Persecution was forbidden, and the votaries of this erratic religious movement were lightly dealt with, until their obstinate persistency, after years of forbearance, necessitated more rigorous measures of suppression.
With greater dignity assumed by the monarch came increased expenditure and a higher sense of imperial authority. Notwithstanding the great services rendered by the Church, Ivan, like his contemporary Louis XI. of France, became jealous of its power and envious of its enormous wealth. He attempted to sequestrate its landed property, and to render it more subservient to his will; but the determined opposition he encountered was too powerful, and a council confirmed its ancient grants and privileges. Simon, the successor of Zosimos, sturdily maintained its rights, and at the same time carefully watched over its discipline and the habits of the clergy. The monasteries for men were separated from those for women; priests and deacons who had lost their wives were prohibited from officiating at mass; simony, corruption, and irregularities of all kinds were severely punished, and every effort made to purify the morals and elevate the tone and character of the clerical profession.
During this period of consolidation in Russia the Church in Lithuania and Poland was exposed to trial and suffering. After the death of the Uniate metropolitan Gregory, its bishops repudiated the decrees of the Council of Florence, refused to acknowledge their dependence on the pope, and insisted upon the consecration of their metropolitans by the patriarch of Constantinople. The rulers of the country, on the contrary, professed the Roman creed, and subjected their Orthodox population to annoyance and persecution. When Ivan married his daughter Helena to Alexander of Lithuania, he carefully
