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.