DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE: CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTENT OF THE COAT OF ARMS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Monk Bartholomew (Chernyshev)

Kostroma Theological Seminary, Kostroma, Russia

Email: 9581148@list.ru

ORCID: 0009-0008-4383-7288

Issue: № 2 (22), 2023

Pages: 141

Annotation

The coat of arms of the Russian Federation, the double-h eaded eagle, asserts the continuity of the Russian Federation from Russia of the past centuries. The eagle's body symbolizes the Fatherland — a multinational nation with its culture, its territory with structures and natural resources, with its state structure and armed forces. Two heads mean civil and spiritual authority. Their authority is emphasized by crowns. The symbols of power are also the scepter and the power crowned with crosses, which shows the indissoluble union of civil power and the spiritual power of the Moscow Patriarchate and the centers of other traditional religious associations separated from it. The third crown shows that the power of the people rises above the president and spiritual leaders, implemented in referendums, presidential elections, impeachment, elections of the patriarch. Christians consider Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Head of the Church to be the bearer of the third crown, which does not contradict with what has been said about the supreme power of the people, according to the proverb "Vox pópuli vox Déi".

Keywords

coat of arms of the Russian Federation, history, Fatherland, secular power, spiritual power, Russian Orthodox Church

For citation

Monk Bartholomew (Chernyshev). Double-h eaded eagle: christian understanding of the content of the coat of arms of the Russian Federation // Ipatievsky vestnik. 2023. № 2. Р. 141–151 (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.24412/2309–5164–2023–2–141–151