The works of Professor A. S. Smykalin on canon law and state-confessional relations: ad deliberandum.

Abstract

The object of the study is the state-confessional relations in Russia at the present stage. The subject of the research is state (secular) legal acts regulating the legal status of religious organizations, the norms of canonical (church) law, as well as the works of Professor A. S. Smykalin, in which the scientist explores the stated topics and gives a legal assessment of both public relations in which the state and religious organizations interact, and intra-church legal phenomena (internal the institutions of religious organizations). In preparing the work, the author sought to follow the principles of scientific objectivity and consistency, primarily using the formal legal method in analyzing the norms of secular legislation and the comparative method in comparing secular legislation and canonical (ecclesiastical) law. Since a significant part of the professor's work is interdisciplinary (at the intersection of jurisprudence and history), historical and functional methods of cognition were also used. The scientific novelty of the undertaken research is the theoretical understanding of modern state-confessional relations through the prism of the works of Professor A. S. Smykalin. The reference ad deliberandum ("to reflection") in the title of the article is made in order to formulate the author's opinion on particular issues. The author considered it possible not to limit himself to references to the research results of a prominent scientist, but also to express his own point of view on the phenomena under consideration, focusing on the most problematic points.