The book contains two interconnected studies. One of them is dedicated to the essay of Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky, containing a protest against the establishment of the Synod. Here the polemical elements of the work are analyzed and Yavorsky’s church-political attitudes throughout his life are reviewed. The second study examines the history of the rite of election and installation of a bishop in the Petrine era. A number of texts are published in the appendix: Yavorsky’s “Apology”, his sermon on the day of Alexei the Man of God in 1712, and other texts. Publications are provided with historical and philological commentary.