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The Eastern Roman Empire - download these comments as a pdf file here. In the 4th Century AD the original Roman imperial capital, Rome was replaced by Byzantium, later known as Constantinople, and known today as Istanbul. The new city was strategically placed where Europe meets Asia, and was remote from the warring tribes that had plundered Italy. Constantinople became known as ‘the New Rome’ and even promoted itself as ‘the New Jerusalem” around the end of the 4th Century. Centuries later this went hand in hand with a certain ‘messianism’ ideology, where the Eastern Roman Empire spread its version of Christianity to the Slavic nations. Tsar’grad (as the Slavs called Constantinople) had enormous power and prestige at the time, and indoctrinated the Russians with their ideology. In the late 8th Century the Emperor in Constantinople was murdered, and there was a short period when the Eastern Roman Empire was ruled by the Emperor’s widow, the Empress Irene. In Rome the Pope took advantage of the situation, and proclaimed the King of the Franks, Charlemagne, as “Emperor of Rome”. These emperors were later chosen by the Electors (the leaders of the aristocracy) of Bavaria, and became known as the Holy Roman Emperors. They would be crowned by the reigning Pope, in Rome, but rule from Germany. These were the Western Roman Emperors, and the Habsburg family ultimately became the ruling dynasty, with Vienna, Austria their final capital. The throne in Constantinople was soon occupied by an emperor again, and this line of Eastern Roman emperors, in a succession of different Macedonian and Grecian dynasties, continued until 1453, when the Ottoman Turks conquered the city and killed the childless emperor, Constantine XI Palaeologus. Before the overthrow of the Palaeologus dynasty, Constantine’s niece, Zoe Palaeologus, was taken to Rome for safety, with her 2 brothers, and cared for by a Cardinal. There she was converted from the Orthodox religion to Roman Catholicism. All Roman emperors, both Eastern and Western, used the single headed eagle as their emblem, from the time of Julius Caesar up until this last Eastern dynasty. The Palaeologus family had added an extra head to their dynastic eagle in the 12th century, to symbolize power over east and west, and the combination of church and political power, and their double-headed eagle became the imperial symbol for all Eastern Roman, Byzantine, emperors. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Muscovy, with Moscow as it’s central city, was the only Orthodox country (apart from Georgia) not under Muslim rule. When the Habsburg (Western/ Holy Roman) Emperors learnt that the Palaeologan (Eastern/ Orthodox Roman) Emperors had been defeated, they adopted the imperial double-headed eagle as their emblem, and retained it until 1918, when Kaiser Karl II of Austria was sent into exile. In 1470 Grand Duke Ivan III proclaimed independence for the Russian church from the Patriarch of Constantinople. “The fall of Constantinople, which had been thought of as the eternal city of Christianity, and the disappearance of the empire…cast the souls and spirits of the eastern Christians into a profound despair. How could the Church continue to exist without the Empire? And what, now, would be Muscovy’s place in history?...…In order to preserve the traditional structure of Christianity – which involved the Christian Empire – and to assign to Russia her place in history, three eventual solutions could be contemplated: Admit that the fall of Byzantium was not final, and that the imperial city would be freed by the Russians; Admit the supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire of the West; or, lastly, Set up Moscow herself as a definite empire, the successor to that of Byzantium” From ‘Moscow the Third Rome: Sources of the Doctrine’ by Dimitri Stremooukhoff, Speculum, Vol 28, No.1 (Jan 1953), pp 88. In 1472 a marriage was arranged between Princess`Zoe Palaeologus and Prince Ivan III of Muscovy. He was a widower, and was looking for a politically advantageous wife, to help gain supremacy over his brother princes in Russia. The Pope hoped that Zoe would lead Ivan and the Orthodox church to the Roman Catholic church. However, when Zoe arrived in Moscow, she immediately converted back to Orthodoxy, and changed her name to the Russian ‘Sophia’. The Third Rome  As part of her dowry, Princess Zoe had brought the ivory throne (see picture left) of the Byzantine emperors to Moscow, as well as the “rights” to the title of “Caesar” and “Autocrat,” and the use of the imperial symbol (the double headed eagle - see seal below). Ivan decided that he was now a “Czar” (Tsar) , the Russian form of the word Caesar. Their grandson, Ivan the Terrible, was actually the first Czar to be crowned on the ivory throne, and that throne was used for all coronations in Russia until 1896. The main symbols on the throne were five double-headed eagles, and this double eagle became the symbol of the Russian monarchs. The imperial flag was changed, from the red imperial Byzantine eagle on a gold background, to a black eagle on a gold background. The eagle was then adorned with crowns, and a breastplate, and was given an orb and a sceptre in its talons. Above - the Ivory throne of Constantinople, upon which almost every Russian Tsar has been crowned. Click on the picture to see a close up of the main eagle on the back of the throne. From 'Great Treasures of the Kremlin' by David Douglas Duncan, 1979. In 1492, after the marriage of Zoe Sophia Palaeologus to Ivan III, Zosimius the Metropolitan (chief Bishop) of Moscow, proclaimed ‘Ivan III is the new Emperor Constantine of the new Constantinople-Moscow”.
Above - Ivan III's seal, from 1497, from 'Symbols of Russia', by Soboleva & Artamonov, 1993 (Russian) “During Ivan’s reign, three legends calculated to support the credo that Moscow was the third Rome and the centre of the true faith circulated. The first held that the apostle St. Andrew personally had brought Christianity to Russia, thus confirming the Orthodox faith’s direct link to Christ and his teachings. The Second was the wholly fictitious account of the Moscow Grand Prince’s lineal descent from the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus through an alleged illegitimate son named Prus. The Third legend, and in many ways the most significant, helped to establish the Russian Orthodox Church as the successor to the Greek Church, and as bearer of the ‘true faith’, with the grand prince as guardian of that faith. According to this myth, which was often repeated by the leading clergymen of the time, Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh’s grandfather, the Byzantine emperor Monomachus, had invited Vladimir to be co-ruler of Byzantium and, by extension, co-ruler of the Orthodox church. The emperor allegedly sent Vladimir a crown, scepter, and other royal paraphernalia as a sign of his co-regency. No matter how often this legend was repeated, it was impossible to explain away the glaring discrepancy that Vladimir had become Grand Prince of Kiev in 1113 while Emperor Monomachus had died in 1054. …Ivan the Great established in Russia two strong traditions that survived into the 20th century. The first was the supposition that the czar ruled by divine right. Ivan articulated this doctrine in his reply to an offer from Frederick III, the Holy Roman Emperor, to recognize Ivan as a king. It was a most generous offer because the emperors of the Holy Roman Emperor were loathe to recognize kings who might some day turn against them. Ivan wrote in his reply; ‘We by the grace of God, have been Sovereigns over our land from the beginning… We have our ordination from God…and as we have not heretofore wished ordination from anyone, so now we do not wish it.” The 2nd tradition grew largely from Sophia’s Byzantine heritage. Urged by his wife, Ivan borrowed from Byzantium many regal ceremonial rituals that helped to isolate the czar from everyone except his closest advisors. Previous grand princes had remained close to the people, but as the high ceremonial rituals were assimilated into his daily activities, the Russian ruler became increasingly aloof from the population and from all but the most elite members of the boyar and servitor classes as well.” From Czars; Russia’s Rulers for More Than One Thousand Years, by Duffy & Ricci, Facts on File, 1995.  The term “Third Rome” became popular after a Russian Orthodox Monk, Philoteus (Filofey), wrote a letter to the Czar in 1510 with the famous quote:
“All the empires of Christendom are united in thine, for two Romes have fallen and the third exists, and there will not be a fourth. No one will replace your Christian Tsardom!" “The supposedly unique merits of the Church of Moscow are used here (i.e the Third Rome quote) to justify the claim of the Muscovite ruler to lead a universal Christian empire. Moscow is the chosen city, and its prince is the chosen Emperor.” From ‘Russian Messianism’ by Peter J.S. Duncan, Routledge, 2000. Picture above: The Three Romes Map from the Dec 1983 National Geographic Magazine. After the Czar abdicated in 1917 the new government continued to use the double headed eagle emblem, but without any decorations. All the royal regalia was removed. However, after the Czar was killed, the Soviet “empire” (which was not a true empire as it had no kings) began using the ‘hammer and sickle’ emblem, and the eagle almost disappeared from Russia. It is interesting to see that all the regalia, including the throne, was kept “for the people” in the Kremlin treasure houses in Moscow, where they may be visited today.  
In 1992 President Yeltsin had the double eagle restored in Russia, with the end of the Soviet Union. The coinage (rouble) was changed, and the old unadorned eagle was replaced the hammer and sickle. In November 1993 the Russian heraldry committee restored the full imperial eagle as the official coat-of-arms, which was reaffirmed by an act of the Duma (Russian Parliament) in 2000. It is interesting to note that the heraldry committee chose to use a gold eagle on a red background, to show Russia’s Byzantine heritage, not the Czar’s black eagle on a gold background.  Above - the Byzantine Eagle, Russian Czarist Eagle & the Current Russian Eagle.   Above - Maps of Moscow, Jerusalem, Constantinope & Rome, from 'Moscow Third Rome" by Kudryavetev, 1994 (Russian). The maps portray how (supposedly) Moscow's churches were built to combine the layouts of Jerusalem, Constantinople & Rome, as seen on the maps down the far right side. Click on the pictures to see an enlarged view. Today, with the re-emergence of Russia as a 'superpower', the Kremlin is searching for a new ideology to overcome the national 'spiritual vacuum' caused by the collapse of Communism. From the news articles on this website, it is clear that they have the 'Third Rome' ideology in mind, although possibly in a different form from the historical context. "..Here’s a country which in my view has a crisis of identity. After 300 years of defining themselves by their imperial activities, they're right back to where they started in 1700 under Peter the Great. They’ve lost 300 years of their history. They’ve never in their history defined themselves by their domestic achievements. It’s always been the pride they took in being defender of the Slavs... The third Rome, a great power..." Henry Kissinger, former USA Secretary for State, in June 2006. Their renewed seeking of superpower status appears to be revolving around energy: “As Gazeta has already reported, the Kremlin seriously contemplates the idea of a directorate for energy within the presidential administration. The forthcoming (Putin’s ‘state of the nation’) address may be used to lay down theoretic foundation for it. The subject of energy will logically evolve into the central aspect of the whole address - formulation of a new ideology for Russia. Since the energy sector is the main ace in Russia's hand, the key part of the address will concentrate on preservation and development of the energy might of the country. Most experts we approached for comments agree that the forthcoming address will be centered around ideology. .. Putin is supposed to become the author and promoter of the ideology all of the people will accept and embrace... …There are rumors nowadays (with nobody to confirm or deny them) that the Kremlin's ideologues intend to revive the idea of a Third Rome. Numerous security services are believed to back the idea wholeheartedly. The rest of the population will be offered the following values (in descending order): Christian values (while taking care not to offend other faiths), justice, freedom, and equality. That's it. …If Putin says something like that in his address, he will become the keeper and even perhaps the guarantor of a social contract with the old ideology of "Moscow is the Third Rome, and there shall never be a fourth." From Gazeta, 14th April 2006 "Some time ago, as Gazeta points out, Anatoly Chubais attempted to promote a "liberal empire" slogan - but it failed to catch on. But these days, "the rumors and jokes emanating from the Kremlin seem to indicate that its ideologues are preparing to revive the Third Rome idea. "There is some hope that the well-known idea of "Moscow is the Third Rome, and there shall be no Fourth" will primarily appeal to the security and law enforcement agencies (siloviki)...." From Politruk Press Patrol, 21st April 2006. The New Holy Roman Empire and Fifth Rome Apparently Russia, Italy and Germany have instigated a new alliance of the Christian states of Europe and Russia, based on energy supplies called the ‘International Energy Holdings’ or IEH, to be officially launched on the 1st Jan 2009. “It may only be added that one of the leading Italian newspapers reports that in government circles of Italy and Germany have dubbed the IEH project The New Holy Roman Empire. The Kremlin calls the initiative The Fifth Rome. Why the fifth? "Because existence of the fourth Rome is branded as an impossibility, but nobody has ever said that a fifth is impossible," an official of the presidential administration explained (after asking that he were not identified by name or position). "You may take it as a joke, but every detail is of paramount importance in the matters that affect the whole world." The official is convinced that establishment of the IEH will mean appearance of the largest holding in history, the greatest Christian-energy empire ever. Kremlin officials say that The Fifth Rome initiative essentially belongs to Pope John Paul II shocked by the Balkans wars of the middle of the 1990's. The Vatican began boosting its influence with Catholic Croatia then, and this expansion became one of the factors of disintegration of what had been Yugoslavia once and sparked wars between the formerly Yugoslavian republics. The Pope was struck by the outcome of the bloodshed more than by the bloodshed itself. "Orthodox Christians shed blood in wars on Catholic Christians, and Moslems benefit from it," the Pope complained. That was when he became convinced of the necessity of rapprochement between the Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church, seeing it as a must to resist Islamic expansion. There is, however, another hypothesis of appearance of the project of The New Holy Roman Empire. According to it; “the initiative belongs to the leadership of Italian oil/gas and energy corporations and particularly to Enel Senior Vice President Marco Modello, an ardent Catholic known for closeness to a great deal of representatives of the Vatican's upper echelons. It may be that it was precisely Enel top managers eager for access with the Russian energy resources who actively lobbied rapprochement with Russia in the Vatican and in the government of Italy. When the government of France torpedoed Enel's merger with the French-Belgian Sues, the Italians took it as a signal to go for it. 9/11 provided a new impetus to the idea of the Catholic-Orthodox alliance. The tragedy made it plain to Berlin how actual and pressing the Pope's idea of an alliance of Orthodox Christians and Catholics was in the face of the aggressive expansion of Islam. The American campaign against Iraq and the energy price rise also had their effect on Berlin's position. That is why Russia, Italy, and Germany began consultations on establishment of the trilateral Christian-energy holding in 2002. It is known as well that Rome and Berlin initiated similar consultations with France as well, but Paris immediately began demanding privileges. Referring to its difficulties, France demanded access to Algerian gas fields (1). It pointed out as well that its EDF was larger than E.ON, Enel, and ENI (2) and that France was the leader in atomic energy in West Europe (3). Italy and Germany decided that France was demanding too much and terminated all talks with it. Along with everything else, the Vatican did not like the idea of France's participation at all. The Fifth Rome does not intend to be restricted to three countries only. In fact, it cannot impose any such restrictions. The intention to become a privileged partner of the alliance is already evinced by Kazakhstan (for energy reasons) and Greece (for religious ones). It is clear as well that some East European countries will also feel compelled to join The New Holy Roman Empire…..” From Ekspert, No 12 (506), March 27 - April 2, 2006, pp. 58 - 62. The Third Rome in Bible Prophecy 
So how does the 'Third Rome' fit in with Bible prophecy? In Daniel Chapter 2, there is the vision of the image from Nebuchadnezzar's dream (see right), through which God was making known to the king "what shall be in the latter days" (Dan 2:28).
Dan 2:31 - 45: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." The dark iron metal in the legs and partly in the feet is understood to symbolize Roman power. The upper legs are probably the early Roman (Western) and Byzantine (Eastern) Empires, with the lower legs being the later Habsburg (Holy Roman Empire/Western) and Romanov (Russian/Eastern) Empires, both of whose Emperors were deposed in 1918. From 1918 the territories occupied by these former empires have been ruled by various republican type governments. The feet and toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image were made of iron mixed with clay. They had the Roman, iron, element, but it was dominated by the people, not a royal head of state. The various ‘isms’ of the twentieth century included fascism, communism and socialism, all of which were anti-monarchist, but they employed systems based on the Roman republican government. The final stage in the feet of the image is the toes, made of iron and clay. These toes are ‘kings’, and we anticipate that Constitutional monarchies will be established in 10 of the countries that were included in the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. Spain has already installed King Juan Carlos as a Constitutional Monarch, and the royal families of the other “Roman/Orthodox” countries are already preparing to re-claim their wealth, and prestige. |
