Место Руси / России в эсхатологических концепциях в Московском государстве конца XVI – середины XVII века

Петербургские славянские и балканские исследования. 2023. № 2. С. 29–52.

Stefanovich P.

This article examines how eschatological ideas which circulated in the late 16th – mid 17th
century Muscovite State, described the place of Rus’ / Russia in the world and in the world history. The
starting point for the analysis is the model of the God-chosen exclusivity of the Muscovite tsardom, which
is often called a special Muscovite mythology. Eschatological ideas, first of all, the idea of «Moscow—
Third Rome», developed by the Pskov monk Philotheus in the 1520s, were a necessary element of this
model, which created the image of «shining Russia» (or «holy Rus»), preserving the true faith up to
the End of the world. In the first half of the 17th century, eschatological ideas described by Orthodox
Ruthenian authors working in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began to be warmly received in the
Muscovite State. Adaptions of their works appeared primarily in two anthologies of polemic writings
published in Moscow — Cyril’s Book (1644) and The Book of Faith (1648). As this article demonstrates,
the eschatological schemes featured in these texts envisaged Rus’ as a nation united by an ancient history
and by true faith rather than by any political structures. At the same time, in the 1640s–1650s, prophecies
of Greco-Byzantine origin popularised in Moscow assigned a key role to Russia in reviving the universal
empire. These new concepts fundamentally diverged both from the idea of «Moscow—Third Rome» and
from the entire Muscovite mythology of exceptionality. As the author concludes, the popularity of these
ideas coincided with fundamental societal changes in Russia, marked by the incorporation of Ukraine in
1654 and the Church Schism.

Keywords: история идей, эсхатология, Московское царство, Russian identity, eschatology, history of ideas, Muscovite State, русская идентичность