The outcome of the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill has been portrayed as a triumph of Orthodoxy over the Catholic West. Not so, says an expert
In around 1515, the Monk Filofei of Pskov wrote to Grand Duke Vasily III of Moscow calling him to the high office of Emperor (Tsar) of the Third and Final Rome. The first two Romes, Filofei told him, had fallen due to corruption and heresy but “the third stands [firm] … And there will not be a fourth. No one will replace your Christian tsardom.” The outcome of the meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow at Havana’s José Martí airport cannot be properly understood without an awareness of this theory of the “third Rome”. It is at the heart of the ideolo
18 February 2016, The Tablet
Joint declaration is not the perceived triumph of Orthodoxy over Roman Catholicism
Pope Francis has been cannier than many commentators have given him credit for after his meeting with Patriarch Kirill
Get Instant Access
Continue Reading
Register for free to read this article in full
Subscribe for unlimited access
From just £30 quarterly
Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
The full weekly edition in print and digital including our 179 years archive.
PDF version to view on iPad, iPhone or computer.
Already a subscriber? Login
User Comments (1)
This is the style of titulature in Orthodox churches. Thus you have:
Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East
Patriarch of Athens and All Greece
Patriarch of Jerusalem and All Palestine,
Etc.