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66 "holy city;" there were four hundred religious edifices within its walls, and thirty-four within the precincts of the Kremlin.

At his death, in 1598, Irene, in furtherance of her brother's ambition, retired to a convent. Feodor left no direct heir; Boris was the choice of the nation, and a general assembly summoned him to the throne. After repeated refusals, with great apparent reluctance, and pretending to yield only to threats of excommunication by the Church, he assented to the popular wish and was crowned tsar.

During these events in Russia the Polish Church had passed through trying vicissitudes. About 1520 Jonah II., an Orthodox prelate, had succeeded Joseph Saltan as metropolitan of Kiev. He and his successors were zealous defenders of the Orthodox faith against the encroachments of the kings of Poland. Liberty of religious worship was allowed, and the independence of the Church was recognized in principle, but severe pressure was exerted upon the nobles who professed the Greek faith. Their social and political privileges were seriously curtailed; they could not occupy any of the higher offices of state, nor sit as senators in the national diet.

When Sigismund, of Sweden, was elected king, in 1587, his zeal for the Catholic Church led to more systematic and persistent persecution of members of the Orthodox communion. Their fidelity to their creed was undermined by appeals to their interests and ambition, and many of the clergy, as well as of the nobles, became lukewarm and indifferent to the fortunes of their Church.

The Jesuit Poissevin had not forgotten his ill success at the Muscovite court, and, during the reign of Stephen Batory, he had urged upon Pope Gregory XIII.