[PGR88]

The next obsession from 1490s onwards was "the gathering of the Orthodox" -- a divine mission to re-capture Byzantium

And where, do you believe, is Russia on this topic now? And what of Putin's reconciliation with and promotion of the Orthodox Church?

[Cronos]

that's a difficult question. I don't get any feel from my Russian friends now about this, and all the Bulgarians, Romanians etc. that I've met dislike Russia (haven't asked my one Serbian acquaintance)

My feeling is that the gathering is now changed to a "let's get a warm-weather Meditteranean port". But that's just my feeling.

Putin's reconciliation is smart. The Russian Orthodox Church defines Russia -- that's why they fought hard to make the Ukrainian Church non-Autocephalous.