Principles of adversarial system and accusatory system in church proceedings: combination of elements, trends, perspectives

In the article is presented the shortened transcript of the round table “Principles of Adversarial System and Accusatory System in Church Proceedings: Combination of Elements, Trends, Perspectives”, which was organized by the T. V. Barsov Society for the Study of Church Law (“Barsov Society”) of St. Petersburg Theological Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church. Full presentation of the moderator’s (Y. V. Ospennikov) set of theses was given, followed by the presentation of the discussion participants of the round table, during which it was noted that the principle of hierarchy existing in the Russian Orthodox Church, makes the accusatory nature of the judicial process inevitable. The discussion focused on the crucial aspects of the competition, such as the election of ecclesiastical judges, the presumption of innocence, the presence of prosecution and defence parties and their professional training. During the discussion, the problems of satisfaction and the determination of the function of the ecclesiastical court in church law were discussed, and the question of the possibility of replacing the institution of the ecclesiastical court with the institution of practices involving dukhovnik (spiritual director) was raised. However, there were no alternative interpretations of the adversarial and accusatory system definitions.