The expression "Moscow is the third Rome" has long become a winged expression. However, not everyone knows why Moscow was called that. In order to understand the origin of this statement, it is necessary to pay attention to some historical moments associated with the Russian capital.
Ancient Rome was considered eternal and invincible, and in 313 Christianity was recognized in this country as the official religion. The empire began to be called Christian, instead of one king, two appeared - spiritual and secular. But, as you know, every great state has its own enemies.
In 410, the barbarians came close to the gates of the Western Roman Empire and laid siege to it. And although the Roman soldiers fought to the last, the city was captured and half destroyed. The glory and greatness of the Roman state, which was considered the main stronghold of Christianity, cracked.
The next attack on Rome took place in 455. The Vandal invasion was very destructive and cruel, it was one of the bloodiest chapters in the history of the city. For the next two decades, the country was in agony, and in 476 the fall of Western Rome happened. The Great Holy Roman Empire, a symbol of the inviolability of the Christian world, has fallen.
In the process of dividing Great Rome into Eastern and Western Empires in 395, there was a split in the church. The Orthodox East and the Latin West began to confront each other. After the collapse of the Western Empire, Byzantium became the legitimate historical and cultural successor to Great Rome. The Patriarchs of Constantinople began to be considered the dominant representatives of the Christian Church. Constantinople became the world center of Christianity. A millennium later, this power also declined. This happened in 1453, when Constantinople, or Constantinople, as it was called in Russia, was captured by the Ottoman Turks.
The fact that the Two Romes fell, the third is unshakable, and the fourth will not be, was written in his letter by the elder Philotheus of the Pskov Eleazarov Monastery. The message was addressed to Grand Duke Vasily III.
According to the popular historical theory of V. S. Ikonnikov, the idea that Moscow is the third Rome was first expressed in the letters of Philotheus. This idea was very close to Russia, which was considered the heiress of Byzantium. This statement became the main political concept of the Russian state in the XV-XVI centuries.
The formation of a new ideology was accompanied by the reign of Ivan the Terrible, then the transformation of the Russian Church into the Patriarchate. The belief in the spiritual invincibility of Holy Russia imposed an important mission on the state: to preserve Orthodoxy and protect it from the encroachments of enemies. Thus, an unshakable idea was formed that Moscow is the third Rome.
