The Stoglav Council met in Moscow in 1551 and produced the Stoglav, or Book of One Hundred Chapters. It regulated church practice, clerical behaviour, icon painting and aspects of everyday religious life. The council reflected Muscovy's drive to discipline culture under Orthodox and state authority.

The Stoglav affected the world of scribes, chanters, icon painters and religious storytellers. By defining acceptable forms, it shaped the imaginative setting in which Russian devotional writing and oral piety developed.