Large-scale changes in a state and a society always put the problem of relationship between the secular and spiritual authorities. That is why the confrontation between Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich was not an accident. "Case of Nikon" was a way to resolve the problem of the two authorities' co-existence in the period of the absolute monarchy making. That way was a very painful one but it to a great extent predetermined "no conflict" scenarios of subsequent confrontations between the secular and Church authorities.