Post-Imperial Third Romes: Resurrections of a Russian Orthodox geopolitical metaphor

Geopolitics

Volumn 11, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 317-347

  Sidorov, Dmitrii ^a  

^a CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CHURCH ROLE; GEOPOLITICS; IMPERIALISM; POLITICAL HISTORY;

EURASIA; RUSSIAN FEDERATION;

EID: 33744922157     PISSN: 14650045     EISSN: 15573028     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14650040600598585     Document Type: Article

References (144)

1. A. Tsygankov, 'Mastering Space in Eurasia: Russia's Geopolitical Thinking after the Soviet Break-Up', Communist and Post-Communist Studies 36 (2003) pp. 101-127.
2. J. O'Loughlin, 'Geopolitical Fantasies and Ordinary Russians: Perception and Reality in the Post-Yeltsin Era', Geopolitics 6 (2001) pp. 17-48.
3. See also J. O'Loughlin and P. Talbot, 'Where in the World is Russia? Geopolitical Perceptions and Preferences of Ordinary Russians', Eurasian Geography and Economics 46(1) (2005) pp. 23-50.
4. V. Kolossov and N. Mironenko, Geopolitika i Politicheskaia Geografiia [Geopolitics and Political Geography] (Moscow: Aspekt Press 2001) pp. 162-172. Their discussion of modern Russian nationalist geopolitical ideas avoids any Orthodox references; These ideas are rather presented as influenced by Panslavism of Danilevskii and anti-Westernism. V. Tsymburskii is superficially represented as neo-Westerner and critic of Third Romist temptations.
5. See also presentations at an international conference "Between Ethnos and Eurasia. Ideas and Influence of L.N. Gumilev" (Moscow: The Institute for History of Natural Sciences and Technics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 27 June, 2005), especially papers by Konstantin Axenov 'Ideas of L.N. Gumilev in Modern Russian Geopolitical Conceptions', and Viktor Shnirel'man 'Alternative Eurasianism'.
6. Anastasia Mitrofanova Politizatsiia 'Pravoslavnogo Mira' [Politicization of the 'Orthodox World'] (Moscow: Nauka 2004). In a rare study of contemporary ideologies of political Orthodoxy, politologist Mitrofanova evaluates the possibility of formation of 'an Orthodox world' as a cultural-political unity analogous to the 'Islamic world' and its consequences for security. Although socio-political rather than a geopolitical study, Mitrofanova's book provides a useful starting point for classification of various currents of political Orthodoxy.
7. Another work on the topic is Alexandr Verkhovskii's study Politicheskoe Pravoslavie: Russkie Pravoslavnye Natsionalisty i Fundamentalisty, 1995-2001 [Political Orthodoxy: Russian Orthodox Nationalists and Fundamentalists] (Moscow: Tsentr Sova 2003).
8. Tsygankov (note 1).
9. Tsygankov (note 1) p. 105.
10. There are numerous accounts; I draw here on D. Sidorov, Orthodoxy and Difference: Essays on the Geography of Russian Orthodox Church(es) in the 20th Century (Princeton Theological Monograph Series 46). (San Jose, CA: Pickwick Publications 2001) ch. 2.
11. Millennial expectations abounded: The Church predicted that the world would end in 1492, and similar apocalyptic premonitions came in 1500. When the world failed to end in 1492, the Metropolitan of Moscow marked the event by proclaiming Ivan III to be the "new Emperor Constantine of the "new Constantinople - Moscow." Another prophecy of the time, which recurred frequently in Russian messianist thought, was that the Third Rome would liberate the Second: Moscow would capture Constantinople. The idea of Moscow as successor of Byzantium was assisted by the marriage of a Russian ruler to a niece of the last Byzantine Emperor. The Grand Duke of Moscow began to assume the Byzantine titles of tsar (a version of the Roman 'Caesar') and to use as his state emblem the double-headed eagle of Byzantium (symbolising the East-West duality of the culture). P. Duncan, Russian Messianism: Third Rome, Revolution, Communism and After (London and New York: Routledge 2000) pp. 10-12.
12. Duncan, Russian Messianism (note 9) pp. 10-12, emphasis mine.
13. Nataliia Sinitsyna, Tretiy Rim: Istoki i Evoliutsiia Russkoy Srednevekovoy Kontseptsii (XV-XVI vv.) [Third Rome: Origins and Evolution of Russian Medieval Concept (XV-XVIth c.)] (Moscow: Indrik 1998).
14. See also N. Sinitsyna, 'Uchrezhdenie Patriarshestva i Tretiy Rim' [Patriarchate's Establishment and Third Rome], 400-letie Uchrezhdeniia Patriarshestva v Rossii/IV Centenario Dell'Istituzione del Patriarchato in Russia (Rome: Herder Editrice E Libreria 1991) pp. 59-80
15. N. Soboleva, 'Kontseptsiia 'Moskva - Tretiy Rim' i Ofitsial'naia Rossiyskaia Simvolika Vtoroy Poloviny XVIII-XIX v.' [Concept of 'Moscow the Third Rome' and the Official Russian Symbolics of the Second Half of XVIII-XIX c.], Rossiia i Mirovaia Tsivilizatsiia: K 70-letiiu Chlena-Korrespondenta RAN A.N. Sakharova (Moscow: Institut Rossiyskoy Istorii 2000) pp. 195-210.
16. Sinitsyna Tretiy Rim (note 11) pp. 327-328
17. M. Poe, 'Izobretenie Kontseptsii "Moskva - Tretii Rim" [The Invention of the Theory 'Moscow, Third Rome'], Ab Imperio 2 (2000) p. 68.
18. Sinitsyna Tretiy Rim (note 11) p. 328
19. Poe (note 12) pp. 78-79.
20. And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.' (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8) The Bible. New International Version (International Bible Society 1984).
21. The urban dimension of the topic will not be considered here, see my paper in progress.
22. In Pravoslavnyy Sobesednik in 1861-1863 (Sinitsyna Tretiy Rim [note 11] p. 13).
23. Contrary to common beliefs, the doctrine of the Third Rome was unknown to the Slavophiles and had not been occupying a key position in Panslavists' teaching (see Poe [note 12] p. 77).
24. For further studies, see I. Kirillov, Tretiy Rim: Ocherk Istoricheskogo Razvitiia Idei Russkogo Messianisma [Third Rome: Essay on Historical Evolution of Russian Messianism Idea] (Moscow: T-vo Tipo-Litografii VI.M.Mashistova 1914)
25. K. Belova, 'Konstantinopol' i "Tretiy Rim" v "Dnevnike Pisatelia" F.M.Dostoevskogo (1876-1877)' [Constantinople and Third Rome in F.M. Dostoevskii's 'Writer's Diary (1876-1877)'], Vostok v Russkoy Literature XVIII-Nachala XX veka. Znakomstvo. Perevody. Vospriiatie (Moscow: IMLI 2004) pp. 197-215
26. S. Nosov, 'Ideia "Moskva - Tretiy Rim" v Interpretatsii Konstantina Leont'eva i Vladimira Solov'eva' [Moscow the Third Rome Idea in Interpretation of Konstantin Leont'ev and Vladimir Solov'ev] Russkaia Literatura i Kul'tura Novogo Vremeni (St. Petersburg: Nauka 1994) pp. 156-165.
27. V. Lur'ye, Tri Eskhatologii: Russkaia Eskhatologiia Do i Posle Velikogo Raskola [Three Eschatologies: Russian Eschatology Before and After the Great Schism] available at .
28. L. Saraskina, 'F.M. Dostoevskii i "Vostochnyy Vopros"' [F.M. Dostoevskii and the 'Eastern Question'], Sine Arte, Nihil: Sbornik Nauchnykh Trudov v Dar Professoru Milivoe Jovanovichu (Ser. Noveyshie Issledovaniia Russkoy Kul'tury 1) (Belgrade-Moscow: Piataia Strana 2002) pp. 250-263
29. Yu. Kostiashov, A. Kuznetsov, V. Sergeev, and A. Chumakov, Vostochnyy Vopros v Mezhdunarodnykh Otnosheniiakh vo Vtoroy Polovine XVIII-Nachale XX v. [The Eastern Question in International Relations in the Second Half of XVIII-early XX c.] (Kaliningrad: Kalinigradskii Gosudarstvennyy Universitet 1997)
30. S. Khatuntsev, 'Vostochnyy Vopros v Rabotakh K. N. Leont'eva' [The Eastern Question in K. Leont'ev's Works], Stranitsy Istorii i Istoriografii Otechestva 2 (Voronezh: Izdatel'stvo Voronezhskogo Universiteta 1999) pp. 63-82.
31. For example, N. Zernov, 'Moskva - Tretiy Rim' [Moscow Third Rome], Put' 51 (1936) pp. 3-18
32. N. Zernov, Moscow the Third Rome [Moscow Third Rome] (London: Soc. for Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York: Macmillan 1937).
33. N. Berdiaev, The Origin of Russian Communism (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press 1931/1960) p. 144.
34. N. Berdiaev, The Russian Revolution (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press 1931/1971) p. 41.
35. N. Berdiaev, The Russian Revolution (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press 1931/ 1971) p. 41.
36. See, for example, Mikhail Agursky, The Third Rome: National Bolshevism in the USSR (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1987) or a more recent Russophobic treatise by Roman Kis', Final Tret'ego Rimu: Rosiys'ka Mesians'ka ideia na Zlami Tisiacholit [The End of the Third Rome: The Russian Idea at the Turn of the Millennium] (L'viv: Institut Narodoznavstva NAN Ukraini 1998).
37. Poe (note 12) p. 82.
38. And a paper by historian N. S. Chaev, '"Moskva - Tretiy Rim" v Politicheskoy Praktike Moskovskogo Pravitel'stva XVI veka' [Moscow the Third Rome in the Political Practice of the Moscow Government of the 16th c.], Istoricheskie Zapiski 17 (1945) pp. 3-23. According to Chaev, the idea of Filofei was not a translatio imperii theory, rather a declaration of independence from predator imperialist states.
39. Even if there is no evidence of Ivan's familiarity with the concept or ever saying these words. (Poe [note 12] pp. 81-82). This is actually not the first scene in the film.
40. See O. Vasil'eva, Russkaia Pravoslavnaia Tserkov' v Politike Sovetskogo Gosudarstva v 1943-1948 gg. [Russian Orthodox Church in the Politics of the Soviet State in 1943-1948] (Moscow: Institut Rossiyskoy Istorii 2001) and/or my paper in progress.
41. D. Trenin, The End of Eurasia: Russia on the Border Between Geopolitics and Globalization (Moscow: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 2001).
42. I. Vasilenko, Geopolitika: Uchebnoe Posobie [Geopolitics: Textbook] (Moscow: Logos 2003) pp. 68-73.
43. N. Nartov, Geopolitika: Uchebnik, [Geopolitics: Textbook] 3rd ed. (Moscow: Unity/Edinstvo 2004).
44. V. Dergachev, Geopolitika: Uchebnik [Geopolitics: Textbook] (Moscow: Unity-Dana 2004).
45. Kolossov and Mironenko (note 3) themselves emphasise the importance of geoeconomics and politico-economic strategies.
46. Mitrofanova (note 5).
47. A. Lazari, 'Neskol'ko Zamechanii po Povodu Idei Moskvy - Tret'ego Rima, v Russkoy Mysli XIX veka' [Few Comments Regarding the Idea of Moscow the Third Rome in Russian Thought of the XIXth c.] Kultural Literacka Dawnej Rusi (Lodz: Acta Universitatis Lodziensis, Folia Litteraria 32 1992) p. 149.
48. A. Verkhovskii (note 5) p. 113.
49. See Ioann (Snychev), Russkaia Simfoniia [Russian Symphony] (St. Petersburg: Tsarskoe Delo 2004). Panslavism is another source of inspiration. Writings of Archimandrite Konstantin (Zaytsev), especially his Chudo Russkoy Istorii [The Miracle of Russian History] (Jordanville: Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary 1970), were important for recovery of the original Third Rome idea from Berdiaev's (mis)interpretations.
50. Izvestia, 'Prosecutorial Answer to Jewish Question' (23 June 2005), translated and posted on website .
51. Mikhail Nazarov, Vozhdiu Tret'ego Rima: K Poznaniiu Russkoy Idei v Apokalipsicheskoe Vremia [To the Ruler of Third Rome: Towards Understanding the Russian Idea in Apocalyptic Time] (Moscow: Russkaia Ideia 2005).
52. See also I. Kuz'menko, 'Geopolitika Sviatoy Rusi' [Geopolitics of Holy Russia], III Rim: Russkii Al'manakh 1 (1994) pp. 7-12
53. Moskovskii Istoriko-Politologicheskii Tsentr, 'Osnovnye Kontseptsii Natsional'noy Bezopasnosti v Istorii Rossii' [Main Concepts of National Security in Russia's History], III Rim: Russkii Al'manakh 2 (1997) pp. 10-15
54. Moskovskii Istoriko-Politologicheskii Tsentr, 'Vvedenie' [Introduction], III Rim: Russkii Al'manakh 1 (1994) pp. 3-5
55. V. Maniagin, Tretii Rim i Belyy Dom: Ocherki Russkoy Istorii [Third Rome and White House: Essays on Russian History] (Moscow: Sviataia Rus' 2002).
56. For example, Petrov claims that geopolitics in terms of Orthodox historiosophy is contestation between the catehon Russian Orthodox civilisation and apostate anti-Christian civilisation (V. Petrov, Geopolitika Rossii: Vozrozhdenie ili Pogibel' [Geopolitics of Russia: Revival or Death?] (Moscow: Veche 2003) p. 23).
57. Nazarov (note 39) p. 753.
58. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 123.
59. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 122.
60. Nazarov (note 39) pp. 782-789.
61. Nazarov (note 39) pp. 789-798.
62. Nazarov (note 39) p. 798.
63. Nazarov (note 39) p. 829.
64. Nazarov (note 39) p. 832.
65. Nazarov (note 39) p. 886.
66. Nazarov (note 39) p. 887. On 2 March 1917, the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne.
67. Nazarov (note 39) pp. 888-909.
68. Nazarov (note 39) pp. 888-889.
69. Nazarov (note 39) p. 889.
70. Nazarov (note 39) p. 890.
71. Nazarov (note 39) p. 893.
72. Nazarov (note 39) p. 913.
73. Ye. Kholmogorov, Russkiy Proekt: Restavratsiia Buduschego [The Russian Project: Restauration of the Future] (Moscow: Eksmo, Algoritm 2005). The book was published too late for this review but it seems to be a collection of essays previously placed online. Kholmogorov's interpretation of the Third Rome could be found in his essay 'Tretii Rim: Ocherk Proiskhozhdeniia Ideologii' [Third Rome: An Essay on Origin of the Ideology] (2004), available at .
74. See, for instance: Mikhail Golovanov 'Russkaia Doktrina na Ostrove Russkoy Slavy' [The Russian Doctrine on the Island of Russian Glory] (12 Oct 2005), available at . There is evidence that Kholmogorov plans to participate in the elections of Moscow State Duma (Fall 2005).
75. Ye. Kholmogorov, 'Restavratsiia Buduschego' [Restoration of the Future] (15 Mar 2005), available at .
76. Ye. Kholmogorov, 'Religii Poslednego Vremeni' [Religions of the Latter Time] (24 May 2005), available at .
77. Ye. Kholmogorov, 'Politicheskoe Pravoslavie' [Political Orthodoxy] (9 June 2005), available at .
78. Ye. Kholmogorov, Pragmaticheskaia Irredenta' [Pragmatic Irredentism] (11 May 2005), available at .
79. Ye. Kholmogorov, 'Politicheskoe Pravoslavie' [Political Orthodoxy] (9 June 2005), available at .
80. Such as websites as pravaya.ru, apn.ru, intelros.ru, and russ.ru.
81. Ye. Kholmogorov, 'Geopolitika' [Geopolitics] (23 July 2004), available at .
82. Gregorii Nikolaev, 'Vyzov Geo-apokaliptiki' [Challenge of Geoapocalyptics] (5 Sept 2005), available at
83. also in G. Nikolaev Vyzov Geoapokaliptki [Challange of Geoapocalyptics] in Eskha tologicheskii sbornik (St. Alteyia 2006, in press) pp. 383-396.
84. See also Vadim Tsymburskii, 'Russkie i Geoekonomika' [Russians and Geoeconomics], in Pro et Contra 8 2 (2003) p. 216, available at .
85. Kholmogorov (note 65).
86. V. Tsymburskii, Rossia - Zemlia za Velikim Limitrofom: Tsivilizatsiia i Ee Geopolitika [Russia, the Land behind the Great Limitrof: Civilisation and Its Geopolitics] (Moscow: URSS 2000) p. 15.
87. V. Tsymburskii, 'Skol'ko Tsivilizatsiy? (S Lamanskim, Shpenglerom i Toynbi nad Globusom XXI Veka)' [How Many Civilizations? (With Lamanskii, Spengler and Toynbee Over the 21st c. Globe)], Pro et Contra 5/3 (2000), available at .
88. As well as the legendary Kitezh-City that sunk underwater to stay uncorrupted; built on the marshy lands St. Petersburg is another example.
89. V. Tsymburskii, '"Ostrov Rossiia" za Sem' Let (Prikliucheniia Odnoy Geopoliticheskoy Kontseptsii)' [Seven Years of 'Island Russia': Adventures of a Geopolitical Concept], Polis (March 2001), available at .
90. Alexandr Neklessa is a prolific writer. Examples of his numerous publications are Liudi Vozdukha, ili Kto Stroit Mir? [Homines Aeris or Who Builds the World?] (Moscow: Institut Ekonomicheskikh Strategiy 2005)
91. (ed.), Global'noe Soobschestvo: Kartografiia Postsovremennogo Mira [Global Society: Cartography of Post-Modern World] (Moscow 2002)
92. Mirovoy Sever i Mirovoy Yug: Novyy Tsivilizatsionnyy Kontekst [The World's North and the World's South: A New Civilizational Context] (Moscow: Rossiyskaia Akademiia Nauk 2002)
93. Transgranich'e, Ego Landschafty i Obitateli [Trans-Borderlands: Its Landscapes and Enhabitants [Moscow: Nauchnyy Sovet RAN 2002).
94. This review draws upon interpretation of Neklessa's works by Yegor Kholmogorov (note 65)
95. and Vadim Tsymburskii (note 66).
96. Kholmogorov (note 65).
97. See also Tsymburskii (note 66).
98. Ibid.
99. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 103.
100. The same geographical extension of the Slavic-Orthodox state could be seen in the verse by Tyutchev, the prominent poet and famous ideologist of Panslavism. RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY Moscow, Peter's city, and Constantine's city Are the holy capitals of the Russian realm. But where its outer limit, where its border, To north, to east, to south, and where the sun sets? Destiny will unmask them in future times. Seven inland seas, and seven great rivers, From Nile to Neva, from Elbe to China, from Volga To Euphrates, from the Ganges to the Danube - That is the Russian realm. And never will It pass, as the Spirit foresaw and Daniel predicted. (1848 or 1849) F. Tyutchev, Poems & political letters of F. I. Tyutchev. Translated with introd. and notes by Jesse Zeldin (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press 1973), p. 131.
101. Original Russian version: N. Lisovoy, and T. Sokolova (eds). Tri Rima (Moscow: OLMA-Press 2001) p. 5.
102. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 131.
103. Serbia plays big role in the political mythology of modern Panslavism. It is perceived as not only the natural (and seemingly the only) ally of Russia, but also as a preserve of truly Slavic and truly Orthodox values that have already been lost in Russia. Joint actions of the Western world against Yugoslavia under Milosevic and Republic Serpska under Radovan Karajic have been perceived by Panslavists as proof of their theory of the fight between 'Slavdom' and 'Latindom' (Mitrofanova [note 5] p. 132).
104. Nataliia Narochnitskaia, Rossiia i Russkie v Mirovoy Istorii [Russia and Russians in World History] (Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniia 2004)
105. see also N. Narochnitskaia, 'Bor'ba za Postvizantiyskoe Prostranstvo' [Fight for Post-Byzantine Space], Nash Sovremennik 4 (1997). Daughter of an academician, she is also a specialist on the history of international relations. Narochnitskaia has worked about eight years at the UN headquarters in New York City; currently she is a member of the Russian parliament and deputy head of its committee on international affairs.
106. K. Mialo, Mezhdu Zapadom i Vostokom: Opyt Geopoliticheskogo i Istoriosophskogo Analiza [Between the West and the East: An Experience of Geopolitical and Historiosophical Analysis] (Moscow: Izd. Solov'ev. Ser. "Rossiia i Mir: Itogi XX veka" al'manakh, 5/2003.) (Moscow: Russkiy National'nyy Fond 2003) [first published: Moskva (1996 ] pp. 11-12
107. A. Nazrenko, Russkoe Samosoznanie: Mezhdu Tsarstvom i Tserkov'iu [Russian Self-Conscience: BetwZen Kingdom and Church] Moskva: zhurnal russkoy kul'tury/12 (2000), pp. 133-144.
108. K. Smirnov and O. Kataeva, Istoricheskii Vyzov Slavianskomu Soobschestvu [Historical Challenge to Slavic Society] (Moscow 2000)
109. Russko-Slavianskaia Tsivilizatsiia: Istoricheskie Istoki, Sovremennye Geopoliticheskie Problemy, Perspektivy Slavianskoy Vzaimnosti. Comp. E. Troitskii (Moscow 1998).
110. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 129.
111. Narochnitskaia (note 80) p. 401.
112. Narochnitskaia (note 80) pp. 125-126
113. Narochnitskaia (note 80) p. 8.
114. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 128.
115. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 131
116. Narochnitskaia, ('Bor'ba' note 80) p. 235.
117. At the same time, most Panslavists are similar to Fundamentalists (and differ from Eurasianists) in their attitude to the Islamic world, and to a different extent criticise the Eurasianist approach. There is evidence that the ideology of Panslavism in modern interpretation is increasingly amorphous and in many aspects becomes reminiscent of Eurasianism. Some Panslavists even support the purely Eurasianist idea of union of the Orthodox world with the world of Islam. For example, N. Narochnitskaia, despite general negative (nepriaiznennoe) attitude towards Islam, accepts that "Islamic and Orthodox worlds are not absolute antipodes and have possibility of constructive oexistence in geopolitical balance (ravnovesie)", Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 131.
118. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 135.
119. Alexei Mitrofanov, Rossiia pered Raspadom ili Vstupleniem v Evrosoiuz [Russia: Between Collapse or Joining the European Union] (Moscow: Ad Marginem 2005). Alexey Mitrofanov is one of the leaders of the notorious LDPR party of Vladimir Zhirinovskii. In the West LDPR is often erroneously perceived as a Russian ultra-nationalist party; however, behind their clever yet superficial right-wing rhetorics is essentially a liberalist Westernisation ideology expressed in the party's name, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.
120. A. Mitrofanov (note 90) p. 309.
121. Petr Savitskii, Kontinent Eurasia [Continent Eurasia] (Moscow: Agraf 1997) p. 92.
122. Mitrofanova (note 5) pp. 112-113.
123. A. Dugin, Osnovy Geopolitiki [Foundations of Geopolitics] (Moscow: Arktogeia-Tsentr 2000) pp. 395, 407.
124. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 139.
125. Arkadii Maler, Strategii Sakral'nogo Smysla [Strategies of Scared Meaning] (Moscow: Parad 2003).
126. Early manifestations of the future Byzantism ideology can be found in works by K. N. Leont'ev (e.g., Vizantism i Slavianstvo, Pis'ma Solov'evu, Vladimir Solov'ev protiv Danilevskogo) who was skeptical about the ideas of Slavic brotherhood.
127. The geopolitical and political component of Maler's Eurasian neo-Byzantism is the following: The ideal form of Byzantine (Orthodox) statehood is 'imperial democracy', a strong hierarchical and centralised state. Its ideology is threefold: "1. Russia is the successor of the historical mission of Byzantium, catehon. Moscow [is] the Third Rome; 2. The main principle of Russian statehood is the symphony of authorities, unity of the state and the church. Orthodoxy is the state religion. 3. The main geopolitical goal of the empire is expansion of the Orthodox tradition, construction of the Eurasian Orthodox empire at the scale of the whole globe." Source: A. Maler, 'Sotsial'naia doktrina neovizantizima' [Social Doctrine of Neo-Byzantism] (25 August 2005), available at: http://w.w.w.pravaya.ru/govern/392/4583.
128. For example V. Karpets, 'Imperiia Neizbezhna' [Empire Is Inevitable] (24 June, 1 July 2005), available at .
129. N. Khodakovskii, Tretiy Rim [Third Rome] (Moscow: AiF-Print 2002) p. 15. It is not easy to embrace the corpus of works on the New Chronology: Morozov's works alone constitute 8 big volumes, more than 6.5 thousand pages, Fomenko and Nosovskii - more than 10 thousand pages. There are also three volumes by Postnikov, books by Valianskii and Kaliuzhny, Guts, Zhabinskii, Efimov and others not counting the internet and works by foreign authors.
130. I use here G. Nosovskii and A. Fomenko, Imperiia: Rus', Turtsiia, Kitay, Evropa, Egipet. Novaia Matematicheskaia Khronologiia Drevnostey [Empire: Rus', Turkey, China, Europe, Egypt. New Mathematical Chronology of the Ancient] (Moscow: Faktorial 1996). Also, I draw upon Khodakovskii's book because it is essentially a popular representation of this corpus. It provides an accessible overview of various monographs of A. Fomenko and G. Nosovskii and other followers of the New Chronology.
131. For English translations see A. Fomenko, History: Fiction or Science (Douglas, UK: Delamere Resources Ltd. 2003); 7 volumes expected, so far only two are available.
132. For a rare scholarly analysis of the New Chronology look at Konstantin Sheiko "Lomonosov's Bastards: Anatolii Fomenko, Pseudo-History and Russia's Search for a Post-Communist Identity" (unpublished Ph.D. thesis) (University of Wollongong 2004).
133. Nosovskii and Fomenko Imperiia (note 100), Part 4, Chapter 3 "History of Several Romes: First Ancient Rome, Second New Rome, and three "Third Romes", pp. 358-361, 398-404
134. see also .
135. Khodakovskii (note 100) p. 6.
136. Gennady Zyuganov, Geografiia Pobedy [Geography of Victory] (Moscow: Zyuganov 1997), available at .
137. See also Part 3 in his Postizhenie Rossii [Understanding Russia] (Moscow: Mysl' 2000).
138. Tsygankov (note 1) p. 120.
139. Tsygankov (note 1)
140. Mitrofanova (note 5).
141. Zyuganov (note 103).
142. Zyuganov in 3 Nov. 2000 interview said he would not contrast Communist ideology and religion (Orthodoxy) and repeated the widespread idea that the Mt. Sinai Preaching (Nagornaia Propoved') and the Moral Codex of the Builders of Communism are essentially not different (Mitrofanova [note 5] p. 144).
143. Mitrofanova (note 5) p. 147. Perhaps the revanchist Third Romisms of Nazarov and Zyuganov could constitute a special category; they could be treated as a new, specifically post-imperial form of the Third Rome.
144. Matthew Rafael Johnston, The Third Rome: Holy Russia, Tsarism, and Orthodoxy, 2nd ed. (Washington: The Foundation for Economic Liberty 2004).