The very name "Russian Tsardom" was officially proclaimed on January 16, 1547, during the coronation rite of the seventeen-year-old Grand Prince Ivan IV in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. After the traditional speeches and prayers were delivered, Metropolitan Macarius, following the patriarchal order of crowning Byzantine emperors, placed upon Ivan Vasilyevich's neck the cross of the Life-Giving Tree, presented the barmy ("a diadem, that is, barmy"), and finally set the crown upon his head.
The introduction of the coronation rite into Moscow's official practice signified the granting to the rulers of Russia of a supreme monarchical title, equal in importance to the titles of emperors and kings of Western European states. Naturally, the latter for a long time were unwilling to acknowledge this fact, insisting on the legitimacy of only part of the title—"Grand Prince". But the full title of Ivan IV after 1552–1556 came to reflect the power of the Russian autocrats over two additional tsardoms as well—the Kazan and Astrakhan Tsardoms—which gave Moscow diplomacy grounds to invoke this circumstance when defending the legitimacy of the very title "tsar".