The anti-Jewish policies by the Russian state were supported by the Ecclesiastical Collegium under Peter the Great and, later by the Holy Synod. These institutions of the Church served essentially as government departments. Russian Orthodox population generally "maintained a more or less neutral attitude" towards Jews during periods of calm, with a "mixture of fear and hatred of Jews characteristic of medieval Christian consciousness" smouldering below the surface. However, social, economic, religious or political changes occasionally brought this undercurrent of antisemitism to the surface, changing the Christian populace into "a fanatical crowd capable of murder and pillage." All "anti-Jewish decisions were conducted by state administrative organs, acting on the authority of emperors, state committees and ministries.", but "unlike the Western church, the Russian Orthodox Church took no steps to protect the Jews." Moreover, despite the lack of an official church position on the Jewish question, many clerics and priests of the Russian Orthodox Church were prone to antisemitic attitudes. The first Kishinev pogrom of 1903 was led by Eastern Orthodox priests.