The Mayan calendar’s abrupt end on December 21, 2012 may be the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters, but it is far from the only premonition of a world cataclysm. For its part, the medieval Russian Orthodox Church was certain that Judgment Day would arrive in March of 1492.
When the end failed to arrive on schedule, a feeling that doom was imminent pervaded Muscovy, reigniting fears of heresy while eventually justifying, promoting and reinforcing the notion of Moscow as the “Third Rome.”
To understand the Church’s apocalyptic reasoning, one must first understand the difference between the Anno Mundi and Anno Domini calendars.
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