The state-inspired mythologizing about Russia’s Byzantine roots notwithstanding, there is a lot of fertile soil for a hodgepodge of history in the budding Orthodox empire (“A Byzantine Sermon,” February 16, 2008). Many a Slavic state, especially on the Orthodox side of the new-fangled Iron Curtain, is given to mythologizing, as well. In all such states the adoration of the supposedly glorious past in the east and the abomination of the ignoble future in the west go hand in hand with crumbling economies overseen by so many hard-boiled crooks. Moscow as a new and improved Constantinople will serve them all. And well. What is worse, the new Byzantium will have ample support from a large segment of the intelligentsia. From Dostoevsky to Solzhenitsyn, they will have many a precursor, too. In short, pointing out glaring historical inaccuracies in Russian mythologizing, as you do, will be far from enough in years to come, for we are not dealing with history here. Rather, we are confronted by a resilient ideology of considerable vintage.

Addendum I (February 20, 2008)

I just got a lovely electronic-mail message from Arkady Ostrovsky, the Moscow bureau chief of The Economist: “Quite a good letter to print, I would have thought.” I responded at once: “I agree, of course. The mighty newspaper has already printed quite a number of my letters, but this is an inspired one that should not be missed.” And I copied the editor in London, it goes without saying. Let us hope he gets the hint. From the new and improved Constantinople, no less.

Addendum II (March 3, 2008)

To my joy, this letter can be found in the current issue of The Economist. To my disappointment, two important bits of text are missing from the printed version. In particular, the reference to “the Orthodox side of the new-fangled Iron Curtain” has been cut out. I had Serbia in mind, the newest addition to the new Byzantium. Also, the sentence pinpointing Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn as worthy precursors of the new Orthodoxy has been dropped. Why these ham-fisted interventions? Only the editor of the mighty newspaper will ever know, of course.