Peter traveled twice to Europe and made reforms that reflected his desire to westernize Russia and worked to Russify the European models to better fit his nation.

He did so by implementing enlightenment ideals—except for any that would have resulted in democratizing the Russian government, tolerating political or religious dissent, or encouraging the free growth of thought or ideas; establishing the Julian calendar; reorganizing the Russian army in the European style; establishing a meritocracy (as opposed to the previous system of delineating positions by aristocratic lineage); outlawing or taxing beards (which were common among the Old Believers); etc.

[1] When the conservative Patriarch Adrian died in 1700, Peter left the position unfilled and instead Archbishop Stephen Yavorsky, 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 Theophan Prokopovich.

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.

Delaying choosing a new patriarch proved economically advantageous; by restricting ecclesiastic land ownership and other financial luxuries of the clergy, the state saved money.

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).

Secularization, in this instance, meant the institutionalization and expansion of the state's wealth and authority coupled with the dwindling power of the church.

[11] Peter required priests to report traitorous confessions, but he did not push his ability to control to the limit; for example, he refrained from secularizing church lands.

[15] Formed as a reaction to Peter's views of Russia as compared to Western Europe, the synod was a concentration of clerics who had received extensive formal higher education.

It worked to gain as much of the disputed church property as possible, and after assuming control of the patriarchal domain the synod was accountable for the lives of 6000 people.

[16] The primary duties of the synod were to supervise the direction of the Orthodox faith, instruct people on religious matters, celebrate feasts and determine questions of order and ritual.

As mentioned before, the synod also suppressed heretics, judged miracles and relics and prevented Russian citizens from practicing witchcraft.