On questions about branches in church law and about the relationship between confession and the ecclesiastical court. A response to the articles of hieromonk Tikhon (Vorobiev) and T. A. Dolgopolova (Christian reading No. 3 for 2022)

The article is a polemical review of the publications in the journal Christian Reading No. 3 for 2022 by Hieromonk Tikhon (Vorobiev) “Church Rules Regarding Worship and Liturgical Piety as Part of the System of Law of the Orthodox Church” and T. A. Dolgopolova “On the Possibility of Applying the Principle of Competition in the Practice of the Modern Church Court of the Russian Orthodox Church”. The idea of singling out a branch of worship in church law is positively assessed, however, the thematic groups designated within it seem to be suboptimal, requiring adjustment by combining some and adding new ones, as well as clarifying the list of canons placed in them. Regarding the similarity of the church court and confession, it is noted that despite the fact that both of them are engaged in the analysis of sins, their differences seem to be more important both in formal aspects - primarily the public nature of the proceedings - and in their essence. It is concluded that these articles, written on the basis of the Barsov Readings and round tables of the Barsov Society, touch upon issues that are important and relevant for the modern science of ecclesiastical law.