It appeared everything would work out perfectly when Ivan the Great married Sophia Palaiologos. But when inheritance was discussed the problems arrived.
The month of May is a time when some Christians remember the city of Constantinople. The month begins with a celebration of the birthday of the “Queen of Cities.” The month ends with a solemn remembrance of the fall of the city on May 29. In the centuries leading up to her collapse, the Byzantine Empire became obsessed with three prophecies. The first promised salvation through the blood of a human prince. The second promised salvation through the will of a human king. The third promised salvation through a husband’s will to marry the right woman.
This three part series, entitled “Inheritors of God’s Kingdom,” points to salvation in Christ, not men, proclaimed in John 1:12-13, “To those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Every prophecy apart from Christ is fulfilled by catastrophe. The last dynasty of Constantinople had looked to avoid a human prophecy and ended up losing their empire in the process. Before that, an emperor of Constantinople named Andronikos attempted to manipulate a human prophecy in order to make his family reign on the throne forever. None of it worked. What those reigning families found out too late was that no genealogical connections can save us. No amount of will to survive can gain us access into God’s eternal kingdom.
Ever since the fall of the Roman Empire, kings of other kingdoms have attempted to connect their reign to the long, proud history of Rome. In Europe, the Holy Roman Emperors fashioned themselves as a continuation of the line of the Caesars of Rome. They called themselves the “Kaiser.”
It also happened in the East after the fall of Constantinople. Just nine years after that fateful day when the walls of the “Queen of Cities” fell, a new ruler decided to connect himself to the former glories of the Roman people. He was Ivan the Great, the grand ruler of Moscow and all Russia. He called himself the “Tsar,” a version of the name Caesar.
Like the former Emperor Andronikos, and like the Palaiologos emperors, Ivan the Great was also aware of a prophecy. It was called the Legend of the Marble Emperor. Every former Byzantine citizen would have known it by heart. According to the prophecy, just as the walls of Constantinople fell, the last emperor of the Roman Empire, Constantine XI Palaiologos, was rescued by the Lord and spirited away to a cavern under the city. There the Lord turned the emperor into a marble statue. The prophecy promised that when God’s anger had passed, the angel would restore the Emperor to flesh and blood. Constantine XI Palaiologos would then reconquer the city and reestablish the empire.
Like the former Emperor Andronikos, and like the Palaiologos emperors, Ivan the Great was also aware of a prophecy.
Can you see why the dispersed citizens of Constantinople would hang their hope on that prophecy? The problem was that this particular proclamation was a human prophecy, and every prophecy apart from Christ is fulfilled by catastrophe.
Ivan the Great saw the prophecy as an opportunity. However, he knew he couldn’t find a marble statue of the last emperor of Constantinople in a cave somewhere. So he did the next best thing. He married the niece of the marble emperor himself, Constantine XI. This was a woman named Sophia Palaiologos.
It became one of the most important marriages in history. It seemed everyone hung their hope on it. The Russians, and Ivan III in particular, saw the marriage as a continuation of the glory and grandeur of the Eastern Roman Empire. Even in the West, the Pope in Rome hoped the marriage would eventually reunite Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity.
Think of the pressure this marriage was under! Nothing less than the continuation of Byzantium and the reunification of Christendom hung in the balance. And at first, it looked like every one of those human prophecies would be fulfilled.
Then everything fell apart. Sophia made her new home of Moscow look like her grand old city of Constantinople. The Russians hated it. When it came time to pick a successor to the throne, she manipulated her husband into picking her son rather than his older son by a previous marriage. The ensuing rift fractured the kingdom. Members of the royal family were murdered.
John 1:12-13 warns against trusting in a husband’s will for salvation: “To those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband's will, but born of God.”
Your salvation isn’t tied to your personal glory. Your salvation was won on the cross.
Ivan the Great thought that the woman he chose to marry was one of the most important decisions he could make. He wasn’t wrong. The person you chose to marry is an important decision. However, if you rest the hope of your salvation on that decision you have taken it too far, like Ivan did. You salvation does not rest on who you choose to marry, just as your salvation does not rest on your blood relation or on your human will and decisions. Your salvation isn’t tied to your personal glory. Your salvation was won on the cross.
This means that no earthly blood connections can save you. Rather, the blood of Jesus made you an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. This also means that your personal deals and agreements with God cannot save you, neither can any earthly marriage or identity of a spouse. Jesus alone fulfilled the covenant to win your salvation.
A filthy bride is a terrible sight. Brides are supposed to have their hair perfectly prepared. Their wedding dress is a product of months of searching. Everything is supposed to look white and clean. But that isn’t the type of bride the Bible describes you to be. You stand before the Lord filthy with sin. You have no royal family connections like Sophia Palaiologos had to offer. Spiritually, you are clothed in guilt. You are dressed in shame.
Then in love, when the time was right and God’s anger had passed, the Father sent his Son. This wasn’t a reanimation of some marble statue, hidden in a cave to be awakened by an angel. Christ came to earth as the living Bridegroom. When sin, Satan and death surrounded you, threatening to conquer you for all eternity, your Savior Jesus stepped into the breach. There was no last second touch of an angel that could save him. He suffered for you. Then he died for you.
Then just three days later he rose from the dead for you.
Christ loved the church to that extent. He loved you enough to give his life for you. Through his sacrificial death and resurrection he has brought you into his kingdom. He has made you an inheritor of his heaven.
It appeared everything would work out perfectly when Ivan the Great married Sophia Palaiologos. But when inheritance was discussed the problems arrived. Imprisonments and poisonings and murders followed.
That’s not how Christ describes your inheritance. Your Bridegroom’s death means your eternal life. Jesus clothed himself with your filthy rags. In exchange he clothed you with the robe of righteousness, the garments of salvation, given to you at your baptism.
This is the heavenly prophecy fulfilled in Christ. “Return, unfaithful people, declares the LORD, because I am your husband. I will take you—one from a city, two from a family—and bring you to Zion” (Jer 3:14). This is your future. This is your inheritance. And all because of Christ.
