The Russian orthodox church and the state on the way to the patriarchate

Purpose: To trace the changing nature of Church-state relations during the formation of the centralized Russian state and the strengthening of the autocracy. Methodology: The methodological basis of research is the complex of General scientific methods like analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction; and special methods - historical, systematic-structural, comparative legal. Results: Established features of transformation of the model of Church-state relations in the period of XV-XVI centuries in the context of the gradual elimination of the independent role of the Church and immediate subjection of spiritual authority to the state. Novelty/originality/value: The article presents the contradictory nature of changes in the position of the Russian Orthodox Church in the state in the period of gaining Autocephalous status of the relationship through the prism «of the Constantinople Patriarchate - the Russian Orthodox Church - Russian state».