Praxis

On Some Problems of the Sources of Canon Law

2025-07-23T12:31:20+00:00

The concept of sources of canon law, their hierarchy and meaning depend on what understanding of law we adhere to. On the basis of the analysis of the normativist, jusnaturalist, sociological, psychological and integrative approaches to legal understanding, which are widespread in modern jurisprudence, a conclusion is made about the integrative legal understanding in the canon law of the Orthodox Church. Examples from secular and ecclesiastical law reveal the danger of sociological legal understanding in general and in relation to canon law in particular. From the point of view of this approach, under the guise of the "viability" of law, the ease of violation of legal norms (based on the pragmatic goals of practice), their instability and variability can be substantiated. The conclusion about the need to codify the existing written and unwritten sources of canon law in order to strengthen canonical legality in church life is substantiated.

Politics and Politeia: the Ancient World as a Projection of the Actual

2025-07-23T13:18:55+00:00

The article is a response to the publication of the Russian translation of the most important work by Moses Finley (1912–1986), a researcher of the phenomenon of ancient politics and the economic system of ancient Greece and Rome. Within the framework of practical theology, the questions raised by Finley about the relationship between the elite and demos in antiquity are projected onto today's relationships between the Church, the state, and society. An important feature of M. Finley's work is also his clarification of the true meaning of political terms and concepts related to the life of both ancient and modern societies.

«Composer of the Great Lent» Alexander Andreevich Arkhangelsky (on the 100th Anniversary of His Repose)

2025-07-22T11:23:51+00:00

16 November 2024 will mark one hundred years since the repose of composer, choral conductor, regent, teacher, educator and public figure Alexander Andreevich Arkhangelsky. The purpose of the publication is to reveal his creative personality in the diversity of his regent, choirmaster, educational and missionary service. The author of the article also touches upon the little-known activities of Alexander Andreevich: co-operation with companies that made recordings of his choir. However, Arkhangelsky is best known as a spiritual composer, and his portrait is complemented by the statements of contemporaries who have assessed his compositional contribution to Orthodox worship in Russia and abroad.

The Problem of Translation of Bishops in the Works of Russian Canonists of the Synodal Period

2025-07-23T12:02:39+00:00

The problem of frequent episcopal translations was one of the most noticeable departures of the Church of the synodal period from the Holy Canons and practice of the Byzantine Church. At the same time, as A. shows in this article, in Russian canonical science this problem, both within the framework of general courses of canon law and as a special subject of research, was not actually raised until the beginning of the 20th century. The most effective way to answer the question posed by this study is to examine how canonists interpret the limited set of canons concerning episcopal translations (14 Apost., 15 Nicaea, 21 Antioch., 1 and 2 Sard., 59 Carth., 5 Chalc.). Such an examination shows that some synodal canonists, in their attempts to justify the frequent translations of their time, have interpreted these canons incorrectly, asserting the canonicity of the translations. At the same time, other canonists regarded the displacements as generally non-canonical, although they did not oppose the synodal practice. Only by the beginning of the 20th century, under the pressure of public opinion, Russian canonists came to the idea of the non-canonicity of translations of bishops, which would be finally approved at the 1917–1918 Local Council.

Canons Regulating the Territorial Aspect of the Relationship between Church and State (in the Eastern Church)

2025-07-23T12:44:44+00:00

The article analyzes the rules of the Holy Apostles, the rules of the Ecumenical and Local Councils, which regulate the administrative and territorial structure of the Church. The administrative-territorial structure of the Church refers to such institutions as the national Church, the metropolis, and the patriarchate, that is, the forms of administrative organization of the Church in a particular historical period. The article examines the period from the third century to the end of the seventh century. The author comes to the conclusion that starting with the holy Emperor Constantine I the Great, the church structure begins to conform to the civil and administrative structure, consolidating these provisions with appropriate rules. The development of the church division developed as follows: at first, communities (παροικία) under the leadership of one presiding bishop formed a national Church. At the next stage, the metropolitan area (diocese) was correlated with the civil province. The civil provinces were part of the diocesan system, which was also the case in the church structure. The boundaries of the civil diocese of Egypt corresponded to the ecclesiastical district headed by the Bishop of Alexandria. The borders of the civil diocese of the East, with the exception of the civil provinces of the three Palestine, which constitute the ecclesiastical district headed by the Bishop of Jerusalem, corresponded to the ecclesiastical district headed by the Bishop of Antioch. The civil dioceses of Thrace, Pontus,and Asia formed an ecclesiastical district headed by the Bishop of Constantinople. Later, these ecclesiastical districts developed into patriarchates.

The view of the Russian Orthodox Church on Legal Initiatives to Restrict Abortion in the Russian Federation

2025-07-23T12:54:03+00:00

The article provides an overview of the results of legislative initiatives to restrict abortion in the Russian Federation. Russians Russian Orthodox Church's position on the issue of abortion is given, based on its conciliar definitions, official documents, the opinion of the Patriarchal commission on Family Issues, protection of motherhood and childhood, and the judgments of the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. On these grounds, the general view of the Russian Orthodox Church on the further movement towards a complete ban on abortion in the Russian Federation is analyzed.

The Legal Status of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem during the British Mandate in Palestine (1919–1921)

2025-07-23T13:01:24+00:00

This article is devoted to the study of the legal status of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem in the early years of the British Mandate in Palestine. Аnd also Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem is included in the orbit of influence of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. In the course of this study, the following conclusions were made: the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, headed by the acting head Hieromonk Meletius (Rozov), became dependent, on the one hand, on the government of the English mandate, and on the other — on the Supreme Church Administration Abroad, transformed in 1922 into the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, on the other hand. This legal position of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem remained unchanged until 1948, when the British mandate to govern Palestine was officially completed.

The Inclusion in the Calendar of The Orthodox Church of the Ascetics of The West, Canonized before 1054: Pro et Contra

2025-07-23T13:09:49+00:00

The article analyzes the opinion on the glorification of ascetics in the face of saints. It was formulated by Metropolitan Juvenal (Poyarkov). This topic is very important, since there are no clear rules according to which one or another ascetic of the West could be canonized or included in the saints. A man who is an ascetic of piety, who died in the West before the split of the Church into Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, who is he? Is this person a saint? The opinion of Metropolitan Juvenal (Poyarkov) was generally approved by the participants of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus and held in the Trinity–Sergius Lavra on June 6–9, 1988. On the sidelines of the Council, Metropolitan Juvenal formulated the main criteria of holiness for making decisions on the canonization or inclusion of certain ascetics in the monastic calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. This also applies to the ascetics of the Western Church. Among the criteria are torment for Christ's sake, reverence of the soul, etc. These criteria are always considered in conjunction, implying the readiness of the soul to meet Christ.

National Scientific-Practical Conference «V Justinian Readings»

2025-07-23T13:26:19+00:00

On November 27, 2024, the day of the church commemoration of the Holy Emperor Justinian the Great, the Department of Church and Practical Disciplines of the Moscow Theological Academy held the National Scientific-Practical Conference «V Justinian Readings».

Preface by the Editor-In-Chief

2025-07-22T11:08:51+00:00

A participant in the famous collection "Milestones", the Russian lawyer B. Kistiakovsky, noted back in 1909: "Law cannot be placed alongside such spiritual values as scientific truth, moral excellence, and religious sanctity. But spiritual culture does not consist of valuable contents alone. A significant part of it consists of valuable formal properties of intellectual and volitional activity. And of all formal values, law, as the most fully developed and almost concretely tangible form, plays the most important role." Kistiakovsky's words cannot fail to attract the mention of volitional activity as a characteristic of law. The lack of access to the approval of the law is another reason for the current crisis of law in general and legal awareness in particular. The development of judicial practice, the designation of the principles of legal hermeneutics, the study of seemingly familiar and understandable traditional areas of legal science — canon law is not exempt from all these tasks.
The disciplines of the circle of practical theology, despite their apparent distance from each other, help to cultivate the taste and skills of such volitional activity. In this sense, both students and teachers of master's degree programs studying canonics, liturgics, church art and singing, or political theology face different conditions and face the same challenges.
Some of the solutions to these problems are on the pages of the new issue of our magazine.

Archpriest Alexander Zadornov,

Head at the Department of Ecclesiastical and Practical Disciplines at the Moscow Theological Academy