Six months had not passed after the death of Alexander and his son, when Ivan died, March 31, 1340, being about fifty years of age. He died before his time, and perhaps unexpectedly, but he was able to go to Spasski, his favorite monastery, and put on the monk’s habit. He was buried in the Archangel Cathedral, his tomb being the first in that series of Moscow sovereigns, his descendants. Uzbek, besides appreciating Ivan as a servant who was faithful and who worked for him zealously, liked the man personally. He placed him above all the princes, honored him in sovereign style, and made him presents. Among those presents was a bag, the Mongol kalitá, destined to historic celebrity. Of Ivan it was said by those who praised him that to the poor he stretched a hand which was never empty; that whenever he went from his palace he filled his kalitá with coins and gave them to the poor whom he met in his progress. “Not precious the gift,” says the proverb, “but precious the love which goes with it,” and Ivan Kalitá, as people came to call him from the gift of the Khan which ever afterward he used so constantly, gave his coins affably, for he liked much to give to the needy. The kalitá which he had received from Uzbek’s own hands might be considered emblematic of his leading activity and methods. Though one use of this kalitá was to carry coins for the needy, Ivan’s purse had other uses. It was the clearing house of Russia in his day. Into it flowed the tribute and taxes; out of it went the sums for which account was imperative; with him remained for use in his struggle for supremacy all profits and remnants of every kind. One of the most important acts of Ivan’s life was the removal of the religious capital of Russia from Vladimir to Moscow. During his pastoral visits, Peter of Lithuania, at that time metropolitan, came to Moscow frequently, and conceived a friendship for Ivan. Later he spent all of his time in Moscow, where he died and was buried. His last words to Kalitá were: “If you obey me, my son, you will build a church here and give repose to my bones in your city. You and your sons and your grandsons will thus gain more fame than all the other princes, and this place will be renowned. The pastors of the church will dwell in it, and it will be above all other cities.” The church was built. The succeeding metropolitan would not desert the house and tomb of the holy Peter, and Moscow became the center of religious administration. During 1340 died Ivan Kalitá, Gedimin, and Uzbek Khan of the Golden Horde, three men who left profound traces in Russia.