The
tsar himself, the embodiment of
sovereign authority, stood at the center of the tsarist autocracy, with full power over the state and its people.
[8] The autocrat delegated power to persons and institutions acting on his orders, and within the limits of his laws.
[8] The tsar was metaphorically a father and all of his subjects were his children;
this metaphor even appeared in Orthodox primers,
[9] and is remembered in the common Russian expression "царь-батюшка"
tsar-batyushka ("tsar-dear father").