The capital of Russia has many nicknames, one of which is the ‘Third Rome.’ However, over time, this nickname has often been misunderstood in the West and linked to the foreign policies of the Soviet Union and Russia. In reality, its origin has little to do with politics.
Moscow, the capital of Russia, has many names and nicknames. There are various honorable nicknames, such as the “first throne,” signifying Moscow as the first capital of Russia, or the “golden domes,” representing the golden-domed churches of Moscow.
There are also mocking nicknames, like “not made of rubber” (suggesting there’s no room for newcomers in Moscow despite its size) or “big village.” But one nickname for the city that has been known since the Middle Ages is the “Third Rome.” How did this nickname originate?
Successors to Rome and Constantinople
Philotheus (Filofei), an Orthodox monk, was the first to refer to Russia as the “Third Rome.” In 1523-1524, he wrote a letter to the Duke of Moscow, urging him to combat heretical teachings. According to Philotheus, the Duchy of Moscow was the last bastion of true religious doctrine.
Philotheus stated in one of his letters:
“All Christian kingdoms have fallen and turned into a single sovereign kingdom, the first two Romes have fallen, and there will be no fourth Rome.”
According to Philotheus, the First Rome was the original Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire that united various tribes under its rule. In the 4th century, Christianity gradually became the dominant religion in Rome, which had originally been a pagan kingdom, and the city became the Christian heart of the world.
Rome’s status as the Christian capital of the world was then passed on to Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which later became the center of Orthodox Christianity after the Christian Church split into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in 1054. According to Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholicism had fallen into heresy, and Constantinople became the Second Rome, the true center of Christian teaching in the world.
“After the Christianization of Kievan Rus in the 10th century, the Rus people recognized the authority of the Eastern Roman Emperor as the protector of all Christians,”— Svetlana Lurye (historian)
However, several centuries later, the Second Rome also fell. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire conquered a weakened Constantinople due to political crises and renamed it Istanbul. Moscow, which in the 15th and 16th centuries successfully embraced surrounding fragmented territories, became the center of Orthodox Christianity.
A Forgotten Idea
According to American historian Marshall Poe, author of the book “Moscow, the Third Rome: Origins and Transformations,” in the West, the term “Third Rome” is often used to explain the foreign policies of the Soviet Union and Russia. When the term was first coined, there was suspicion of expansionist ambitions to create a Roman-like empire. Poe himself believes this approach is incorrect. “The idea of the ‘Third Rome’ had nothing to do with long-term trends in foreign policy or Russian national psychology.”
In his book, the historian explains that the concept of the “Third Rome” was exaggerated. In fact, after Philotheus introduced the idea of the Third Rome in the late 16th century, it was largely forgotten for the next three centuries. Russia did expand, but not because its rulers dreamed of building an Orthodox empire, but for practical reasons: the lack of natural resources, access to the sea, and so on.
Philotheus’ idea resurfaced in the latter half of the 19th century when Russia was under the rule of Emperor Alexander II. At that time, Philotheus’s letters were printed and widely circulated throughout the country. The concept of Moscow as the “Third Rome” was then adopted by proponents of Pan-Slavism, who aspired to unite the Slavic nations under the Russian Empire. However, this idea faded away after the 1917 Revolution, and communism took hold of power.
City of Seven Hills
Despite its status as an imperial capital in the Middle Ages, Moscow has few similarities with Rome. Moscow’s architecture is vastly different from Rome’s, and its climate is much harsher. One of the few similarities often mentioned is that both cities are said to be built on seven hills.
However, historian and Moscow expert Aleksandr Frolov says that this expression doesn’t reflect reality. According to him, the “hills” referred to are merely higher plains that can’t be called hills. The only real hill is Borovitsky, where the Moscow Kremlin stands today. The rest, according to Frolov, are just legends.
“It’s just the imagination of Romanticists (people who adhere to Romanticism - an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement originating in Western Europe in the 18th century during the Industrial Revolution - ed.),” the historian says. “Such stories were created by people who wanted to call Moscow the ‘Third Rome’.”
