Heresy as a crime in the ecclesiastical and secular law of the Pre-Mongolian Period

The fight against heresy in Kievan Rus was less tough than in the Western Europe in 10–13 centuries. The reasons were the need of the Orthodox Church in state support, the competition with paganism, the lack of connection with social movements. The heretics began to be pursued from 11 century, immediately after the Baptism of Russia. The evidence of this can be found in chronicles and “Zhitie” literature (Hagiography). The most detailed source of this period is the “Zhitie of Awraamii Smolenskii”. The object of heresy as a crime is the official church doctrine and the organization of the clergy. The objective side is the promotion of negative information. The common punishments for laymen were temporary excommunication for the correction of body and soul, for clerics – anathema and defrocking where held. Mutilation and confiscation of property were also used.