The canonical right of the Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), beingautocephalous, takes the fifth place in the world among the local churches. At the head of it stands now the Primate Patriarch Kirill. The Russian Orthodox Church unites believers who live on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Estonia, Uzbekistan.

The history of Russian Orthodoxy leads fromConstantinople Patriarchate. The legal basis of the device of the ROC is the Divine commandments, which contain the Scriptures and Tradition. Later here were included canons of the Orthodox Church, liturgical texts authorized by the Church, Lives of the Saints, creations created by the Holy Fathers, and Church customs.

Russia, as the successor to the Byzantine church,took over from her along with Christianity the Church canons and church-civil decrees. Translations from the Greek language were borrowed from Bulgaria, or partially translated into Russia. Greek Nomocanons formed the basis of a collection containing texts of church canon law in Russia. The book of church administration was called the helmsman.

Slavic Pilot Books contained not onlycanon law, but also civil rulings, borrowed from Byzantine sources. This was done in order to familiarize the ruling authorities with the Byzantine citizenship. Sometimes the Russian Pilot Books introduced the statutes of the princes, concerning the church. Also included here were liturgical and canonical articles.

In composition, the Pilot Books were very diverse. Later, from the XIII century, for the subsequent lists, two of their editorial offices began to serve as prototypes: Ryazan and Sofia. The Ryazan Pilot Book is a list with the Slavic, which was received by Metropolitan Kirill II from Yakov Svyatoslav, the Bulgarian despot. It contains the canons with the interpretations of Aristen and in abbreviated form.

In the Sofia Pilot book rules were added,adopted by the Vladimir Cathedral, Russian Truth, articles from the statute of Vladimir, Yaroslav and other texts. And in this book the canonical right is represented not by abridged texts, but by their full edition, in accordance with the translation of nomokanon. The first edition of the printed helmsman was made in 1650 under Patriarch Joseph. The Ryazan list was taken as a basis. Under Patriarch Nikon in 1652, the publication of the book in revised form was issued. Later, already in the XVIII century, the Pilot Book nov was subjected to editorial office, and was printed in 1787. From it were made subsequent editions containing the canonical right of the ROC.

In its well-established form, the Helmsman book containstwo parts. The first except historical articles includes extracts from the Apostolic Resolutions, the Councils - local and universal, the Rules of the Holy Apostles, St. Fathers. All the texts are presented in abbreviated form and make up forty-one chapters.

In the second part the statecivil Byzantine legislation. In addition, there are texts that were created on the basis of the Greek canonists: "On the mystery of marriage" and "On marriages of lawless". There are several articles here devoted to church discipline, worship and other topics, which concern their authors - Greek patriarchs and church teachers. The second part consists of twenty-nine chapters. Each of them is equipped with a subject index.

As Russia has developedown canon law, the second part of the book lost its meaning. Gradually, their statutes, regulations and rules were drawn up, which were designed to reflect the daily, earthly aspect of the church's activities. In general, the legislation in the sphere of church governance is intended to be a good tool for settling conflicts, conducting legal proceedings and streamlining its life.

The pilot book is not the only one forchurch legislation. There were other sources of canon law in the Russian Orthodox Church, and such include liturgical books (booklets, charters, service books), which included canonical rules and various collections.