About the book: year / During the reign of the last Russian emperor, the hope for an early convening of the Local Council and correction seemed close to fulfillment numerous imperfections that contemporaries saw in the activities of the Office of Orthodox Confession. Why was the Council convened only after the February Revolution? Could he have better prepared the Church for the terrible post-revolutionary persecutions? Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of St. Petersburg State University S. L. Firsov examines these questions in the book presented to the reader’s attention. Analyzing numerous sources (both published and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time), the author talks about the place of the Orthodox Church in the political system of the Russian state, examines the journalistic preparation of church reforms and the beginning of their implementation during the First Russian Revolution, gives a panorama of the debates and discussions that took place then in the Orthodox church-social environment. Reviews of the diocesan bishops (1905), the Pre-Conciliar Presence (1906), the Pre-Conciliar Conference (1912–1917) and the Pre-Conciliar Council (1917), materials of the Local Council of 1917–1918 are examined. Considering the complex issues of church-state relations in the pre-revolutionary years, the author seeks to avoid excessive political emphasis, since the ideologization of history only leads to the birth of new myths about the past. The book shows that the Russian Orthodox Church was seriously preparing for reforms; its hierarchs sincerely desired the restoration of the canonical system of church government, while hoping mainly to preserve the previous symphonic model of relations with the state.