Sophia Palaiologina (1449-1503) was the daughter of Thomas, Despot of the Morea and sister of Andreas and Thomas.
She was also grand princess of Moscow as the second wife of Ivan III of Russia.

seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from Brazil
seen from China
seen from United States

seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Philippines

seen from United Kingdom
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from Türkiye
seen from Philippines
seen from Russia
seen from China

seen from Brazil
Sophia Palaiologina (1449-1503) was the daughter of Thomas, Despot of the Morea and sister of Andreas and Thomas.
She was also grand princess of Moscow as the second wife of Ivan III of Russia.
Russian-Ukraine War Part 4: The Birth of Russia
So Russia is big. It's like one of their defining traits, vodka, art, brutality, colonialism, communism, and being massive. But did you know that once Russia was once…not so big? Let's do some history.
So the Mongolian Empire was a brutal genocidal engine of conquest but if you survived the initial invasion, it wasn’t so bad by the standard of brutal imperialists, the Mongols were big on religious tolerance, cultural integration and above all trade. So the Russians found themselves suddenly connected to Central and East Asia through their Mongol overlords, and Russia for the first time in Russian history, it is as connected to East Asia as it is to Europe.
The Mongolian Empire was great at conquest but struggled a lot with the ruling, and it probably won’t surprise you that it broke into 4 smaller states shortly after the death of Genghis Khan, located in the Middle East, China, Mongolia and Russia Respectively. The one that concerns us is the Golden Hoard, the Russian based Mongolian state, who were called “Tatars” by the locals.
The Golden Hoard wasn’t an Empire that spent most of their time breathing down your neck and setting major policies in their capital, instead they ruled indirectly via tributary states. They would basically allow your kingdom to exist and kinda do its own thing as long as you paid your taxes, and one special boy kingdom was allowed the honor of collecting the taxes. The special boy of our story is the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which will overtime be upgraded to the Principality of Moscow, to the Grand Principality of Moscow as they steadily get more and more powerful, using the privileges they got as the Mongol’s special boys to eventually grow their military and economy.
Eventually they were able to push back the Mongols (assisted by the Golden Hordes constant civil wars), and by the time of Ivan the III aka Ivan the Great, the state was independent and a massive nation. Ivan III is kinda seen as the first independent Ruler of Russia, where Russia exists in its own right and not just as a Mongolian Tributary state. Ivan’s grandson, Ivan the IV, aka Ivan the Vasilyevich, aka Ivan Grozny, aka Ivan the Terrible eventually decided that the Title of Grand Prince wasn’t quite good enough and so it was he who formally turned the state into an Empire, giving himself the title of Tsar, after brutally conquering all the people around him. And so the Russian Empire was born between Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible, go figure.
(Ivan the Terrible, Very stable man)
So Ok, Russia is an independent Empire, but under Ivan the IV it becomes more than that, it becomes the Orthodox State. Let me walk back a bit. Christianity first super huge split was in 1054, where the Eastern Greek Speaking Orthodox Church broke apart from the Western Latin Speaking Roman Catholic Church. The Catholics have the Pope, who manage to establish himself as a religious power greater than even Kings, while the east had the Patriarch, whose power was limited by the Emperor? What Emperor you say? Well time to talk about the Byzantine Emperor
Patriarch (left) Pope (right)
So the Byzantines are the dominant supreme cultural power of the East right? Well by the time of the Mongols, not so much. The great city of Constantinople was sacked in 1204 by the 4th Crusade, in one of the greatest own goals in history, and the Empire was in a state of decline ever since. And I mean actual decline, not Edward Gibbon (your decline is almost a thousand years) decline, which was pretty upsetting for the Rus, the other great Orthodox power (Ok I see you Bulgaria and Romania, you’ll get your own episodes another time calm down), and as Byzantine declined, Muscovy keep taking on more and more of the role as “big Orthodox power of the east”. But the striking blow came when Constantinople fell in 1453 to the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed the II aka Mehmed the Conqueror, bringing a final end to the Byzantine empire…ok there were a few splinter states but Mehmet gets them 20 years later so once and for all Byzantines are gone.
(Mehmet II preparing to destroy Byzantinium)
SO I cannot empathizes enough how much of a blow this is to the Orthidox World. The Byzantine Empire was THE Orthidox power for over a thousand years, it was the center of the Orthidox world.Consantinople had been the center of the Orthodox church since Constantine himself, it's like Rome turning Muslim or Mecca Christian, like this is a theological crisis. However, the Grand Principality of Moscow was eager to take on the role of center of the Orthodox Church, and Ivan the Great started to call Moscow “The Third Rome” to succeed the Byzantines as the Byzantines had “succeed” the Romans (despite being Roman…look i never said it is smart). This is why Russia’s coat of Arms is the two headed eagle of the Byzantines. His grandson Ivan Grozny unified the Principality into a strong centralized autocratic state through the power of brutal oppression and secret police, creating the Russian Empire. Later the Patriarch would relocate there, effectively the closest thing to the head of the Orthodox church, making Moscow the new center of the Orthodox faith.
As the "Third Rome" Russia wasn't just an Empire, it had a divine mandate to take territory and spread the Orthidox Faith. The notion of this Russian style Manifest Destiny is going to come up again in this series, and it has never completely left the Russian National identiy.
Ivan took the title of Tsar which means Caesar as in Emperor. As an Empire rather than a Principality, the “Divine Mandate” of Russia became to serve as the protector of the Orthodox Church, to reunify the old Kievan Rus, and restore Constantinople. Like most empires, including the Mongol, the Russian Empire is based on the notion that they have a divine right to rule over everybody else. This dream was put aside for the Time of Troubles, a civil war so horrific that it makes Game of Thrones look peaceful, but after that confusion Russia was ready to go (this is where the Royal family goes from Ruik to Romanov) This is not going to be an extensive look at all of Tsarist Russia, just the stuff which I think is important to understand for Ukraine. Colonization, the Tsar and Serfdom.
Religious tensions and impacts in the Russo-Ukrainian war - European Academy on Religion and Society
More than geopolitics, the Russo-Ukrainian war is a deep-rooted religious conflict reshaping Eastern Orthodoxy and national identities
Nostradamus and the Bible Seemingly Predict the Coming of Putin
By Author Eli Kittim
For those of us who are skeptical of prophets and prophecies, this brief article contains certain extra-biblical predictions that are far too similar to those of the Bible to be dismissed as mere coincidences. So, let’s begin.
The Bible seems to point to Russia as the birthplace of the last-days Antichrist (see Ezekiel 38). In order to understand the historical reasons for tying the Ezekiel narrative to Russia, see The Magog Identity article by Chuck Missler: https://www.khouse.org/articles/2002/427/print/
Chuck Missler reviews the historical roots of the modern day Russians and the peoples to which Ezekiel referred when he prophesied about tha
During the early part of the 20th century (1917) Russia became the world's first constitutionally communist state on the face of the earth. Similar to the “red dragon” in the Book of Revelation, it’s fiery red flag became the symbol of its power (cf. the red horse of Rev. 6.3-4). Five years later it incorporated other territories and became the Soviet Union. It was the rise of a new superpower on earth whose famous symbol, the sickle, is peculiarly associated with the “harvest” of the end-times in the Bible (see Joel 3.13; Rev. 14.14-19)!
The famous French 16th-century seer named Nostradamus offers us some interesting prophecies that parallel those of the Bible. For example, when we look at the third seal in the Book of Revelation, we are told that there’s “a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand” (Rev. 6.5). Scales are instruments for weighing things. Curiously enough, Nostradamus offers us a sign, similar to the “scales” of Revelation, through the use of a cryptic aphorism: “the Dragon’s head in Libra” (Epistle to Henry II). What is of interest is that the symbol of Libra is also depicted as a *scale*, thus tying this astrological sign in the Zodiac to the “scales” in the Book of Revelation! Moreover, the symbol of the “great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns” (Rev. 12.3) can also lend itself to an astrological interpretation that seems to demystify the identity of the little horn (i.e. “the Antichrist”; cf. Dan. 7.8, 11, 20; 8.9)! So, on another level of interpretation, the 7 heads and 10 horns could signify the 7th day of the 10th month. Astoundingly, that happens to be the birthday of Russia’s sitting president, Vladimir Putin (i.e. 7 October), thus indicating that his astrological sign is indeed *Libra.* But there’s more. Elsewhere, Nostradamus says:
“Peace and semblance the spy will simulate” (Century 9, Quatrain 88).
Astoundingly, Putin was a KGB spy for 16 years, who rose to the rank of Lieutenant *Colonel.* In another Quatrain, Nostradamus writes:
“A colonel with ambition plots,
He will seize the greatest army”
(Century 4, Quatrain 62).
Similarly, Daniel 8.23 calls the Antichrist “a master of intrigue,” while Daniel 8.25 refers to him as “a master of deception,” obviously implying that he’s trained in secret plans, underhand plots and schemes. In short, a spy! And in a parallel passage with the Bible, Nostradamus writes:
“The year 1999 [666?], seventh month,
From the sky will come a great king of terror”
(Century 10, Quatrain 72).
Astonishingly, Putin came to power at the turn of the century, in 1999 (666), which marks the end of a thousand-year period. This important timeframe coincides with a Biblical prophecy in which the Antichrist will not appear “until the thousand years . . . [have] ended” (Rev. 20.3, 7-8)! Daniel 11.21 suggests that he’s originally appointed, not elected, and that he starts off with a small following (cf. v. 23):
“In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.”
Putin fits that description perfectly since he was initially appointed by Boris Yeltsin, not elected, and was virtually unknown. With a small following, he came “in a time of peace” and appeared to “seize the kingdom by intrigue.”
To summarize, all these parallel Biblical and extra-Biblical passages point to one particular person who is today probably the most powerful man in the world, if not the richest. He was actually born on October 7th (7 heads, 10 horns [Rev. 12.3]), his astrological sign is Libra (the “scales” of Revelation), and he is “a master of deception,” given that he was a former intelligence officer (spy) and a colonel, who appeared on the world stage in 1999—-appointed, not elected——precisely as foretold, namely, the notorious autocrat and incumbent Russian President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin! In fact, the year that he came to power (1999) may be a cryptic reference to the number of the beast, namely 666! Now that’s extraordinary, given that the prophetic clues from the various spiritual traditions all point to him, and him alone! Coincidence? I’m afraid not!
The books of Daniel (chs. 2 & 7) and Revelation (ch. 17) also suggest a revived Roman Empire (Russia), described as 10 toes (kings) that seemingly arise out of the eastern leg (of iron) of the Roman Empire (Byzantium). In retrospect, that would be Moscow (Russia), which was called the Third Rome: see https://www.instagram.com/p/BYr5b5HgBq1/?igshid=av5bf5ov58f
If you check out the Soviet leaders up to the present time, they are 10, with Putin being the 11th, just as the Bible predicted (see https://www.instagram.com/p/BqRDTWHgOIQ/?igshid=81zdol99mymn)!
And Russia is currently at war with the west, making nuclear threats, supporting and defending Syria & Iran militarily, controlling the Middle East, building Iran’s nuclear plants, and is allied with many Muslim nations, while forming a strong partnership with China and North Korea!
Most Bible prophecy experts agree that Ezekiel 38 is talking about an end-times global conflict that will be instigated by Russia! In fact, Ezekiel 38.2 calls the Antichrist “the Prince of Rosh,” which the Septuagint renders as ἄρχοντα Ῥώς, or Prince of Ῥώς (i.e. Rus' = Greek: Ῥῶς), a contraction of the term Ρωσία, the Greek name for Russia! Moreover, Revelation 13 and 18 point to a one-world government that may come at the heels of a global economic collapse, which in turn may be triggered by a long-drawn-out world war!
Conclusion
It is rather extraordinary that all the prophetic signs from both Nostradamus and the Bible match perfectly with the historical facts pertaining to Vladimir Putin and Russia (see https://www.instagram.com/p/BYvP6n9gQ2N/?igshid=15h3s9824t8fl)!
Therefore, one of the next significant events that will occur on God's prophetic timetable is a global conflict that will be spearheaded by Russia!
I saw this Ottoman Turks vs. Teutonic Knights chess set in Montenegro and...obviously, my first thought was “MOSCOW CONQUERS ALL, BITCH!!” and I had to draw this...
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, several packages of sanctions targeting Russia’s lucrative energy industry (mostly oil, gas, an
@doctorpolinaveber
"→ Why the #StraitofHormuz matters far beyond oil — food, chips, fertilizer
→ The #resourcemap that changes everything: knock out the Middle East, and only TWO blocs survive
→ How America's $39 trillion #debt becomes a weapon, not a weakness
→ #Putin's #ThirdRome: why #Ukraine was never about territory
→ The #Technate: #Trump's blueprint for #FortressNorthAmerica
→ Why the #NewWorldOrder is being demolished by the people who built it
→ The connection between Putin's strategy and Trump's that changes everything
"Never attribute to stupidity what can be explained by #strategy."
https://youtu.be/rp4Bxv94RaQ?si=mRAKt_LRZi7_Q5Oo
Fairy tale Russia. View of the Kremlin and the Moscow River from the Ivan the Great bell tower.