Russia’s Imperial Destiny Returns

by Konstantin Malofeev

Konstantin Malofeev presents Empire as a sacred vision of Russia’s destiny, where the Third Rome embodies divine authority, cultural greatness, and the Katechon holding back the forces of evil.

During the Alaska summit, Vladimir Putin half-jokingly called Sergei Lavrov an “imperialist.” In essence, one of the architects of the reawakening Empire. It is difficult to imagine a more flattering description of the head of Russia’s foreign policy department. Yet it is very important to understand the very concepts that are fundamental to Russian history and Russia’s future. To a great extent, this is precisely what Konstantin Malofeev’s work Empire is devoted to:

Over the course of the 20th century, the word ‘Empire’ lost its original meaning and came to be used mainly in contexts associated either with colonialism (‘colonial Empire’) or with Marxist ideology (‘imperialism’). Eventually, the degradation of complex concepts in the age of commercial advertising led to such absurd combinations as ‘the Rothschild Empire,’ ‘the Krupp Empire,’ the ‘Walmart Empire,’ and, finally, even shops called the ‘Plumbing Empire.’

The goal of our book is to restore to the lofty and sacred concept of ‘Empire’ its original meaning, to define the distinctive features of Empire, and to show when and under what conditions they appeared.

Empire is the one and only kingdom of kingdoms; the head of the Empire is the emperor, whose power is autocratic and limited by nothing other than the will of God; the authority of the emperor in the Empire is in symphony with the authority of the patriarch; loyalty to the emperor unites subjects regardless of their origin; the Empire is distinguished by the highest culture, a self-sufficient economy, and meritocracy — the rule of the capable and the worthy.

All of these qualities were embodied by the Empire of Constantinople, the New Rome. Yet when Constantinople withdrew from God and turned away from Orthodoxy, it fell. Moscow became the Third Rome.

We are the Empire. It is in our blood, in our Russian language, in our classical culture, in our Orthodox Church. No one but us will restore the former glory of the Empire. We are bound to do this for the sake of our ancestors and for the sake of our children. For if ‘the one who restrains is taken out of the way,’ then ‘the mystery of lawlessness will be accomplished.’ The Empire is the Katechon, the restrainer that holds the world back from evil. And we are the warriors of this Empire.

— Konstantin Malofeev, Империя. Настоящее и будущее. Книга третья (Empire: Present and Future, Book Three). Moscow, 2022, pp. 497–505.