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The council was convened to regulate the Church's relationship with the State, reform its internal life, strengthen the authority of the [[bishop]]s, and eradicate non-Christian folk customs from among the populace. It was not intended to introduce anything new but only purify the irregularities in the Russian church. The council called for the correction of many irregularities in church life. Among other things, drunkenness among the clergy was to be eradicated, [[parish]] [[priest]]s were to be better educated, and priests and [[laity]] alike were to be protected against rapacious episcopal tax collectors.
The Sobor proclaimed the inviolability of Church properties and the exclusive [[jurisdiction]] of ecclesiastical courts over ecclesiastical matters. The State canceled the tsar's jurisdiction over ecclesiastics. In exchange, members of the Stoglavy Sobor made concessions to the government in a number of other areas such as a prohibition on [[monastery|monasteries]] founding new, large villages in cities.
By the decisions of the Sobor, church ceremonies and duties in the whole territory of Russia were unified, and norms of church life were regulated with the purpose of increasing the educational and moral level of the clergy to ensure they would correctly fulfill their duties, such as through the creation of schools for preparation of priests.<ref>Jack E. Kollmann, "The Stoglav and Parish Priests," ''Russian History'' 7, Nos. 1-2(1980): 65-91.</ref> Control by church authorities over the activities of book writers, [[icon]] painters, and others was firmly established.
