Putin claims Moscow is the Third Rome

Putin in the Kremlin’s “home church.” Photo: screenshot from the film "Russia. Kremlin. Putin. 25 Years"

In the documentary film "Russia. Kremlin. Putin. 25 Years," Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on matters of religion.

According to him, Prince Vladimir accepted Baptism because he “simply decided to draw closer to the superpower of that time – Byzantium.”

“Soon after, we quickly found ourselves involved in the conflict between the Roman See and Byzantium. In Rome, Christianity was reformed, but not in Byzantium. And we came to believe that we are the successors of true Christianity. Moscow is the Third Rome, and there shall be no fourth. So we are the true Christians,” Putin declared.

He claimed that Catholicism became a tool for the West to “civilize” the lands of Rus', and that Ivan the Terrible was slandered because of his devotion to Orthodoxy.

“As soon as Ivan the Terrible said, ‘No, we will remain Orthodox,’ the legend immediately arose that he was a cruel tyrant, completely insane, and so on,” Putin said.

In his view, “Catholic and Protestant culture always places material well-being first,” while in Russia, it is different – “there they always speak, in the broadest sense, of moral principles.”

Putin also showed journalists a small “home church” on Kremlin grounds, where he sometimes comes to pray.

He insisted that Russians, unlike people in the West, “think more about something eternal, something boundless, something higher.”

“Even atheists believe in that – or so it seems to me. And that’s why a person with such views, with such convictions, with such a moral code, occasionally feels a desire to turn to the Most High, to make the sign of the cross. For Christians – to cross themselves; for Muslims, to call upon God in their own way – ‘Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.’ Jews – in their own way, Buddhists – in theirs. In any case, to turn to the Most High. And I too have that inner need from time to time,” Putin said.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Putin went to church to pray after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

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