Normative regulation of the activities of the ecclesiastical court of the Russian Orthodox Church: history, current state, problems and prospects

The purpose of the article is to review the church regulations governing the activities of the church court in the Russian Orthodox Church. Its relevance is due to the paucity of research in this area, especially in relation to the modern period. The methodology of historical research and legal analysis of documents is used. The novelty of the research lies in a comprehensive study of churchjudicial legislation from a historical and practical point of view, in the possibility of using amendments to existing church documents in the development of amendments. The article considers the issue of the historical development of the regulation of the activities of the church court of the Russian Orthodox Church, with special emphasis on the modern period and the latest amendments in this area, analyzes the current church legislation in this area, indicates the problems that exist in it, suggests ways to solve them and improve church legislation and practice. In particular, it notes the lack of a clear regulatory framework for the law of church punishments, problems in the field of publishing decisions of church courts of various instances, in matters of the composition of the church court and in the mechanism for extending the powers of church judges, the question of introducing certain requirements and guarantees for them is noted, as well as the need to eliminate shortcomings in church legislation, in particular, in order to bring it into line with other documents of the Russian Orthodox Church. The article was written on the basis of a report made by the author at the IV Barsov Readings (St. Petersburg Theological Academy, July 12, 2020).