The Nomocanon of St. Sava, a compilation of Byzantine nomocanons and codes, came to shape the legislation among Orthodox Slavs.

A nomocanon (Greek: Νομοκανών, Nomokanōn; from the Greek nomos 'law' and kanon 'a rule') is a collection of ecclesiastical law, consisting of the elements from both the civil law and the canon law. Nomocanons form part of the canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the formerly Orthodox now Eastern Catholic churches.

Byzantine nomocanons

Nomocanon in Fifty Titles

The Antiochian jurist John Scholastikos compiled the Nomocanon in Fifty Titles prior to his ordination in c. 550; it was a compilation of canon law divided into 50 titles which was in use until the 12th century.[1] Scholastikos' other collection, from Justinian's Novellae in 87 Titles, was included into one collection in the second half of the 6th century.[2]

Nomocanon in Fourteen Titles

The Canonical Syntagma, a Church journal compiled during the reign of Patriarch Sergius (t. 610–638), was coupled with the Collectio tripartita compilation of Justinian's laws by the jurist Julian in the early 7th century to become the Nomocanon in Fourteen Titles, later revised in 883 and declared an official legal document of the Eastern Church in 920.[3]

Nomocanon of Photios

The Nomocanon in 14 titles was long held in esteem and passed into the Russian Church, but it was by degrees supplanted by the Nomocanon of Photios in 883.

Slavic nomocanons

The Slavic collections of nomocanons are also known as Kormchaia (Russian: Ко́рмчая).[8]

With the Christianization of Slavs, the first translations of Greek nomocanons into Old Slavic were made by Methodios in 865–885.[9] The Nomocanon of Methodius was based on the nomocanon of John Scholasticus, and the compilation also included a secular part, Zakon Sudnyi Liudem ("Court Law for the People"), which was based on the 8th-century Ekloge ton nomon.[10] This first Slavic nomocanon was used in Bulgaria, which became increasingly politically strong in the late 9th and 10th centuries.[10] After the Byzantine reconquest of the Balkans, the Slavic nomocanon was suppressed.[8] In the Kievan Rus, however, manuscripts of this Slavic nomocanon survived, most importantly in the Efremovskaia Kormchaia from the 12th (or late 11th) century.[8] The early Slavic nomocanons had the intention to regulate religious life of the baptized Slavs and also subject them to secular Byzantine law.[8] At this time, the Balkan Slavs worked on establishing their own autonomous churches with Slavic liturgy.[8]

The Nomocanon of St. Sava shaped legislation among the medieval Slavic peoples, and has been dubbed the ultimate civil and canon law source for Slavs in the Middle Ages and following centuries.[8]

Nomocanon of St. Sava

The Nomocanon of St. Sava, known by its original name Zakonopravilo, was the first Serbian constitution and the highest code in the Serbian Orthodox Church; it was finished in 1219. This legal act was well developed. St. Sava's Nomocanon was the compilation of civil law, based on Roman law[11][12] and canon law, based on ecumenical councils. Its basic purpose was to organize functioning of the young Serbian kingdom and the Serbian church. During the Nemanjić dynasty (1166–1371) rulers of the Serbian medieval state could not create code of laws, which would regulate the relations in the state and church. Serbian rulers reigned with single legal acts and decrees. In order to overcome this problem and organize legal system, after acquiring religious independence, Saint Sava finished his Zakonopravilo in 1219.

The Zakonopravilo was accepted in Bulgaria, Romania and Russia. It was printed in Moscow in the 17th century. So, Roman-Byzantine law was transplanting among East Europe through the Zakonopravilo. In Serbia, it was considered as the code of the divine law and it was implemented into Dušan's Code (Serbian: Dušanov zakonik).

During the Serbian Revolution, in 1804, the priest Mateja Nenadović established the Nomocanon of Saint Sava as the code of the liberated Serbia. It was also implemented in Serbian civil code in 1844. The Zakonopravilo is still used in the Serbian Orthodox Church as the highest church code.

Syriac nomocanons

Nomocanons of the East-Syriac Rite (Church of the East):

Nomocanons of the West-Syriac Rite:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bojanin 2023, pp. 73–74.
  2. ↑ Miletić 2019, p. 156.
  3. ↑ Miletić 2019, pp. 156–157.
  4. ↑ Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materials in Canon Law: A Textbook for Ministerial Students, Revised Edition" (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1990), p. 61
  5. ↑ "Photian Synods of Constantinople (861, 867, 879)". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1908. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  6. ↑ Nomocanon with Balsamon's commentary in Voellus and Justellus, II, 815; P. G., CIV, 441.
  7. ↑ P. G., loc. cit.; Beveridge, "Synodicon", Oxford, 1672.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Koprivica 2020, p. 80.
  9. ↑ Koprivica 2020, pp. 78–79.
  10. 1 2 Koprivica 2020, p. 79.
  11. ↑ "S. P. Scott: The Civil Law". Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  12. ↑ "::: The Roman Law Library ( Last Update : July 20, 2012 )". Archived from the original on 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2010-05-10.

Sources

Further reading

  • Павлов, В. И. "Византийский Номоканон и его рецепция в древнерусском праве." Право в современном белорусском обществе: юбилейный сборник научных трудов, повященный (2017): 68-79.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomocanon