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128 proved saccessful, and the result was, to his own mind, eminently satisfactory. On hearing read a comparison between himself and Louis XIV., greatly in his own favor, he remarked: "I do not think I merit the preference given to me, but I have been so happy as to be superior to the French monarch in one essential point; I have forced my clergy to obedience and peace, and Louis allowed himself to be subjugated by his." Peter's sense of the great importance of the Church, as an essential element of government, was evinced by his solicitude for its prosperity and dignity, not only within his dominions, but wherever the Greek faith existed. His alms and donations to the churches of the East were large and frequent, and the influence of his government was constantly exercised for the protection of his co-religionists, wherever found.

At the union of the Orthodox churches of Lithuania and Poland to the see of Moscow, and as one of the conditions of the treaty with John Sobiesky, in 1685, liberty of conscience and freedom of worship were guaranteal to the adherents of the Greek faith. Diplomatic stipulations, however, proved no bar to the spirit of intolerance, and the Orthodox population of those countries were subjected to fierce and constant persecution on the part of the Catholics and Uniates. Within a few years every Orthodox bishop, except Silvester of Mogilev, was deposed and replaced by others appointed by Cyprian, the Uniate metropolitan of Polotsk, an apostate from Orthodoxy, and its bitter enemy.

Peter, although engaged in constant and terrible wars, earnestly remonstrated and threatened, but received in reply only empty promises, never fulfilled. The highhanded measures of Cyprian were continued by his successor, Leo Zishka, with the approval of the national