The emperor, however, whatever his own views, was surrounded by reactionary influences, of which the most powerful were the empress-mother, Pobedonostsev the procurator of the Holy Synod, Count Muraviev and the Grandduke Sergius.
Petitions continued to flow in to the emperor's cabinet, praying for a national representation, from the zemstvos, from the nobles and from the professional classes, and their moral was enforced by general agitation, by partial strikes, and by outrages which culminated at Moscow in the murder of the Grand-duke Sergius (February 4th, 1 9 05).
The Duma endorsed this all but unanimously, and as the result the Grand-dukes Peter and Sergius resigned their posts of inspector-general of Engineers and Ordnance respectively, and the Grand-duke Nicholas his chairmanship of the Committee of National Defence.
A small wooden church, erected by the monk Sergius, and afterwards burned (1391) by the Tatars, stood on the site now occupied by the cathedral of the Trinity, which was built in 1422, and contains the relics of Sergius, as well as ecclesiastic treasures of priceless value and a holy picture which has frequently been brought into requisition in Russian campaigns.
In the southern part of the monastery is the church of Sergius, beneath which are spacious rooms where 200,000 dinners are distributed gratis every year to the pilgrims. The bell-tower, 320 ft.