The Heir to the Byzantine Throne in Barbados (VIDEO)

Byzantium, or the Eastern Roman Empire, “the centerpiece of wisdom,“ was a great state with its capital in Constantinople that existed for more than a thousand years, from the fourth to the fifteenth century. It had an immense impact on the development of Christian civilization, enjoying even a certain influence over the West after it had separated from the true Orthodox faith in the eleventh century.

Barbados is an island state in the Caribbean. The first British settlers, together with the ancestors of the present-day black population, appeared there only in the seventeenth century, nearly two centuries after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. So what could connect Byzantium and Barbados?

This video tells the fascinating story of how the heir to the Byzantine throne, Ferdinand Paleologos, the great-great grandson of the brother of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, made his way from England to faraway Barbados, where he spent the last twenty years of his life on his Ashford Plantation.

The video, full of beautiful scenes from churches and cities once within the Byzantine Empire, and from the island nation of Barbados, was written and directed by Fr. George Maximov, who traveled to Barbados in 2017 and visited the site of the Paleologos' plantation, as well as the grave of Ferdinand Paleologos. Fr. George is a missionary priest from Moscow who travels throughout the world, preaching the Gospel of Christ and baptizing thousands into the holy Orthodox Church. He is also the host of popular television show “My Path to God,“ in which he interviews people from various backgrounds who have found their way home to the Orthodox Church.