Church court in Russia: The view of a lawyer

Abstract

In the article, the author attempts to consider the church court through the prism of a theoretical analysis of some aporias of the church court and their implementation in practice. As a rule, aporias arise based on the fact that contradictions are inherent in the object itself or its perception. The author analyzes the aporia of the church court, fictitious, logically correct statements and judgments about the nature and activities of the church court, which cannot be put into practice without resolving the contradictions. The first aporia: the basis of the judicial activity of the church should be unchanged. The second aporia: the activity of the church court should be considered outside the state system of secular law. An appeal in the article to pre-revolutionary church and secular law will help to partially reveal the principles of church proceedings and structure, and to reveal contradictions in the understanding of modern church court. Depending on the relationship between the church and the state, their interaction, the model of the church court is transformed: the church court is part of the state judicial system or the church court is not part of the state judicial system. The author concludes that the indicated aporia of a church court are logically correct judgments. Aporias reveal contradictions in views on church court from the part of church and secular law. Many contradictions and intractable issues were identified during the state judicial reform by Emperor Alexander II, but they were not taken into account in modern times when creating a modern church court. The Statute of the Church Court contains legal categories of secular law. The Russian Orthodox Church is faced with the task of resolving the contradictions associated with the nature and activity of the church court. An explanation is provided why the considered aporia of the church court cannot yet be practically realized.