The author sharply raises the key question of historical science about the state reform of Peter the Great. How did the reformer manage to transform the archaic Eurasian country into a strong power with an exemplary army, fleet, new capital, high-tech industry, strong trade and economic ties with European countries? The conclusion is essentially unexpected - the main prerequisite was the Orthodox people of the new Empire, which rose in the east of the continent. The author believes that the historiography traditionally shows the importance of such factors as the monarch's autocratic will, the financial base of autocracy (very weak), the monarch's outstanding personality, but does not take into account such decisive factors as the system of values of the Orthodox population of Russia, the role of the Orthodox worldview, the communal nature of the organization of the lower classes of the Russian state, the widespread serfdom. Serfdom, a modest set of rights of the taxable population of the country under Peter the Great traditionally (following modern liberal views and Marxists-Leninists) is considered in historiography as a disadvantage, not an advantage for the positive development of the country.