THE BYZANTINE INHERITANCE IN RUSSIA         385
letter dating from the first quarter of the sixteenth century
we read:
'I wish^to add a few words on the present orthodox Empire of our
ruler: he is on earth the sole Emperor (Tsar) of the Christians, the
leader of the Apostolic Church which stands no longer in Rome or in
Constantinople, but in the blessed city of Moscow. She alone shines
in the whole world brighter than the sun. ... All Christian Empires
are fallen and in their stead stands alone the Empire of our ruler in
accordance with the prophetical books. Two Romes have fallen, but
the third stands and a fourth there will not be.'
When Constantinople united with the Latins the 'Woman*
of the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse fled to the Third
Rome, that is} the 'new Great Russia*. When Heberstein
in the middle of the sixteenth century composed his famous
description of Russia he could write: 'Fatentur publice
voluntatem Principis Dei esse voluntatem et quicquid Prin-
ceps egerit ex voluntate Dei agere.' Men said: 'Deus scit et
magnus Princeps/ At the Council of the Hundred Chapters
(Stoglav) held in 1551 it was declared that the orthodoxy of
Moscow was the pattern for the whole of the Eastern Church.
In 1589 the Metropolitan of Moscow received the title of
Patriarch and after long negotiation this was recognized by
the Eastern Patriarchates. In the charter of installation,
when in Moscow the Patriarch of Constantinople, Jeremiah,
elevated the Metropolitan to the Patriarchate of all Russia,
the words of Philotheus were reaffirmed:
'Because the old Rome has collapsed on account of the heresy of
Apollinaris, and because the second Rome which is Constantinople is
now in possession of the godless Turks, thy great kingdom, o pious
Tsar, is the Third Rome. It surpasses in devotion every other, and
all Christian kingdoms are now merged in thy realm. Thou art
the only Christian Sovereign in the world, the Master of all faithful
Christians.'1
From February 1498 dates the first Russian order of
coronation founded on Byzantine models. At the coronation
of Ivan IV in 1547 we hear for the first time that the regalia
had been sent to Russia by the Emperor Constantine Mono-
1 This translation is taken from N. Zernov, The Russians and their Church
(S.P.C.K., 1945), P- 71-
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