The Canonical-Administrative System of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Pre-Mongol Period as а Model of Socio-Religious Communication
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/hj2026.63.6-14Keywords:
Kyiv Metropolitanate, pre-Mongol period, socio-religious communication, canonical law, institutionalization, diocesan structure, judicial jurisdiction, Kyivan Rus’Abstract
The ecclesiastical structure as an integral attribute of the state apparatus played a leading role in strengthening the power vertical throughout the geopolitical space of Rus, covering both autochthonous and colonized territories. The institutionalization of Christianity as a state religion in 988 led to the formation of an organizational structure isomorphic to state administration bodies. The aim of the article is to analyze how the structure of the metropolis (eparchies, parishes) provided a connection between the princely power, the elite and the people. The article focuses on such aspects of this interaction as institutional stability (church governance was based on more durable canonical and legal principles than the secular political institutions of the time), sacralization of princely power (the figure of the monarch in Russia was endowed with a sacral status, which de facto legitimized his prerogative in managing church affairs, in particular in the decisive influence on the investiture of higher hierarchs) and peacemaking function (during the period of political decentralization and the expansion of conflicts between princes, the church acted as a key regulator for preserving state integrity). The study substantiates that the introduction of church justice and the implementation of the norms of Byzantine canon law (Nomocanons) created an effective legal dualism. The Church took over the regulation of private law spheres (marriage, family, inheritance), which contributed to the gradual humanization of customary law and its approximation to European standards. At the same time, the reception of Byzantine legal norms became for the Grand Duke a weighty argument in favour of the conceptual separation of the spheres of church and state law.
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