Most Holy Synod - Road To The Synod

Road To The Synod

When the conservative Patriarch Adrian died in 1700, Peter left the position unfilled and instead Metropolitan Stephen Iavorsky, a supporter of reform, administered the church for roughly twenty years. In 1721 the church officially came under the cloak of the Russian national government with the Spiritual Order, which was ostensibly written primarily by Archbishop Theophanes Prokopovich.

After Patriarch Adrian died, Peter, through the inspiration and encouragement of his official A.A. Kurbatov, decided to abolish the patriarchal Razryadnyi Prikaz (rank prikaz), which was in charge of civil and military administration, and redirected all matters to the appropriate prikaz, an administrative or judicial office. This event and others demonstrated that little by little, Peter’s administration rendered each church division powerless and their duties transferred to paralleled governmental departments. Some scholars argue, though, that Peter did not intend to abolish the Patriarchy when he began altering the administrative structure of the church. Delaying choosing a new patriarch proved economically advantageous; by restricting ecclesiastic land ownership and other financial luxuries of the clergy, the state saved money. This gave Peter further incentive to abolish the Patriarchy.

In 1711, reform allotted the Senate jurisdiction over all peoples, including ecclesiastical subjects. This meant that the state now had authority over issues that had been previously reserved for church authorities. With this power came the ability, in certain situations, for the state to determine clerics for administration in religious positions.

In 1716 Peter formulated an oath for the bishops-elect of Vologda and Astrakhan and Yavorskii. The oath, divided into seven parts, served as a supplement to the present oath. The first two parts regard the appropriate method for dealing with heretics and oppositionists. The third section designates that monks of their dioceses were not to travel outside diocese limits, unless for an urgent matter, and only then with written permission. The oath prohibited the building of any unnecessary churches (point 4) and the hiring on of any unessential clerics (point 5). The oath required clergy to visit their diocese at least once a year in order to dispel superstition or apostates and to congregate believers (point 6). Finally, the oath compelled bishops to swear that they would not become involved in secular affairs or legal proceedings.