With all the political iniquities by means of which Moscow was steadily gaining in importance it became necessary to secure further dignity by establishing in its midst the head of the church. Kief had been the original Holy City of the Russians, and she had been succeeded by the town of Vladimir, after Moscow was in reality the capital.
The metropolitan of Vladimir, Peter, who had an affection for Moscow, often resided there and his successor established himself there completely. Then the religious supremacy which had originally belonged to Kief passed to the new capital. Ivan did his best to give it the prestige of a metropolis. He built magnificent churches in the Kremlin, among others that of the Assumption which was succeeded by numerous others of equal dignity.
Kief, the ancient metropolis of the church, had been famous for its monastery of the Holy Catacombs, and Moscow, not to be outdone, founded, through the instrumentality of St. Sergius, the famous Troitsa or monastery of the Trinity, in its immediate vicinity. This institution subsequently became one of the richest and most venerated in eastern Russia. It was surrounded with ramparts and thick brick walls with a triple row of embrasures and nine war towers which were afterward destined to meet the assaults of Catholics and pagans and whose fortifications remain as a monument of mediaeval engineering architecture to the present time.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
