Russian Orthodox Church in Israel

The court of the Czar had long held itself to be the main patron and protector of Orthodoxy, especially after most of the membership of the Greek Orthodox Church from 1460 until 1821 fell under the control of the Islamic Ottoman Empire (with its oppressive Devshirmeh and jizya laws).

Despite defeat in the war by 1856, Russia continued actively pursuing its interests vis-à-vis the position and influence of the Ottoman Empire and its European allies.

[1] The Czar also funded the work of Constantin von Tischendorf in finding the Codex Sinaiticus at the Saint Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai.

[3] The Russian government began using its diplomatic influence to persuade the Ottoman sultans to refuse the berat to candidates for patriarch to any GOC bishop that disagreed with them.

[1][4] The ROC also built an ornate church at Gethsemane, and another at the site where their tradition holds that Jesus made his Ascension at the Mount of Olives.

At the time both Russia's political enemies and many within the GOC saw these projects as an intrigue of the Czar to make himself "a center of the Greek faith [i.e. Orthodoxy] which should rival Rome itself.