Is the Byzantine emperor the overlord of the Russian princes? A response to the article by I. A. Shershneva-Tsitulskaya (Christian reading No. 3 for 2022)

The article contains a critical review of the study by I. A. Shershneva-Tsitulskaya “On the Question of Church Jurisdiction over Russian Princes in the Context of Russian-Byzantine Relations (11th - mid-15th Centuries)”. The author of this article is trying to show the dependent position of the Russian princes under the jurisdiction of the Byzantine authorities - and above all the emperor, called overlord. It is shown that a similar point of view was repeatedly expressed earlier in historiography in the 19th century, and discussions of Russian and foreign researchers of the 20th century on this issue are analyzed. In general, the author of the material under consideration addresses a number of problems, but does not delve into any of them. The facts cited by I. A. ShershnevaTsitulskaya testify rather to the nominal superiority of the emperor than to real legal mechanisms that could make the Russian princes subordinate to the Byzantine authorities. It would be more productive to consider the sources expressing the real claims of Byzantium - for example, the Circular Epistle of Patriarch Photius of 867 or the history of the possible jurisdiction of the Byzantine authorities over the Galician land in the 12th century, and compare them with other numerous “evidence”, as well as in a detailed way study Byzantine acts. In addition, the political doctrine of the “Orthodox empire” was not the only one - one should not lose sight of the own doctrines of the peoples “under guardianship”. As a result, as we see it, it is hardly fair to consider Russian-Byzantine relations through the prism of the “suzerainty-vassalage” scheme, which refers to Western feudal practice.