In 2009, the researchers of the Pskov Archaeological Center discovered the grave of Elder Filofei. It is located in the necropolis, near the Cathedral of the Three Saints, among other burials. This cathedral is part of the Eleazarov monastery, from where the famous messages were sent to Moscow. These letters are devoted to a variety of issues. However, the theory “Moscow - Third Rome” brought the author the greatest fame. It is briefly formulated in the expression that the two Romes have already fallen, now there is a third, and the fourth should not be.
The relevance of the idea
Many Russians found the grave of the Pskov elder Filofei, who is a preacher of the main Russian idea, to be seen as a sign testifying to our national revival. And you need to treat him very responsibly, remembering today about this wonderful person and the meaning of the words said by the old man.
Today, a lot is said about Filofei’s theory “Moscow - Third Rome”. You can hear about it both from supporters of the political and spiritual strengthening of our country, and from its opponents. But can all of them have the power to explain the meaning of these words and their origin? Indeed, in this case we are talking about such an idea, which lies at the basis of the self-consciousness of Muscovite Russia, which is of a religious and political nature. It has retained its fundamental role to this day.
The era of the exaltation of the Principality of Moscow
The year of birth of the Pskov elder is the 1465th, and he died in 1542. The years of his life fell on the 2nd half of the 15th - 1st half of the 16th century. Filofei was a witness of the time when the rapid rise of the Moscow Grand Duchy took place. In fact, it turned into another, Orthodox kingdom.
In the period of the conscious life of the monk Philofei, Moscow in 1480 was finally liberated from the Horde. Intensive collection of Russian lands began. So, there was an accession:
- Tver - in 1485;
- Pskov - in the 1510th;
- Novgorod - in 1514;
- Ryazan - in 1520.
And, finally, in 1523, when a message was written to a clerk named Misyur-Munekhin and a message from the elder Philotheus to Grand Duke Vasily III, dedicated to the Third Rome, Novgorod-Seversk Principality joined Moscow. After 30 years, Moscow troops will go far east to make annexation of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia.
But this process, associated with the geopolitical exaltation of the Moscow state, must have a deep ideological foundation, which at that time could only be religious. Muscovite Russia was supposed to appear to the world as a bastion of Orthodox civilization.
European claim to the Third Rome
But such a monumental building cannot be erected due to someone’s arbitrariness. It must have a solid base, and at the same time it is necessary to take into account such a factor as external and internal resistance. That was what was well understood by Elder Filofei.
It should be noted that at that time many countries in Europe tried to build something like the Third Rome. They calculated the genealogies of their monarchs and came up with artificial continuity. This can be easily seen in the heraldry of many small principalities and cities, which has an aggressively pompous character.
But, according to researchers, the Moscow principality had the prerequisites for calling itself the Third Rome. However, this did not happen for a long time, it took almost 100 years for this fact to be recognized popularly.
Modesty mentality
Why did this happen? As an answer to this question, many different versions are proposed. One of them, lying on the surface, is an unprecedented modesty that characterizes the Russian, East Slavic mentality. This is clearly seen in the development of the monastic culture in medieval Russia.
However, such modesty can sometimes result in false self-abasement. Then, having all the rights, as well as the opportunity to claim their advantages, the Russians leave this to others. So the elder himself characterized himself as a rural man, learning letters, not understanding anything in Hellenistic wisdom, not talking to clever philosophers, but only studying the blessed Law, in order to cleanse his soul from sin.
Meanwhile, the ideas of Philotheus, the texts of his letters testify to European scholarship, to the mastery of rhetorical science. Otherwise, the representatives of the educated elite, who is at the Moscow court, would never have listened to him, would not have asked him for advice, they simply would not have known anything about him.
Anti-christian tendencies
The onset of the Renaissance in Europe carried not only positive trends, but also anti-Christian and neopagan ones. A series of essentially occult movements arose, of which a rather large number were observed. Some of them actively penetrated into Russia. As a rule, this happened through Novgorod and the Baltic lands.
Today, little is said about this, but then there was the possibility of the victory of such syncretic movements in our country, because even the great princes themselves favored them. These heresies also tempted some of the church hierarchs. To overcome them, it took the efforts of prominent figures of the Russian Church. Among them can be noted St. Bishop Gennady of Novgorod and Rev. Joseph Volotsky.
"Message to the Stargazers"
Beginning in 1484, Nikolai Boulev, a physician and astrologer, envoy of the Pope, began to actively promote his ideas in the Russian state. He became the personal physician of Vasily III, the Grand Duke. He was opposed by great authorities, including St. Maximus the Greek, but, despite this, his influence did not decrease.
To understand Bulev’s astrological teachings, Mikhail Grigoryevich, a grand-deacon’s deacon, by the name of Misyur-Munekhin, turned to the old man Filofey, which is evidence of the authority of the latter for the Moscow court. At the turn of 1523-1524. he writes the famous letter to the deacon of the Grand Duke under the title "Message to the Starsmen".
In it, the Orthodox monk expresses his categorical rejection of astrology, considering it as a heretical, false teaching. It also explains the basics of the Christian worldview, which prohibit attributing good and evil to astronomical phenomena, otherwise a person is not responsible for his own will, and meaning disappears in the Last Judgment.
Thus, Philotheus continues the polemic of such authorities as St. Gennady, Joseph of Polotsk and Maxim the Greek, who had an anti-occult orientation. It is important to emphasize that the beginning of the presentation of the theory “Moscow - the Third Rome” was laid in the midst of a dogmatic polemic against false doctrines of paganism.
Filofei, denouncing both faith in astrology and other troubles of that time, reminds the deacon, and through him the grand duke, of the unique historical situation in Russia. And also about the mission assigned to it, and why it is very important at this moment not to deviate from the Orthodox faith, but to adhere to it as never before.
Religious and political foundations
To understand the theory of Philotheus, you need to get acquainted with the basics of the religious and political history of Christian civilization, about which he himself recalls. These foundations go back to the biblical tales of the prophet Daniel. The latter, interpreting the dream of the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar, predicts the existence of four kingdoms that replace each other in time. The very last of them will be destroyed by the Lord God himself.
Hippolytus of Rome, who was the father of the church of the II century, spoke of the Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian and, finally, the Roman kingdom. It is important to note that these kingdoms were not simple national monarchies, but were the only empires that, during their existence, claimed to express the whole world civilization, the whole world order as such.
Confessing paganism, the Romans, like the Romans, Christians, believed that Rome would always stand, that is, until the end of time. And the reason for this is not the strength of the Romans themselves, but the fact that the Roman order is a world order that resists world chaos. In the called eternal city, many Christians saw mystical power dating back to the end of time. She holds back the coming of Antichrist. The apostle Paul spoke of this power in the 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians.
When Rome adopted Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century, the idea of Rome as a “catechon,” which means “restraint” in Greek, was directly expressed by theologians, as, for example, in St. John Chrysostom.
After the fall of Rome
The Christian Roman Empire was the foundation of Christian European civilization, and at the same time its ideal. But there was a fall in its western part, and the Latins themselves went to Catholicism. New Rome, the center of the Roman Empire, Constantinople became the Orthodox "catechon". The existence of Byzantium lasted more than 1000 years. It was from there that the Orthodox faith came to Russia. Under the onslaught of the Muslim Turks, Constantinople fell in 1453.
Elder Philotheus, like many other theologians, said that the cause of the fall of Byzantium was its evasion of Catholic heresy, which occurred in 1439 on the Union of Florence. Of course, this was not the only reason for the decline of the Byzantine Empire, but if you adhere to a purely theological point of view, we can say that there could not have been more sin than the adoption of heresy. And it was for him that the Romans paid.
This fall for the entire Orthodox world was a catastrophe of cosmic proportions. Pal "catechon" - holding, which threatened the onset of the times of Antichrist. In this regard, various kinds of predictions and apocalyptic sentiments were in great honor. And astrology of the Renaissance only warmed them up.
As for Nikolai Boulev, they spread Western false prophecies promising the onset of a new global flood, and someone believed them. Although the promise of the Lord God is present in the Bible, never again send a flood to Earth. Thus, the prophecy of Philotheus about Moscow - the Third Rome was opposed to the indicated false prophecy and was written in the atmosphere when some people were preparing for the flood in the West and in Russia.
Third Rome
At this time, Philotheus recalls that New Rome did not disappear. There is another Orthodox independent country in the world, Great Russia. But hardly anyone in Russia had ever thought about this before him. After all, she was the direct heiress of the Second Rome.
The Grand Duke John III in 1472 was married to Sophia Paleolog, niece of Constantine XI, the last Byzantine emperor. Thus, the dynastic succession was fixed - from the Paleologists to the Rurikovich. Then Ivan III, while being carried away by the described teachings that penetrated from the West, began to build Moscow Russia on the model of the new Byzantium.
He takes over the Byzantine double-headed eagle, which is a symbol of the Christian empire, raising the coat of arms of Moscow on his chest. Italian architects from 1485 to 1515 built by the Byzantine models of the Kremlin. Although the kingdom will officially be proclaimed only in 1547 under Ivan IV, the Grand Duke is already called the sovereign.
Thus, the prophecy of Philotheus about the Third Rome was an expression of the thought that already owned the minds of the Moscow elite. Although for sure she had opponents. These are the enemies of both Orthodoxy and the strengthening of Russia.
From the messages of the monk Philotheus, it can be seen that by the Third Rome he meant both the creed and political power of the Russian state. After all, to be called Third Rome without the Third Empire is hardly meaningful.
Historical background
They are seen in the fact that, as the heiress of Byzantium, Russia has a universal, universal mission of the Orthodox empire. On the one hand, it should be a stronghold of Orthodoxy, and on the other, it should spread this faith throughout the world.
In the 11th century, the elder Filofei had a predecessor - Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kiev, who is the author of The Word of the Law and Grace. He prophesied Rus fulfillment of a unique Christian mission. But at the time of Hilarion, she was at a completely different stage of historical development and could remain only a small principality of Kiev, which could not fulfill the fulfillment of a great destiny.
Filofei lived in a completely different era, when the idea of the Russian mission already had a concrete historical justification. It was the fall of Byzantium, the wedding of the Byzantine princess, followed by the establishment of the kingdom and the introduction of the patriarchate. Such opportunities rarely appear in countries and peoples. But the monk in his letters hinted to the sovereign that the attainment of such a mission is by no means an occasion for pride, but only should contribute to a greater affirmation in the Orthodox faith.
Many people ask quite a legitimate question about whether it is obligatory for an Orthodox person to agree with the idea of Philotheus. Like any other religious-political concept, the theory of the Third Rome is not a dogma. It is only a theological opinion that is well-established. In theology, such an opinion is called "theologian." This is a kind of wish that can be argued and denied.
Moreover, this theologian was not just a private wish of one monk. He relied on a number of solid historical facts, among which:
- continuity between Byzantium and Moscow Russia;
- an authoritative theological tradition based both on scripture and tradition.
Moreover, the idea under consideration was officially enshrined in church documents. In Moscow, in 1859, during the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, the patriarchate was established. In connection with this event, a letter of seal issued by the Local Council put the seal of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and there are his words about the Third Rome. These words are very reminiscent of thoughts from the message of Philotheus. It is from this time that the talk was about "Moscow - the Third Rome."