Holy Rus' or Holy Russia () - is an important religious and philosophical concept which appeared from the 9th century and developed gradually from the 16th century to the 21st century by people in

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

, East Europe, Central Eurasia and

Great Russia Great Russia, sometimes Great Rus' ( , ; , ; , ), is a name formerly applied to the territories of "Russia proper", the land that formed the core of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and later the Tsardom of Russia. This was the land to which the e ...

. As a concept it has several meanings. It designates the Russian land as chosen by God and enlightened by the Christian faith. However, among the other spaces, Holy Rus' is not distinguished by geography, nor by the state it constitutes, nor by ethnicity, but by

Eastern Orthodox Christianity Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

.(ru) Holy Russia.En: Словарь русского языка: В 4-х т. М., 1999. — Т. 4. — С. 59—60

History

This religious concept developed through the ages in close connection with Orthodox Russian Christianity, which cannot be understood completely without the idea of Holy Rus'. The idea of Holy Rus' can be explained as the idea of Kingdom of Heaven well-known to every Christian around the world, but developed in the realities of society of Central Eurasia under the strong influence of ancient East Slavic Orthodox Christian culture. The idea made great impact on the emergence and development of many states and societies in East Europe and Central Eurasia through the centuries: the ancient principality of Rus' (the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

), the Eastern Slavic principalities in the state structure of the

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, Empire of the Great Horde, the Russian Czardom and

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

of the 16th to 20th centuries and even on the emergence and development of the Soviet Union which gave birth to the modern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n, Ukrainian and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian republics:

References

Sources

"Holy Russia": A Study in the History of an Idea

History

See also

References

Sources

Further reading