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After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Pope Paul II in Rome encouraged Ivan III to marry Sophia Paleologue, the daughter of a claimant to the throne of Byzantium. The Pope hoped that the marriage would bring western and eastern Christianity together, but Sophia instead converted to Orthodoxy and encouraged her husband to cast himself as the new Emperor of Byzantium. Ivan III's grandson, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), proclaimed himself Czar of all Russia in 1547 and soon thereafter confirmed the position of the Orthodox Church in Russia. Ivan IV was a great admirer of Saint Seriyev and supported the monastery handsomely.
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In the sixteenth century, following Ivan IV's death, Boris Godunov, while serving as Regent for Ivan's son, Feodor, was heavily involved when the Russian Church moved to appoint it's own patriarch, thus freeing it from the influence of Jeremias II, then Patriarch of Constantinople. The Russian Orthodox Church henceforth stood as an equal to all other Eastern Orthodox Churches. Godunov was also very influential in the selection of Job as the first Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia in 1587. In return Job supported Godunov's assumption of the throne on the death of Feodor. Following Godunov's death Job was exiled to Siberia. Godunov was originally buried in Moscow's Kremlin, but was later moved to a tomb in the Holy Trinity Monastery.
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