The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and JestersThe group is also known by various similarly-phrased titles. (1692 – 1725)Robert K. Massie says, "The Drunken Synod, created when Peter was eighteen, continued its tipsy existence until the end of the Tsar's reign[.]"
Peter died in 1725. was a club of sorts founded by Peter I of Russia. The group included many of Peter's closest friends, and its activities centered mostly around drinking and partying. The group was not without controversies; some of its parodies against the Church in particular were heavily criticized.

The Jolly Company

As a teenager and young adult, Peter I of Russia had a large group of friends and followers. Some were childhood friends who had been with him since throughout his stay at Preobrazhenskoye or before, such as Nikita Zotov

Nikita Zotov

Count Nikita Moiseevich Zotov was a childhood tutor and life-long friend of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Historians disagree on the quality of Zotov's tutoring. Robert K...

 and Fyodor Romodanovsky

Fyodor Romodanovsky

Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky was one of Peter the Great's foremost assistants in the task of modernizing Russia. He was the country's first head of secret police....

; others were older patriotic men from respected families, such as Prince Michael Cherkassky, Prince Peter Prozorovsky and Fedor Golovin

Fedor Golovin

Count Feodor Alekseyevich Golovin was the last Russian boyar and the first Russian chancellor, field marshal, general admiral . Until his death he was the most influential of Peter the Great's associates....

; and some others were foreigners like Patrick Gordon

Patrick Gordon

Patrick Leopold Gordon was general of the Imperial Russian army, of Scottish origin. He was descended from a Scottish family of Aberdeenshire, holders of the small estate of Auchleuchries, the family were connected with the house of Haddo.- Life :He was raised and remained a lifelong Catholic, at...

 and Franz Lefort

Franz Lefort

Franz Lefort was a Russian military figure of Swiss origin, general admiral , and close associate of Peter the Great....

 whose company Peter enjoyed. Together, the "cohesive group" often wandered the countryside and interrupted noblemen, asking for food and shelter for the night. Known as the "Jolly Company", there were anywhere from 80 to 200 followers within the "Company". In addition to the vast varieties of food, games, and events at the parties the "Jolly Company" held, there were also copious amounts of alcoholic beverage

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

s.

In time, the Jolly Company held more and more parties within Moscow itself, often within the home of Franz Lefort

Franz Lefort

Franz Lefort was a Russian military figure of Swiss origin, general admiral , and close associate of Peter the Great....

. Lefort, however, had limited funds, and he could not often afford to host the Tsar. To assist Lefort, Peter first built Lefort a large dining hall, and when that grew to be too small, he built him a fully furnished stone mansion with a banquet hall that could hold 1,500 men. The hall would become "a kind of clubhouse" for the Jolly Company, even when Peter or Lefort were absent.

Transformation into the "Synod"

The Jolly Company slowly "proceeded to more organized buffoonery and masquerades" as Peter gave many of the men titles that they addressed each other by, often for ridiculous reasons. For example, a boyar named Ivan Buturlin was forever known as "The Polish King" because he played the enemy in a mock battle at Preobrazhenskoye, while Fyodor Romodanovsky was first known as "King of Pressburg" and then as "Prince-Caesar". Many years later, Peter would address Romodanovsky as "Your Majesty" and even presented him as the Tsar to defeated military opponents.

The Jolly Company eventually formed a group known as The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters, which had a "Prince-Pope", a college of cardinals, bishops, archimandrites, priests and deacons. Deacon Peter created several rituals, ceremonies, and commandments for the group, which involved primarily heavy drinking requirements, and was the leader of the group, despite his lowly title. The group ended up including every man of power within the Tsar's government, and even real clergymen as well.

In January 1695, just three years after the election of Nikita Zotov

Nikita Zotov

Count Nikita Moiseevich Zotov was a childhood tutor and life-long friend of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Historians disagree on the quality of Zotov's tutoring. Robert K...

 as "Prince-Pope", Peter refused to partake in a traditional Russian Orthodox ceremony of having holy water sprinkled over his head during the Epiphany Ceremony. Instead, Peter and the Synod celebrated their own version of the Russian folk custom of sviatki, with partying, drinking, and even eroticism. Peter even specifically designed Zotov's election and the celebration to conflict with the traditional Church celebration.

Mocking of the Church

Peter's creation of this group was not without controversy, both at the time and in the eyes of historians. Peter formed the Drunken Synod when he was just eighteen and let it continue till the end of his life. The mock-Synod angered many Orthodox Russians

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

; many even believed because of it that Peter was the Antichrist

Antichrist

The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...

. Robert K. Massie

Robert K. Massie

Robert Kinloch Massie III is an American historian, author, Pulitzer Prize recipient. He has devoted much of his career to studying the House of Romanov, Russia's royal family from 1613-1917.-Biography:...

 says that this quickly changed after "Peter quickly steered the parody to a safer mimicry of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

", which did not bother as many Russians. Vincent Milner-Gulland notes that the Synod has been seen in various lights – as an imitation of Hellfire Club

Hellfire Club

The Hellfire Club was a name for several exclusive clubs for high society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century, and was more formally or cautiously known as the "Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe"...

s, a physical manifestation of Peter's drive at modernizing Russia or of Peter's partial seizures, or simply as a way for Peter and his friends to enjoy themselves.