PROBLEM OF IDENTIFICATION OF CORRUPTION OFFENCES IN ECCLESIASTICAL LAW OF THE MOSCOW STATE OF THE 16TH CENTURY

Abstract

In article the problem of identification of corruption offenses in the ecclesiastical law of the Moscow state of the 16th century on the example of analysis of narrow and broad interpretations of a concept of simony is put. It is shown that church law acted on the principle of analogy, building the regulation of corruption offences related to the collection of illegal fees to the corresponding legal institutions known in the subsystem of secular law. In general, the Church was interested in legalizing illegal fees, which was carried out in two ways: 1) through the formalization of law and the legitimization of previously informal fees; 2) by turning informal fees into a legal custom and presenting those fees as voluntary gifts. The second way was more archaic and, apparently, in the conditions of Moscow law of the 16th century the first way was dominated. As a result of the consideration of the sources of church law, the interpretation of corruption in the system of church law as a single subjective sin is seen as baseless. On the contrary, corruption offences should be studied as a systemic problem of church law, which is not subjective and is not related to the sinfulness of individuals. The originality of ecclesiastical law, the duality generated by it in interpretation of simony is emphasized, the explanation of survivability of this institute in ecclesiastical law of the Moscow period is offered.