Вестник Екатеринбургской духовной семинарии (Jan 2024)

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LAW IN THE WORKS OF NIKOLAI SEMENOVICH SUVOROV (1848–1909)

  • Priest Vladislav V. Bagan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.24412/2224-5391-2023-44-45-59
Journal volume & issue
no. 44
pp. 45 – 59

Abstract

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The presented article analyzes the system of church law within the framework of the canonical heritage of the eminent pre-revolutionary researcher Nikolai Semenovich Suvorov (1848–1909). Being an Honored Professor of Church Law at the Imperial Moscow University, N. S. Suvorov is considered one of the founders of church legal science in the Russian Empire. The apogee of Nikolai Semenovich Suvorov’s research activities dates back to the last quarter of the 19th century. This time is certainly associated with the flourishing of the domestic science of church law. Suvorov’s textbook “Course of Church Law” was reprinted many times, and its historical and canonical monographs were evaluated by the theological and academic community at the level of leading Western European analogues. N. S. Suvorov authored a myriad of printed works, including dozens of monographs and textbooks, as well as hundreds of specialized articles and reviews in the field of church law. The author of this article tried to systematically reflect the church-canonical views of N. S. Suvorov. Nikolai Semenovich Suvorov is an exponent of two most important trends that characterize the complex process of formation of the pre-revolutionary domestic discipline of church law. Firstly, that is the attribution of the science of church law not in the field of theological competencies, but within the framework of jurisprudence. Secondly, the construction of a domestic system of church law based on classical examples of Western European Canon Law. Thus, the main feature of N. S. Suvorov’s research approach lies in the construction of a legal system of church law, conditioned by the methodology and principles of Western Canonology. The scientific novelty of the presented article lies in the fact that despite in-depth historical and canonical research, N. S. Suvorov remains the least studied thinker among the galaxy of pre-revolutionary canonists. Fundamental monographs by N. S. Suvorov on the history and ontology of church law are of enduring importance for modern church legal science.

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