The Russian Orthodox Church played a leading role in unifying lands under the power of Moscow, freeing them from the yoke of the Golden Horde. When the church's center of power was transferred from Vladimir to Moscow at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Muscovy Princes profited greatly. As Moscow became a political power and one of Eastern Europe's most potent centralized states, the significance of the Russian Orthodox Church also increased. The voice of the Metropolitan of Rus' began to be heard more and more loudly as Moscow declared itself true defender of the Orthodox faith. Around the turn of the sixteenth century, a new political idea arose in the monasteries of Russia, that of "Moscow, the third Rome." This phrase endured
