Третий Рим. Истоки и эволюция русской средневековой концепции

Nina V. Sinitsyna has now turned to the topic with actual empirical evidence, or at least most of the time with empirical evidence. Sinitsyna is an experienced scholar, best known for her studies of Maksim Grek, and not surprisingly her present work eliminates some of the ideological and presentist notions that have encumbered the modest edifice of the brief epistles of Filofei of Pskov. She is very aware of the modern over-interpretation of Filofei and her opening remarks on the subject are entirely correct, even if she does not always follow her own advice. Beginning with a discussion of the Russian attitude to the Greek church after 1453, she goes on to treat some Russian texts and ideas related to notions of the Third Rome (or alleged to be related), presents a detailed discussion of the texts and manuscripts of Filofei and an analysis of their contents, and closes with some account of the fate of the idea in the 17th century. The result is essential material for the history of ideas in the entire period under discussion, whatever the reader may think of her particular notions of Filofei.