The chief difference between the Fyodorean and the later Petrine reforms in Russia is that while the former are primarily, though not exclusively, for the benefit of the church, the latter will be primarily for the benefit of the state.

The most notable reform of Fyodor III, however, is the abolition in 1682, at the suggestion of Vasily Galitzine, the system of mestnichestvo, or "place priority", which has paralyzed the whole civil and military administration of Muscovy for generations.

Henceforth all appointments to the civil and military services are to be determined by merit and the will of the sovereign, while pedigree (nobility) books are to be destroyed.

Fyodor's first consort, Agaphia Simeonovna Grushevsky had shared his progressive views.

She had been the first to advocate beard-shaving.

The Tsarina had on July 12, 1681, given birth to her son, Tsarevich Ilya Fyodorovich, the expected heir to the throne.

Agaphia had died as a consequence of the childbirth three days later, on July 24, and six days later, on July 30, the nine-days-old Tsarevich also had died.

Seven months later, on February 24, 1682, Fyodor marries Marfa Matveievna Apraksina, the fifteen-year-old daughter of Matvei Vasilievich Apraksin and Domna Bogdanovna Lovchikova.

The unique education of Tsarevitch Peter (commissioned by his father, Tsar Alexis I) had from an early age been put in the hands of several tutors; most notably Nikita Zotov and Scottish generals Patrick Gordon and Paul Menesius.

The death of Tsar Alexis on January 29, 1676, had left the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the weak and sickly Feodor III.

Throughout this period, the government is largely run by Artamon Matveev, an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors.

This position changes when Feodor dies six years later on May 7, 1682.

As Feodor has not left any children, a dispute arises between the Naryshkin and Miloslavsky families over who should inherit the throne.

Peter's other half-brother, Ivan V, is the next in line for the throne, but he is chronically ill and of infirm mind.

The Naryshkin brothers of Tsarina Natalia Naryshkina avail themselves of the interregnum and persuade the Patriarch to proclaim her ten-year-old son Peter as a new Tsar of Russia.

In their turn, the Miloslavsky party, which comprises the relatives of the late Tsarina Maria Miloslavskaya, spreads rumors that her son (and Peter's elder brother) Ivan had been strangled by the Naryshkins in the Moscow Kremlin.

Consequently, the Boyar Duma, the council of Russian nobles, chooses the ten-year old Peter to become Tsar, his mother becoming regent.

This arrangement is brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demands, where the people ratify it, but one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, Sophia Alekseyevna, leads a rebellion of the Streltsy, Russia's elite military corps.

The Miloslavsky conspirators stir up riots in the streets of the capital, using the discontent of the Moscow regiments against their commanding officers.

The mob of the Streltsy takes over the Kremlin on May 21, 1682 and lynches the leading boyars and military commanders whom they suspect of corruption—Artamon Matveev, Prince Mikhail Dolgorukov—the old and unpopular leader of the Streltsy—and Grigory Romodanovsky.

The rebels once again storm the royal residence a few days later, on May 27, and kill a number of Naryshkin supporters, including two of the Naryshkin brothers (Kirill and Ivan) in the presence of the young tsar Peter, their nephew.

The Streltsy, joined by mobs of poor people, loot the streets of Moscow for several days.

Prince Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky, who has engineered the revolt, is named as Dolgorukov’s successor, thus becoming de facto Minister of War of Muscovite Russia.

Wishing to secure the allegiance of the Streltsy, he announces total forgiveness to those who had taken part in the uprising.

The Streltsy uprising makes it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan), and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior of the two.

Sophia will act as regent during the minority of the two sovereigns and exercised all power.

Peculiarly, a large hole is cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter.

Sophia will sit behind the throne and listen as Peter converses with nobles, also feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems.

This throne can be seen in the Kremlin museum in Moscow.

She will rule for the next seven years as an autocrat.

As Khovansky supports the Old Believers he organizes a schismatic demonstration and forces Patriarch Joachim to agree to a public debate with one of the Old Believer leaders, Nikita Pustosvyat.

The patriarch refutes Pustosvyat's arguments and the next day Sophia has Pustosvyat executed.

Relying on the Streltsy, Khovansky wields enormous political influence and often interferes in the government affairs.

He is in June 1682 appointed to lead the Prikaz of Judges.

His uncommon arrogance and vanity soon alienate Sophia and her Miloslavsky relatives, while inducing jealousy on the part of other boyars.

Khovansky supposedly wants to install himself as the new regent.

Supported by the Old Believers, he demands the reversal of Nikon's reforms.

The rumors about Khovansky's intention to assassinate the Tsar's family and to usurp the throneventually prompt Sophia to evacuate Ivan V and Peter I from Moscow to ...

...Kolomenskoe, a royal estate situated several miles to the southeast of Moscow, then to...

...the Savva-Storozhevskymonastery in Zvenigorod.

A royal ukase in September declares Khovansky the mutineer and the patron of heretics, while the Boyar Duma has him sentenced to death.

He is captured in Pushkino near Moscow and taken to Vozdvizhenskoe, where he is beheaded together with his son.

The Streltsy stationed in Moscow rise in revolt when the news of Khovansky's execution reaches them, and seize the Kremlin, but the regent soon quells the mutinous army and appoints as their new leader Fyodor Shaklovity, a staunch adherent of Sophia, who had promoted him from a regular scrivener to a member of the Boyar Duma and okolnichy.

Under the Romanovs, the eighteen most noble families of Muscovy had been given the privilege of starting their official career from the rank of okolnichy, skipping all the lower ranks, such as stolnik.

During this period, the positions of okolnichy have been differentiated and some (quarter okolnichy or close okolnichy) are of higher rank than that of non-close boyars.

The terms derive from a semi-formal ranking based on the closeness of the seat to tsar by the tsar's table; okolnichy is derived from the Russian word for "close," "near," meaning "sitting close to the Tsar.