accordance with this wonderful trilogy. His spirit and letter.

Igor DANILEVSKY, historian, Moscow, Yuri MAGARSHAK, physicist, New York