A Major Achievement of Modern Historiography. Review of Monograph “The Origin of Church Law in Rus’. Metropolitan John II Prodromos (†1089) and His Canonical Responses” by P. I. Gaidenko. Moscow: Quadriga, 2025. 292 p.

The review is dedicated to the book “The Origin of Church Law in Rus’. Metropolitan John II Prodromos (†1089) and His Canonical Responses” by the famous medievalist historian Pavel Ivanovich Gaidenko, published in 2025. This work is one of the outcomes of the implementation of the project “Sources and Monuments of Canonical and Church Law of the Russian Church” undertaken by the T. V. Barsov Society for the Study of Church Law (Barsov Society) at St. Petersburg Theological Academy. P. I. Gaidenko thoroughly analyzes the oldest of the known church- legal collections of that era — “Canonical Answers of Metropolitan John II” (late 11th century). Certain aspects of the church and secular life in Rus’ are studied in the fifteen chapters of the monograph in terms of Metropolitan John’s attitude towards them: institution of hierarch’s secretaries (chartophylaxes), corporal punishments practised in the Church, role and significance of subdeacons, and many others. The conclusion of the review is that the monograph by P. I. Gaidenko under consideration is a serious study of a unique church- legal monument of the 11th century: following the historical and anthropological approach, P. I. Gaidenko succeeded in studying the life of the clergy of the pre- Mongol Rus’ thoroughly, and making conceptual conclusions about characteristics of the church- legal culture of that period, which had unique and distinctive features.