Philotheus of Pskov
Philotheus of Pskov
Philotheus was a hegumen of the Yelizarov Monastery, near Pskov, in the 16th century. He is credited with authorship of the Legend of the White Cowl and the Moscow - Third Rome prophecy, details of which are very scarce. He is popularly known as the presumed author of the concept of Moscow as the Third Rome; Philotheus set out this thesis in his letters to the priest Mikhail Grigorievich Misyur-Mu
"... стараго убо Рима церкви падеся невѣрием аполинариевы ереси, втораго Рима, Константинова града церкви, Агаряне внуцы секирами и оскордъми разсѣкоша двери, сиа же нынѣ третиаго, новаго Рима, дръжавнаго твоего царствиа святая соборная апостольскаа церкви, иж в концых вселенныа в православной христианьстей вѣре во всей поднебесней паче солнца свѣтится."
"She flees into the third Rome which is the new great Russia, that is to say, the desert (pustynja), for it was empty (pusta) of the holy faith, the divine apostles not having preached there and it is only after all other countries that it has been enlightened by divine grace ..., and now, alone, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of the East shines more brightly than the sun in the universe, and only the great Orthodox Tsar of Russia, like Noah saved from the flood in the ark, directs the Church."
