Purpose and decisions
In 1542, Macarius was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia, and he later supported Ivan IV's coronation and marriage to Anastasia Romanovna. When Ivan left Moscow to campaign in Kazan, Macarius served as head of state. In 1551, the Tsar summoned a synod of the Russian Church, led by Macarius, to resolve discrepancies and issues in the church, as well as address certain spiritual and existential issues of Russian society. Ivan gave four speeches to the council, asking questions on church opinion concerning various rites and practices of the church, and the clergymen deliberated and presented a consensus to Ivan which would be later codified. There is some debate over the timeline of the council in 1551. The '' Stoglav'' document itself, the written church code produced by the council, states that the council began February 23rd and concluded May 11th. However, no original copy of the code exists, and over a hundred different handwritten copies are known. Most scholars, including Yevgeny Golubinsky, recognize the date in the ''Stoglav'', February 23rd, as the beginning of the council. Others, such as Dmitry Stefanovich, suggest that the council begin in early January and ended in February, with the dates in the written code describing the period during which the clergymen compiled the code from their earlier deliberations. The Stoglav Synod proclaimed the inviolability of church properties and the exclusive jurisdiction of church courts over