Most Holy Synod in the context of "Holy Synod"

The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' (Russian: Патриарх Московский и всея Руси, romanized: Patriarkh Moskovskiy i vseya Rusi), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the title of the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). It is often preceded by the honorific "His Holiness". As the ordinary of the diocese of Moscow, the office holder's direct canonical remit extends only to Moscow; however, as the patriarch, the office holder has a number of church-wide administrative powers as laid down by the charter of the ROC.

The patriarchate was established in 1589 when the status of the Russian metropolitan was elevated, with Job becoming the first patriarch. The patriarchate was abolished in 1721 by Peter the Great and replaced with the Most Holy Synod as the supreme governing body of the ROC, before being restored on 10 November [O.S. 28 October] 1917, by decision of the All-Russian Local Council. The current patriarch is Kirill, who acceded to the position in 2009.

The 1917–1918 Local Council of the Orthodox Church of Russia (Russian: Поместный собор Православной российской церкви) was the first Local Council of the Russian Church since the end of the 17th century. It opened on 15 August 1917 (O.S.) in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Its most important decision was to restore the Patriarchate in the Russian Church, thereby ending a period of c. 300 years when the Russian Church was governed directly by the Emperor through the Most Holy Synod as a result of Peter the Great's ecclesiastical reforms.

Resurrection (pre-reform Russian: Воскресеніе; post-reform Russian: Воскресение, romanized: Voskreséniye, also translated as The Awakening), first published in December 1899, was the last novel written by Leo Tolstoy. The book is the final of his major long fiction works published in his lifetime. Tolstoy intended the novel as a panoramic view of Russia at the end of the 19th century from the highest to the lowest levels of society and as an exposition of the injustice of man-made laws and the hypocrisy of the institutionalized church. The novel also explores the economic philosophy of Georgism, of which Tolstoy had become a very strong advocate towards the end of his life, and explains the theory in detail. The publication of Resurrection led to Tolstoy's excommunication by the Holy Synod from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1901.

Vladimir Nikolaevich Lvov (Russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Львов; April 2, 1872 – September 20, 1930) was a Russian politician and statesman, member of the State Duma of the III and IV convocations. Ober-Prosecutor of the Most Holy Synod (1917; in the Provisional Government). Grandson of A. N. Lvov, brother of the politician N. N. Lvov.

Tikhon of Moscow (Russian: Тихон Московский, 31 January [O.S. 19 January] 1865 – 7 April [O.S. 25 March] 1925), born Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin (Russian: Василий Иванович Беллавин), was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). On 5 November 1917 (OS) he was selected the 11th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, after a period of about 200 years of the Synodal rule in the ROC. He was canonised as a confessor by the ROC in 1989.

The church reform of Peter the Great was a set of changes Peter I of Russia (r. 1682–1725) introduced to the Russian Orthodox Church, especially to church government. Issued in the context of Peter's overall Westernizing reform programme, it replaced the office of the patriarch of Moscow with the Holy Synod and made the church effectively a department of state.

Peter did not abandon Orthodoxy as the main ideological core of the state, but attempted to start a process of Westernization of the clergy, relying on those with a Western theological education.