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Rh governing powers were not so much changed as confirmed, in accordance with the submissive spirit of the Greek Church, always content to be the coadjutor or servant of the civil authority. Recruited in great measure from the people, the clergy sympathized profoundly with their feelings and sufferings, shared their aspirations for deliverance from oppression, and was inspired by the same ardent affection for the soil, but it was also deeply imbued with popular superstitions and prejudices. Deprived, under Tatar rule, of all right of interference in State affairs, it became devoid of ambition beyond its immediate sphere. Seldom, even with its native princes, did any of its members attempt to control, although they may have endeavored to direct, the civil power and stimulate it to action. While largely contributing to the maintenance of national sentiment, and devoted to the welfare of the people, it suffered in its tone and character from the general disorganization of society. The destruction of the seats of learning at Kiev and throughout the captured and plundered cities of the empire, the suppression or interruption of schools and academies almost completely annihilated facilities for education. With a few exceptions among the higher dignitaries, the great body of the clergy were hopelessly ignorant and illiterate; possessing barely the knowledge requisite for celebration of the Church service, they conceived religion to exist only in the formal routine of ceremonial observances. The standard of morality among them was lowered, their character as a body was debased, while their numbers were prodigiously increased.

Ivan III. came to the throne in 1462. He was zealous for the protection of religion, ambitious, but prudent and politic. He reduced nearly all the principalities and cities of Russia to his authority, and laid the foundations