Church law as a subject of the scientific discussion: the main directions of studying ecclesiastic-legal issues in the post-Soviet period

The article highlights the main directions of the study of church law by Russian secular scholars (historians, lawyers, philosophers, culturologists), as well as representatives of the clergy in the late XX - early XXI centuries. Continuity is shown in the study of church and legal issues in the pre-revolutionary and modern periods, despite the fact that the development of the science of church law was interrupted in the Soviet period. Examples of the study of church-legal subjects in the Soviet Union on the example of the works of S. V. Yushkov and Ya. N. Shchapov. Te article shows that many problems of the science of ecclesiastical law of the pre-revolutionary period require solution at the present stage, the need remains to develop questions of delineation of canonical and ecclesiastical law, the legal regime of religious property, the activity of ecclesiastical courts, and the regulation of family relations. Both the achievements in the study of church- legal subjects and the shortcomings in modern coverage of these issues are grounded