The book covers the last period of the Byzantine Empire, which ended with the capture of Constantinople on May 29, 1453 by the Ottomans. Despite the extremely difficult external and internal situation, Byzantium over the past two centuries continued to show the world a tremendous spiritual, political, cultural and military force, successfully resisting attempts at expansion by the Turks and the West. The book reveals in detail the events of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Crusades, as well as attempts to organize a union with the Roman Catholic Church in Lyon and Ferraro, the famous hesychast Councils of the mid-14th century. At the center of this narrative are the figures of the brilliant Byzantine emperors - Theodore Lascaris, St. John Doukas Vatatz, Michael VIII and St. Konstantin Paleologov