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Shimon gave his belt to the monks, who shortly afterward were visited by master masons from Constantinople who told them that the Virgin Mary had appeared to them in a dream and told them to go to Kiev to build a church. Six years later, a graceful church with a single cupola and a small baptistery adjoined to the north wall was completed. It measured twenty times Shimon's belt in width, thirty times in length and fifty times in height.

Shortly after the Church of the Dormition was consecrated, a strong wall was built around the cloister, partly to shelter the monks from outside world but also to protect from the raids of the barbaric nomads from the Dnieper and the Don. Stone gateways were set in the wooden wall, the main entrance on the west side, and the service gates on the north side. Each was topped by an exquisite little chapel, one of which was the Gate Church of the Trinity. Partially rebuilt, they still survive.

The Pechersky Monastery became famed for its wealth and culture in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, attracting many outstanding figures, such as the chronicler Nestor, the icon painter Alimpy and the physician Agapit. The monastery had a large icon studio, where Alimpy painted many of his works. By 1939, there were less than 100 functioning parishes and only four bishops.

During World War II, the religious persecution in Soviet Union became less pronounced, in part due to cooperation of the Church with the state on national defense issues. Years 1944-45 saw the reopening of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary that had been closed since 1918. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, relations between the Church and the state started to deteriorate again. Until Perestroika, public expression of religious beliefs - Christian or otherwise - was frowned upon; known churchgoers were deprived of some social rights, they could not become members of the Communist Party, which in turn, severely limited their career opportunities and many lost their jobs and any privileges. All Soviet university students were required to take courses in so-called "Scientific Atheism".

Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up in 1931 and turned into a heated open-air pool. Restoration was started in 1995.

Some priests of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as other churches in the Soviet Union were secretly employed by the KGB for the government to discover who was a Church member. Despite the dangers, large numbers of people remained openly or secretly religious. In 1987 in the Russian Federation between 40% and 50% of newborn babies were baptized, and over 60% of all the deceased received Christian funeral services.

A pivotal moment in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church came in 1988 - the millennium of the Baptism of Russia. It appears now that the government had realized the fruitlessness of its efforts in its war against religion and instead tried to use religion to gain the support of the people.

Throughout the summer of 1988, major government-supported celebrations took place in Moscow and other cities and many churches and some monasteries were reopened. An implicit ban against religious propaganda on state TV was finally lifted. For the first time in the history of the Soviet Union, people could use their TVs to see live transmissions of services from central churches.

Today, the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world. Visiting Churches regarding Russia, Russian Orthodox Church After the actual Revolution associated with 1917, Russian Church in los angeles