The Church Theft and Sacrilege in Domestic Law from the 10th to the 17th Centuries

The pre-Petrine period (10th–17th centuries) played a crucial role in the formation of the categories of the church theft and sacrilege as punishable offenses in Russian law. Incorporation of extensive normative materials both of state and canonical nature, as well as an overview of the development of the offenses under consideration over eight centuries, leads to understanding the law-maker’s rationale in regulating liability for the commission of the church theft and sacrilege. The author concludes that legal landmarks of the pre-Mongol period contain provisions concerning the church theft, though not its formal definition. Nonetheless, these texts characterize the church theft as a form of misappropriation and as a qualified theft. Another distinctive feature of the law of this period is an underdeveloped concept of res divini iuris (things of divine law), known in Roman and Byzantine law, or its analogues. Although, substantively, the protection of items comparable to those considered as res divini iuris constitutes the main object of the crime of the church theft and aims entirely at their material preservation, the law-maker failed to define the scope of these categories precisely. That tendency persisted throughout the 13th to 17th centuries as well. At the same time, during this period, the law-maker envisaged the death penalty for the church theft, whereas other forms of theft were subject to recidivism penalties. In the course of the 17th-century codification and adoption of the Sobornoye Ulozheniye, the law-maker classified the church theft as a property crime, distinguishing it from other religious offenses. Sacrilege as a punishable act first appears in the 16th-century ecclesiastical authorities’ decrees that interpreted the rules of the Holy Apostles; however, from the 10th to the 17th centuries, sacrilege was not mentioned as a crime in state law. Therefore, it can be argued that throughout the period under examination, sacrilege neither supplanted nor succeeded the church theft: for an extended time, both offenses developed in parallel and independently of one another. 

1. Alekseev A. I. K izucheniyu eresi strigolnikov // Drevnyaya Rus. Voprosy medievistiki. — 2004. — № 4 (18). — S. 22–34.

2. Alekseev A. I. Strigolniki: obzor istochnikov // Vestnik tserkovnoy istorii. — 2012. — № 3/4 (27/28). — S. 151–203.

3. Anisimov V. F. Istoriya zakonodatelstva Rossii o prestupleniyakh protiv sobstvennosti s priznakami khishcheniya // Vestnik Yugorskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. — 2009. — № 4 (15). — S. 52–58.

4. Bibliya. Knigi Svyashchennogo Pisaniya Vetkhogo i Novogo Zaveta. — M.: Izd. Moskovskoy Patriarkhii Russkoy pravoslavnoy tserkvi, 2016. — 1376 s.

5. Buz S. A. Ugolovnaya otvetstvennost za krazhu chuzhogo imushchestva v zakonodatelstve monarkhicheskoy Rossii X–XVIII vv. // Obshchestvo i pravo. — 2004. — № 2 (4). — S. 42–47.

6. Voronin N. N. Andrey Bogolyubskiy. — M.: Vodoley, 2007. — 321 s.

7. Domitsiy Ulpian. Ob obyazannostyakh prokonsula / per. s lat., vstup. statya i primech. A. L. Smyshlyaeva // Vestnik drevney istorii. — 1985. — № 4. — S. 221–233; 1986. — № 1. — S. 194–214. — URL: http://ancientrome.ru/antlitr/t.htm?a=1392100020.

8. Drevnerusskie knyazheskie ustavy XI–XV vv. / otv. red. akad. L. V. Cherepnin. — M.: Nauka, 1976. — 240 s.

9. Eliseev S. A. Prestupleniya protiv sobstvennosti po drevnerusskomu pravu i zakonodatelstvu russkogo tsentralizovannogo gosudarstva // Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta. — 2000. — № 1. — S. 6–11.

10. Esipov V. V. Svyatotatstvo v istorii russkogo zakonodatelstva. — Varshava: Tip. Varshav. ucheb. okr., 1893. — 45 s.

11. Institutsii Gaya = Gai Institutionum commentarii quattuor: tekst, per. s lat., komment. / pod obshch. red. prof. D. V. Dozhdeva. — M., 2020. — 384 s.

12. Kanonicheskoe pravo / protoier. Vladislav Tsypin. — M.: Izd-vo Sretenskogo monastyrya, 2009. — 864 s.

13. Kanony, ili Kniga pravil, svyatykh apostolov, svyatykh soborov, vselenskikh i pomestnykh, i svyatykh ottsov. — Minsk: Bratstvo v chest svyatogo Arkhistratiga Mikhaila, 2016. — URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/pravila/ kanony-ili-kniga-pravil/.

14. Komech A. I. Kamennaya letopis Pskova XII — nachala XVI v. — M., 1993. — 256 s.

15. Kormchaya kniga: ot rukopisnoy traditsii k pechatnomu izdaniyu / E. V. Belyakova [i dr.]. — M.; SPb.: Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ, 2017. — URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/pravila/kormchaja-kniga/.

16. Kormchaya. Napechatana s originala patriarkha Iosifa. — M., 1912. — 1486 s.

17. Kurs tserkovnogo prava zasluzhennogo professora Imperatorskogo Moskovskogo universiteta A. S. Pavlova. — Sergiev Posad: Tip. Sv.-Tr. Sergievoy Lavry, 1902. — 539 s.

18. Loba V. E., Yakushev A. N. Russkaya Pravda o nakazaniyakh za prestupleniya protiv sobstvennosti // Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy. Severo-Kavkazskiy region. Obshchestvennye nauki. — 2009. — № 1 (149). — S. 95–98.

19. Lukyanov S. A. Svyatotatstvo kak vid religioznogo prestupleniya v rossiyskom zakonodatelstve (X — nachalo XX v.) // Vestnik ekonomicheskoy bezopasnosti. — 2016. — № 1. — S. 150–156.

20. Lukyanov S. A., Udodov A. G. Evolyutsiya svyatotatstva kak ugolovno nakazuemogo deyaniya v drevnerusskom prave i v Rossiyskom imperskom zakonodatelstve // Gosudarstvennaya sluzhba i kadry. — 2021. — № 5. — S. 251–258.

21. Manokhin A. A. «Novgorodskie zlye eresi» kontsa XV veka. — M.: Kvadriga, 2023. — 464 s.

22. Okhotina N. A. Russkaya tserkov i mongolskoe zavoevanie (XIII v.) // Tserkov, obshchestvo i gosudarstvo v feodalnoy Rossii: sbornik statey / AN SSSR, In t istorii SSSR; otv. red. A. I. Klibanov. — M.: Nauka, 1990. — S. 67–84.

23. Pamyatniki russkogo prava. — Vyp. 1: Pamyatniki prava Kievskogo gosudarstva, X–XII vv. / sost.: A. A. Zimin; pod red. S. V. Yushkova. — M.: Gosyurizdat, 1952. — 287 s.

24. Pamyatniki russkogo prava. — Vyp. 2: Pamyatniki prava feodalno-razdroblennoy Rusi XII–XV vv. / pod red. zasl. deyat. nauki prof. S. V. Yushkova; sost. dots. A. A. Zimin. — M.: Gosyurizdat, 1953. — 442 s.

25. Pamyatniki russkogo prava. — Vyp. 3: Pamyatniki prava perioda obrazovaniya Russkogo tsentralizovannogo gosudarstva XIV–XV vv. / pod red. prof. L. V. Cherepnina. — M.: Gosyurizdat, 1955. — 527 s.

26. Pamyatniki russkogo prava. — Vyp. 4: Pamyatniki prava perioda ukrepleniya Russkogo tsentralizovannogo gosudarstva XV–XVII vv. / pod red. prof. L. V. Cherepnina. — M.: Gosyurizdat, 1956. — 632 s.

27. Pamyatniki russkogo prava. — Vyp. 6: Sobornoe ulozhenie tsarya Alekseya Mikhaylovicha 1649 goda / pod red. d-ra yurid. nauk K. A. Sofronenko. — M.: Gosyurizdat, 1957. — 503 s.

28. Polezhaeva K. O. Kanony Pravoslavnoy tserkvi o svyatotatstve // Bogoslovskiy vestnik. — 2024. — № 1 (52). — S. 131–147.

29. Poppe A. V. Eshche raz o nazvanii novgorodsko-pskovskikh eretikov strigolnikami // Kultura Drevney Rusi. — M.: Nauka, 1966. — S. 204–208.

30. Pravila Pravoslavnoy tserkvi s tolkovaniyami Nikodima episkopa Dalmatinsko-Istriyskogo / per. s serb. T. 1. — M.: Otchiy dom, 2001. — 650 s.

31. Pravila svyatykh apostol i svyatykh otets s tolkovaniyami. — M.: Sibirskaya Blagozvonnitsa, 2011. — 816 s.

32. Rossiyskoe zakonodatelstvo X–XX vekov: v 9 t. T. 2: Zakonodatelstvo perioda obrazovaniya i ukrepleniya Russkogo tsentralizovannogo gosudarstva / pod obshch. red. O. I. Chistyakova; otv. red. toma A. D. Gorskiy; rets. V. I. Koretskiy. — M.: Yuridicheskaya literatura, 1985. — 520 s.

33. Stoglav // Azbuka.ru: portal. — URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/pravila/stoglav/.

34. Stoglav: Tekst. Slovoukazatel / predisl. Dzh. Maniskalko Bazile, A. V. Yurasova; komm. E. B. Emchenko. — M.; SPb.: Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ, 2015. — 318 s.

35. Tikhomirov M. N. Posobie dlya izucheniya Russkoy Pravdy. — M.: Izdanie Moskovskogo universiteta, 1953. — 192 s.

36. Tsypin V. Alfavitnaya sintagma // Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya. — URL: https://www.pravenc.ru/text/115348. html.

37. Ekloga: Vizantiyskiy zakonodatelnyy svod VIII veka / vstup. st., per., komment. E. E. Lipshits. — M.: Nauka, 1965. — 226 s.

38. Yushkov S. V. Russkaya Pravda: proiskhozhdenie, istochniki, ee znachenie / pod red. O. I. Chistyakova. — M.: Zertsalo M, 2002. — 400 s.

39. Burczak K. Sacrilegium in Gratian’s Decretum / transl. from Polish by D. Bębeniec. — Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL, 2012. — 308 p.

40. Phillips J. The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople. — L.: Penguin Books, 2004. — 314 p.

41. Roudometof V. Globalization and Orthodox Christianity: The Transformations of a Religious Tradition. — N. Y.; L.: Routledge, 2014. — 228 p.

42. Zorzi A. La Repubblica del Leone. Storia di Venezia. — Milano: Rusconi, 2001. — 766 p.