The Moscow as the Third Rome Concept: Its Nature and Interpretations in the 19th –Early 21th Centuries

The authors seek to identify the main specific features of the Moscow as the Third Rome concept (Philotheus) and its later interpretations, geopolitical as well, in modern Russia. The conducted historical and interdisciplinary research, based on the source, made it possible to propose a new vision of possible grounds for Russian foreign policy strategy. The "Third Rome" notion from the perspective of its impact on Russian foreign policy and its geopolitical dimension is addressed in the works by such authors as A.G. Dugin, N.A. Narochnitskaya, I.N. Panarin, A.N. Sakharov, Сathelinje De Busser, D. Campbell, G. Dijkink, D. Sidorov, Marshall T. Poe., D. Stremooukhoff, V.L. Tsymbursky. In turn, I.V. Artemov, A.V. Antoshchenko V.I. Galinski, E.B. Emchenko, V.V. Kozhinov, S.V. Lurie, A.V. Nazarenko, A.V. Solovyev looked into the Moscow as the Third Rome concept as both a historiosophic phenomenon, a national idea and a visualization of a fair state. As shown by A.N. Klimenko and V.I. Yurtaev, the conception, being in tune with the mood of Russian society had an impact on both the inner structure of the state and its foreign policy, which allows us to suggest that the conception of "Moscow as the Third Rome" may be seen as Russia’s informal geopolitical doctrine.