THE THREE ROMES

Veliko Tarnovo

The Balkanic Origins of the Myth of the Third Rome 

БаЛКаНСКИe ИСТОКИ мифa Третьего Рима

Le origini balcaniche del mito della Terza Roma 

Les origines balcaniques du mythe de la Troisième Rome.

Balkanische Urspruenge des Myths des Dritten Roms.

The pretension, by the Bulgarian Emperors, to represent the Third Rome  had a profound influence on all the Slavonic peoples of the Balkans, and, in particular, in Dalmatia, where the Catholic Croatian monks preserved and diffused the Old Slavonic Ryths. This preservation of the Old Slavonic heritage was one of the sources of Pan-Slavism, thanks also to the role played, in Czech culture, by the Croatian monks called by the Czech Emperor Charles IV for fostering Slavonic culture in Bohemia, so counterbalancing German and Latin influence.

After the Bulgarian Metropolit Feofej, who imported into Russia the concept of “Third Rome”, and the Croatian priest Križanić (who implored the Zar to free the Slavs from the Ottoman Empire and to adopt a pan-slavonic language), also  the Moravian Brother Quirinus Kühlmann, a disciple of Jakob Böhme, went to Moscow in order to persuade the Tsar to adhere to the anti-Turkish league. According to Kühlmann, Russia had a mission, the one to fight against both Turks and Catholics. Kühlmann was burnt as an “heretic” man upon request of German Lutheran Church in Russia.

This heritage of the Byzantine Empire did not create just friends for Russia. On the contrary, it is also the reason of a constant hostility from Western Europe and towards Russia.

The link between Bulgaria and Russia resurged during the XIX Century independence struggles of the Balkanic peoples against the Ottoman Empire. In that occasion, the supporting role of Russia for the independence of Bulgaria resulted to be decisive. For celebrating the brotherhood between Russia and Bulgaria under the aegis of the Orthodox faith, the Russian Czar built up, as a gift to the Bulgarian people, the Alexandăr Nevskij Sofia Cathedral.

On the other side, it is clear that the “first” Rome has still its weight in the overall Christendom, and that Rome remains a fundamental symbol both for Christendom and for the West. The heritage of the West Roman Empire is however challenged from many sides (starting from  the Germanic peoples, and, especially, the Americans, often claim to be the “real” inheritors of the Romans, and from Islam). Finally, things are rendered more difficult by the fact that, in Western Christianity, contrary to the Eastern one, there is a clearcut distinction between State and Church, so that an identification of the Pope with one State could be impossible. In any case, we can assume that the heritage of the West Roman Empire corresponds to what Trubeckoj called, in his time, “Western Europe”, and is “so to say”, “dispersed” among Catholicism and the different Protestant peoples. The European Union plays also, today, a central role in the definition of this “Western Europe”. However, contrary to what many tend to think, “this” Europe is not, and has also never been, the only one.

Also the “Second Rome”, Constantinople, has shaped the life of Christendom for almost one thousand years, with the traditions of the Eastern Churches, with the Byzantine and Bulgarian Empires, but also with the Ottoman Empire and its remnants still today (such as Turkey, the Balkanic and Caucasic States, the Islamic minorities throughout Europe).

And, then, the “Third” Rome, Moscow, with all its connection in the East Slavonic area, but also in the Caucasus, in Central Asia and in all those areas where Russian speaking, and/or Slavonic and Orthodox, communities exist.

So, it is impossible, today, to define Europe as limited to any of the three “Roman” heritages. This in the same way as it would be impossible to define China just with reference to Confucianism, India with reference to the Aryan languages or Islam just referring to Sunnite Arabs.

This is still more true in a moment, like the present, where globalization itself forces everybody to look for larger alliances, in order to be able to overcome together the difficulties of a changing world.

The tripartition of Europe into the “Three Romes” has a very striking parallelism with the discussions under way, today, with Turkey, for an adhesion of the same to the European Union, and, from another side, with the discussion with Russia for a “Eurasiatic Common Market from Lisbon to Vladivostok”. Elène Carrère d’Encausse has even proposed to negotiate two parallel “Super-association Treaties”, one with Turkey, and the other with Russia.

This Slavonic “Translatio Imperii” had a profound influence on all the Slavonic peoples of the Balkans, and, in particular, in Dalmatia, where the Catholic Croatian monks preserved and diffused the Old Slavonic Ryths . This preservation of the Old Slavonic heritage was one of the sources of Pan-Slavism, thanks also to the role played, in Czech culture, by the Croatian monks called by the Czech Emperor Charles IV for fostering Slavonic culture in Bohemia, so counterbalancing German and Latin influence.

After the Bulgarian Metropolit Feofej, who imported into Russia the concept of “Third Rome”, and the Croatian priest Križanić (who implored the Zar to free the Slavs from the Ottoman Empire and to adopt a pan-slavonic language), also  the Moravian Brother Quirinus Kühlmann, a disciple of Jakob Böhme, went to Moscow in order to persuade the Tsar to adhere to the anti-Turkish league. According to Kühlmann, Russia had a mission, the one to fight against both Turks and Catholics. Kühlmann was burnt as an “heretic” man upon request of German Lutheran Church in Russia.

This heritage of the Byzantine Empire did not create just friends for Russia. On the contrary, it is also the reason of a constant hostility from Western Europe and towards Russia.

The link between Bulgaria and Russia resurged during the XIX Century independence struggles of the Balkanic peoples against the Ottoman Empire. In that occasion, the supporting role of Russia for the independence of Bulgaria resulted to be decisive. For celebrating the brotherhood between Russia and Bulgaria under the aegis of the Orthodox faith, the Russian Czar built up, as a gift to the Bulgarian people, the Alexandăr Nevskij Sofia Cathedral.

On the other side, it is clear that the “first” Rome has still its weight in the overall Christendom, and that Rome remains a fundamental symbol both for Christendom and for the West. The heritage of the West Roman Empire is however challenged from many sides (starting from  the Germanic peoples, and, especially, the Americans, often claim to be the “real” inheritors of the Romans, and from Islam). Finally, things are rendered more difficult by the fact that, in Western Christianity, contrary to the Eastern one, there is a clearcut distinction between State and Church, so that an identification of the Pope with one State could be impossible. In any case, we can assume that the heritage of the West Roman Empire corresponds to what Trubeckoj called, in his time, “Western Europe”, and is “so to say”, “dispersed” among Catholicism and the different Protestant peoples. The European Union plays also, today, a central role in the definition of this “Western Europe”. However, contrary to what many tend to think, “this” Europe is not, and has also never been, the only one.

Also the “Second Rome”, Constantinople, has shaped the life of Christendom for almost one thousand years, with the traditions of the Eastern Churches, with the Byzantine and Bulgarian Empires, but also with the Ottoman Empire and its remnants still today (such as Turkey, the Balkanic and Caucasic States, the Islamic minorities throughout Europe).

And, then, the “Third” Rome, Moscow, with all its connection in the East Slavonic area, but also in the Caucasus, in Central Asia and in all those areas where Russian speaking, and/or Slavonic and Orthodox, communities exist.

So, it is impossible, today, to define Europe as limited to any of the three “Roman” heritages. This in the same way as it would be impossible to define China just with reference to Confucianism, India with reference to the Aryan languages or Islam just referring to Sunnite Arabs.

This is still more true in a moment, like the present, where globalization itself forces everybody to look for larger alliances, in order to be able to overcome together the difficulties of a changing world.

The tripartition of Europe into the “Three Romes” has a very striking parallelism with the discussions under way, today, with Turkey, for an adhesion of the same to the European Union, and, from another side, with the discussion with Russia for a “Eurasiatic Common Market from Lisbon to Vladivostok”. Elène Carrère d’Encausse has even proposed to negotiate two parallel “Super-association Treaties”, one with Turkey, and the other with Russia.