Although Old Believers were allowed to build new churches, none of them was a true church from the government standpoint. Rather, they were classified as chapels and thus could not provide the full range of services expected from a church, including Holy Liturgy - at least, legally. In 1823 Rogozhskoe was hit by the government for the first time: police searched the community, confiscated the altarpiece donated by Matvey Platov and shut down all churches. They reopened soon on condition that Old Believers will no longer serve Holy Liturgy. Nicholas I of Russia increased the pressure, banning ordination of new Old-Rite priests and relocation of existing Old-Rite priests from town to town. As a result, by the 1850s Rogozhskoe clergy shrunk through natural attrition to just three priests and the government confiscated the unused St. Nicholas church in favour of more acceptable edinoverie denomination. Old Believers of Rogozhskoe reacted by establishing a new spiritual and educational center beyond the Russian border, in Austro-Hungary, creating the Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy. Cathedral of Protection In 1791 the community obtained a permit to build the cathedral of Protection of Our Lady. Architectural drafts (eventually lost) were signed by someone Kazakov, which could be either Matvey Kazakov or his lesser-known contemporary Rodion Kazakov. The cathedral, as planned, would have exceeded in size the Dormition Cathedral of Moscow Kremlin; it was intended for use in summer only due to high costs of heating in winter. The builders laid down the foundation even larger than Kazakov's design; worse, they changed the design from a single dome to five domes. In summer 1792, when the walls were nearly complete, Orthodox clergy 'uncovered the plot' and alerted Empress Catherine. Catherine, wary of growing influence of the dissidents, ordered demolition of the 'unlawful' additions; Moscow governor, prince Prozorovsky, complied and assigned architect Semyon Karin to supervise demolition. As a result, the cathedral was built with a single dome resting on an elongated, flat slab with minimalistic neoclassical finishes. Parts of the building are apparently mismatched, revealing the conflict of the client and the Crown. Traces of baroque influence, like the circular windows of the main dome, give away its 18th-century roots. As-built design is attributed, by exclusion, to Semyon Karin. Inside, the cathedral has three aisles and eight load-bearing columns, and is decorated in an 'old-looking' style intended to resemble pre-Nikonian cathedrals. The icons actually date back to 15th-16th centuries, while