Russia’s Mission as the Restrainer

The article examines the role of Russia as the Restrainer (κατέχων) — the force that prevents the advent of the Antichrist and the establishment of a global anti-Christian order. It highlights the connection between the concept of the katechon (Restrainer) and the idea of the Third Rome as a “kingdom of truth”. The role of Russia in preserving global Orthodoxy is considered both from the military-state and the ecclesiastical perspective. A number of measures are proposed that would allow Russia to maintain its role as the Restrainer. Among these are timocracy (τιμοκρατία) — the rule of spiritual and moral values aimed at eliminating the financial oligarchy and promoting advancement based on moral character. Further, moral oversight of the state by society and moral oversight of society by the state are envisioned. In addition, the legality of power, the elimination of shadow structures, and the restoration of traditional statehood in its entirety are emphasized. Also proposed are: the nationwide right to the means of production, to land and natural resources; the inviolability of personal property; and the inadmissibility of private ownership of the means of production and of resources. Other measures include the dismantling of the destructive comprador oligarchy and the creation of an industrial stratum that would work for the benefit of Russia rather than international financial structures; the eradication of corruption and its causes; and the purification of national culture and mass media from destructive and immoral texts, concepts, images, and from the individuals who generate them. The article also emphasizes the primacy of the Ten Commandments in public consciousness; the preeminence of Orthodoxy, coupled with respect and tolerance for other traditional religions; and the primacy of upbringing over education — of raising a moral and conscientious person over training a professional, since morality also implies a conscientious attitude toward professional growth — thus minimizing the gap between morality and law. What, then, can and must we offer the world in order truly to be the Restrainer in all its force and fullness? First and foremost, law-enforcement practice. More broadly, the transition from orthodoxy (right belief) to orthopraxy (right action).

1. Averintsev, S. S. (2005). Drugoi Rim [Another Rome]. Saint Petersburg : Amfora. [In Russian].

2. Vasilik, V. V. (2019). Rossiya i evropeyskiy imperializm [Russia and European Imperialism]. Saint Petersburg : Aleteiya. [In Russian].

3. Vasilik, V. V. (2016). Tserkov’ i Imperiya v vizantiyskih tserkovno-poeticheskih pamyatnikah [Church and Empire in Byzantine Church-Poetic Monuments]. Saint Petersburg : Aleteiya. [In Russian].

4. Zelinskiy, F. F. (2000). Rimskaya Imperiya [Roman Empire]. Saint Petersburg : Aleteiya. [In Russian].

5. Hilarion (Troitsky), hieromartyr. (2004). Greh protiv Tserkovi (Dumy o russkoy intelligentsii) [Sin Against the Church (Reflections on the Russian Intelligentsia)]. In Tvorenya in 3 volumes. Moscow : Sretenskiy Monastyr’. [In Russian].

6. Ioann Zlatoust. Tolkovanie na poslaniya k Fessalonikiytsam [John Chrysostom. Commentary on the Epistles to the Thessalonians]. (1991). In Ioann Zlatoust. Sobranie sochineniy [John Chrysostom. Collected Works]. (Vol. 11). Moscow. [In Russian].

7. Kovalev, B. N. (2004). Nemetskaya okkupatsiya i kollaboratsionizm v Rossii [German Occupation and Collaborationism in Russia]. Moscow : Ast. Transit. [In Russian].

8. Maksimovich, K. A. (2007). Tserkovnye novelly sv. imperatora Yustiniana I (527–565 gg.) v sovremennom russkom perevode: Iz opyta raboty nad proektom [Church Novels of the Holy Emperor Justinian I (527–565) in Modern Russian Translation: From the Experience of Working on the Project]. Vestnik PSTGU. Bogoslovie. Filosofiya, 1(17), 11–14. [In Russian].

9. Mandel’shtam, O. S. (1990). Stikhotvoreniya [Poems]. In Collected Works in Two Volumes. (Vol. 1). Moscow. [In Russian].

10. Filofey, starets. Poslaniya [Filofey the Elder. Epistles]. (2005). In Biblioteka literatury Drevney Rusi. (Vol. 10, pp. 150–170). Saint Petersburg: Nauka. [In Russian].

11. Pravoslavnyy sotsializm: sb. statei [Orthodox Socialism: Collection of Articles]. (2025). Saint Petersburg : Aleteiya. [In Russian].

12. Pushkin, A. S. (1962). O nichitozhstve literatury russkoy [On the Insignificance of Russian Literature]. In Pushkin A. S. Sobranie sochineniy: v 10 t. [Collected Works in 10 Vol.]. (Vol. 6, Kritika i publitsistika, pp. 407–413). Moscow : Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo khudozhestvennoy literatury. [In Russian].

13. Pushkin, A. S. (1959). Klevetnikam Rossii [To the Slanderers of Russia]. In Pushkin A. S. Sobranie sochineniy: v 10 t. [Collected Works in 10 Vol.]. (Vol. 2, Stikhotvoreniya. 1862–1836, pp. 339–340). Moscow : Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo khudozhestvennoy literatury. [In Russian].

14. Sidorov, A. I. (1996). Kurs patrologii: vozniknovenie tserkovnoy pis’mennosti [Course in Patrology: The Emergence of Church Literature]. Moscow. [In Russian].

15. Turilov, A. A. (2011). Ot Kirilla Filosofa do Konstantina Kostenetskogo i Vasiliya Sof’yanina [From Cyril the Philosopher to Konstantin Kostenetsky and Vasiliy Sofyanin]. Moscow : Indrik. [In Russian].

16. Froyanov, I. Ya. (1997). Oktyabr’ semnadtsatogo [The October of Seventeen]. Saint Petersburg. [In Russian].