Church-penitentiary system: concept, components

In this article, the approaches of researchers to the definition of the concept of "penitentiary system" are analyzed, the author's interpretation of this term is given on the basis of revealing the component composition of the penitentiary system, its system-forming factor. The general characteristics of the components of the church-penitentiary system in the late XIX-early XX centuries are presented, and the concept of "church-penitentiary system" is disclosed. The characteristics of the components of the church-penitentiary system are given, the elements of the components are determined in terms of the significance and interrelation between them. The historiography on separate components of the church-penitentiary system of the Russian Orthodox Church was determined, and the role and significance of church punishments in both nationwide and intra-church aspects were singled out.