A scientific educational activity of the Doctor of church law Alexander

Аmong the different branches of law, the Church Law of the Eastern Orthodox Church is a holistic law system and a comprehensive branch of knowledge, which unites the judicial, historical and theological studies elements. Unfortunately, in Soviet times Church Law as a science and as a subject had been deleted from the programs of the law faculties. Even at the renewed seminaries it showed up only at the end of the XX century. However, the Church Law has close ties with a law culture, spiritual heritage and national traditions of the Ukrainian people, because it is an important source of the national law system. The resumption of research interest, therefore, in the history of the Church Law teaching has shown by the most modern Ukrainian researchers as one of the relevant targets of the national law science development. In this article, the history of appearance and development of Church Law Faculty at the Imperial Novorossiysk University is investigated. The article focuses on the activity of Professor A. I. Pokrovskiy, who was the last specialist of this subject at the University. Once in Odesa in 1917, he worked productively at the improvement of the church law teaching, but with the beginning of the Bolshevik terror, he was forced to survive in the conditions of implementation of the destructive reforms in the education sector in USSR. The collected materials will promote renewing the pages of his Анотація Серед різних галузей права Церковне право Східної Православної Церкви це цілісна правова система та всебічна галузь знань, яка об'єднує елементи судових, історичних та богословських досліджень. На жаль, за радянських часів церковне право як наука і як предмет було вилучене з програм юридичних факультетів. Навіть у оновлених семінаріях він виявився лише наприкінці XX століття. Однак церковне право тісно пов'язане з правовою культурою, духовною спадщиною та національними традиціями українського народу, оскільки є важливим джерелом національної правової системи. Тому відновлення науково-дослідницького інтересу в історії викладання церковного права найсучаснішими українськими дослідниками є однією із релевантних цілей розвитку національної юридичної науки. У цій статті досліджується історія появи та розвитку церковного юридичного факультету Імператорського Новоросійського університету. Стаття присвячена діяльності професора О. І. Покровського, який був останнім фахівцем з цього предмету в університеті. Опинившись в Одесі в 1917 році, він продуктивно працював над вдосконаленням викладання церковного права, але з початком більшовицького терору він був змушений пережити здійснення деструктивних реформ у сфері освіти в СРСР. Зібрані матеріали 95 PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of history of state and law of the National University «Odesa Law Academy», Odesa, Ukraine. 96 PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of history of state and law of the National University «Odesa Law Academy», Odesa, Ukraine. 97 Graduate student of the Department of history of state and law of the National University «Odesa Law Academy», Odesa, Ukraine.

Аmong the different branches of law, the Church Law of the Eastern Orthodox Church is a holistic law system and a comprehensive branch of knowledge, which unites the judicial, historical and theological studies elements. Unfortunately, in Soviet times Church Law as a science and as a subject had been deleted from the programs of the law faculties. Even at the renewed seminaries it showed up only at the end of the XX century. However, the Church Law has close ties with a law culture, spiritual heritage and national traditions of the Ukrainian people, because it is an important source of the national law system. The resumption of research interest, therefore, in the history of the Church Law teaching has shown by the most modern Ukrainian researchers as one of the relevant targets of the national law science development. In this article, the history of appearance and development of Church Law Faculty at the Imperial Novorossiysk University is investigated. The article focuses on the activity of Professor A. I. Pokrovskiy, who was the last specialist of this subject at the University. Once in Odesa in 1917, he worked productively at the improvement of the church law teaching, but with the beginning of the Bolshevik terror, he was forced to survive in the conditions of implementation of the destructive reforms in the education sector in USSR. The collected materials will promote renewing the pages of his

Introduction
The development of any modern society is based on scientific achievements that stimulate progress in all areas of knowledge and are important indicators of the intellectual life of society. Therefore, the issue of accessible and quality education has traditionally always remained relevant, especially in the face of a significant deterioration in the economic level of the country's development. Among the various branches of law, the ecclesiastical law of the Orthodox Church is a coherent legal system and a comprehensive branch of knowledge that combines elements of legal, historical, and theological sciences. Consideration of Church (Canon) Law in legal terms is determined by the close relationship between the legal culture, spiritual heritage and national traditions of the Ukrainian people, as it is an important source of the national legal system. Therefore, the renewal of research interest in the history of teaching Church (Canon) Law is considered by most modern Ukrainian researchers to be one of the urgent tasks of the development of domestic legal science (Sovenko B., 2011).
Based on the findings of modern Ukrainian experts, Canon Law is clearly considered an integral part of the phenomenon of law (Misevych S., 2013). However, the question of the place of Canon Law in the system of legal phenomena should also be considered through the prism of the historical approach, bearing in mind that the role and place of this religious-legal system in different epochs had significant differences. Consideration of Church (Canon) Law in legal terms is determined by the close relationship between the legal culture, spiritual heritage and national traditions of the Ukrainian people, as it is an important source of the national legal system. Therefore, the renewal of research interest in the history of teaching Church (Canon) Law is considered by most modern Ukrainian researchers as one of the urgent tasks for the development of domestic legal science (Sovenko B., 2011).
Considering this, the purpose of this paper is to establish, on the basis of the analysis of special literature and archival documents, little-known facts about the biography of Doctor of Church Law A.I. Pokrovsky, to provide an analysis of his scientific and pedagogical activity, especially during his work at the Imperial University of Novorossiysk.

Theoretical framework
The systematic analysis of the latest researches and publications in the researched area shows that some scientific researches on the history of the beginning and further development of teaching of Church Law at the Novorossiysk Imperial University were carried out by the researchers of the 19th century who were direct witnesses of those events. Thus a priceless information on the events of those times can be found in the work of Silchenkov M. (1901). But the fragmentary nature of these explorations and the artificial removal of their research from the scientific circulation in the Soviet era make it objectively difficult to understand the history of Church Law as a science and discipline. Interest in this issue increased significantly at the end of XX -beginning of XXI century. As a result, such researchers as S. Berveno (2018), V. Bogdan (2018), Yu. Buzko (2013), N. Yefremova (2018) and other specialists have carried out a number of researches that have become a significant refinement on this issue. Unfortunately, due to the destruction of a large number of archival materials during the revolutionary upheavals and the Civil War, little information remains today about who and how the teaching of Church Law was carried out at the Imperial University of Novorossiysk. It was N. Yefremova who drew attention to the fact of studying the discipline "Church Law" in this educational institution. She documented that for the whole period of study the girls had to master 16 basic subjects of the University level: encyclopedia of law; history of Russian law; the history of the philosophy of law; political economy; statistics; state law; church law (Kivalov S., 2017). With the help of the materials she has collected, we can clearly prove that A. Pokrovsky taught the Church Law at the Law Faculty of the Odessa Higher Women's Courses in 1917.

Methodology
The research was carried out on the basis of mainly historical as well as narrative method, method of periodization and comparative method.
The historical method was used to study the formation and development of the scientificeducational activity of the doctor of Church Law A.I. Pokrovsky. Thanks to this method it became possible to analyze the difference in scientificeducational activity of A.I. Pokrovsky, caused by differences in political situation. On the basis of the comparative method, a comparison of different periods of life and scientific activity of A.I. Pokrovsky was made to draw some conclusions on how the political situation in the country influenced the scholar's fate. Thus, there was a big difference in the activity of the professor at early stage, when the Church Law was not forbidden and in lately period, when he basically was concentrated only on the Civil Law.

Results and discussion
Determining the subject of Church Law science, the well-known specialist, Archpriest V. Tsypin interprets it as a systematic presentation of the law governing the life of the Church (Tsypin V., 2009). At the same time, he stresses that there is also another name for this science -"Canon Law". Researcher B.V. Sovenko also noted in this context that the subject of regulation in Canon Law is the relations of the Church in its internal and external spheres, which have legal character. Therefore, Canon Law covers the social relations that make up the symbiosis of church and legal relations (Sovenko B., 2011).
It is well known that in Western legal literature, Church Law (jus ecclesiasticum) and Canon Law (jus canonicum) have traditionally been regarded as two distinct disciplines (Misevich S., 2013). Canon Law refers to the science that studies the canons of the Ancient Church and the papal decrees that were part of the Corpus juris canonici. The latter was designed in the Middle Ages and contained not only church, but secular relations. That is, Canonical Law by its origin is ecclesiastical, but its content cannot be considered solely like that. Church Law is called science, the subject of which is the legal acts that regulate church life, regardless of their origin. These sources include ancient canons, church ordinances, or secular laws.
Canon Law of the Eastern Church, formed during the first millennium A.D., had a decisive influence on the emergence of Church Law of Kievan Rus and Galicia-Volyn state. However, despite the importance of ecclesiastical (Canon) Law in the Middle Ages, it is difficult to say today about its teaching or study during that period.
To date, there is no single point of view in the scholarly community of lawyers and theologians regarding the definition of the subject of "Church Law". We consider the substantiated point of view of S. Berveno and V. Bogdan, who believe that "legal discipline" Church Law "has the task of acquaintance with substantive ecclesiastical law, its history and legal representations, but ecclesiastical law as a branch of law is a set of rules of conduct adopted by ecclesiastical authority, legally binding on its subjects" (Berveno S., Bogdan V., 2018).
Particularly difficult was the situation of teaching Church (Canon) Law in the southern territories of Ukraine where Tatars and Turks dominated for a long time. Therefore, a real implementation of the plan of starting a spiritual education here with the study of ecclesiastical (Canon) Law became possible only from the nineteenth century. Kherson (Odessa) Theological Seminary became one of such educational institutions. Her story is closely intertwined with the development and spread of spiritual enlightenment. It emerged in the first half of the nineteenth century and in a very short period of time became a new center of theology in the southern Ukrainian regions of the Russian Empire. At the opening of the seminary, 148 persons became its pupils (Nikolaidi A., Buzko Yu., 2013), and its popularity grew rapidly.
Unfortunately, due to the destruction of a large number of archival materials during the revolutionary upheavals and the civil war, there is still a great deal of information left on how the seminary in Odessa (until 1871 -Kherson) was taught. That is why in our study it does not seem possible to clearly identify the names and works of the teachers connected with the study of Church Law in the Odessa seminary at the initial stage. However, we can safely assume that the teaching there, as a whole, was in line with the approved programs for all spiritual seminars in the Russian Empire. Based on the study of these programs, it can be argued that "Church Law" as an independent discipline was not included in the system of teaching in the seminary at that time, therefore, it was not taught in the Odessa Theological Seminary.
At the same time, this does not mean that issues related to canonism remained within the brackets of religious education in those days. Some of the issues related to the enforcement of certain church canons were part of a science called the Liturgy. Duu to this discipline the study of church ordinances, which should be well known to future priests was ensured. In order to ensure this discipline methodologically, in the early twentieth century, the famous work of the priest Mykola Silchenkov "Practical Guide to the Committing of the Parish Requirements" (Silchenkov M., 1901) was prepared and published, which contained a wealth of material on Canon Law.
From the middle of the nineteenth century, the departments of Ecclesiastical Law were opened at the law faculties of secular universities of the Russian Empire, where teaching was attempted to be turned from theological to the legal approach. This, in turn, contributed to the emergence of new scholars and fundamental research on the theory and history of Church Law (Yefremova N., 2018). Between 1866-1867, the Department of Church Law was established at the Faculty of Law of the Imperial Novorossiysk University in Odessa. The professors who worked there had a higher spiritual education, but in fact, they all studied outside of Odessa. By 1917, there was no ecclesiastical training center for Church Law. But with the help of scientists who came to work at the Imperial Novorossiysk University, the scientific potential there gradually increased, which allowed to train their own specialists.
The real problem in the development of the department at this time was the training of scientific personnel in this field, able to study After some time, A. Pokrovsky entered the Moscow State University, where he "listened to the Academy full course of science of compulsory and special subjects in the second group" (State Archive, 1921). The content of the diploma he received clearly indicates that the general academic course consisted of 23 disciplines, of which 17 were compulsory. Among them, we see such disciplines as church archeology and liturgy, as well as -Church Law, and 6 special disciplines (Bilan G., 2005).
In 1897, after the successful completion of the Moscow Theological Academy, A. Pokrovsky received a Ph.D. in Theology, which gave him the right to teach at the seminary. In the same year, on June 9, he was left at the Moscow Theological Academy for a year, "to prepare for the replacement of vacant teaching departments with the allowance in the amount of 457 rubles 33 kopecks per year" (State Archive, 1921). In 1900, A. Pokrovsky successfully defended his master's thesis, "The Biblical Doctrine of Primitive Religion. Experience in Bible-Apologetic Studies". In his master's thesis, the author provided an explanation of the first chapters of the Book of Genesis and provided arguments in favor of pramonotheism. He argues with his contemporary positivist concepts of the evolutionary development of religions from primordial polytheistic beliefs to monotheistic religions and the replacement of religion with scientific knowledge. The theologian proves the existence of pramonotheism, that is, that the first people before paganism believed in a single God, sought spiritual communion with him, and only later escaped paganism. The author seeks to refute the key ideas of positivism and, above all, the theory of progress, as little confirmed by the facts. He provides compelling historical examples of the degeneration of some Eastern and American cultures. In his research, A. Pokrovsky uses as a source the texts of the Bible, offering his own interpretation of the first chapters of the Book of Genesis. To support the advanced theory, the theologian also uses the data of modern humanities and natural sciences. The main pathos of work is the affirmation of close bonds and the harmonious interaction between knowledge and faith, as well as the origin of the Bible as a result of divine revelation. According to the author, the Bible is the only reliable source of ancient beliefs, since the data of the "exact" sciences, such as archeology, paleontology, anthropology, etc., are not reliable and can be interpreted in different ways. The researcher made a positive contribution to biblical studies because he had thoroughly studied the problem of displaying information about primitive religions in biblical sources and offered an interesting cultural theory of the development of religions. In his research, the author uses various translations of the Bible, including the ancient Hebrew original, Greek, and Slavic translations, setting more precise meanings of the text in a comparative way. This philological work with translations is commendable even today.
For his thesis, the Moscow Theological Academy Council honored him with a master's degree in Theology. The degree was confirmed by Decree №3332 of the Holy Synod of the same year. The master's thesis was awarded by the Council of the Moscow Theological Academy with so called Makariev Prize (291 rubles) (State Archive, 1921). In 1901, the work was published separately (Pokrovsky A., 1901). The main conclusion of the study was that biblical Judaism, with its set of moral norms and worship, was a conceptual religious foundation similar to all primitive cultures. In this journal, the scientist published his famous work, "Bible Prophetism and the Pagan Mantic", where he made a comparative description of the ancient prophets with pagan seers. The findings came with the statement that "biblical professionalism is the most precious and cherished point in all of Israel's history and religion, their essence and soul" (Pokrovsky A., 1909).
He also participated in the work on the Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia. However, in 1909, the scientist applied for his release for health reasons. In August 14, 1909, he was released from the spiritual-teaching service with the appointment of a pension of 533 rubles 33 kopecks per year (State Archive, 1921). In -1916, he taught at the Imperial Moscow University and at the Higher Women's Law Courses of Mrs. V. Poltaratskaya. It was during this difficult period of political and military upheaval that in 1914 A. Pokrovsky prepared the work "Cathedrals of the ancient church of the epoch of the first three centuries. Historicalcanonical study. With three applications and two maps" (Pokrovsky A., 1914).
This monographic study was the result of his long research. The analysis of the initial stage in the history of the cathedrals of the ancient church mainly touches on the formal-canonical side of the history of the cathedrals of the first three centuries. At the same time, considerable attention was paid to the dogmatic side, the analysis of the essence of the cathedral debates and decisions. The use of preserved sources in relation to the ancient cathedrals, their careful analysis allowed following the subjectchronological line more objectively to show the history of these cathedrals.
The collected materials formed the basis of his dissertation work, and in 1916 it was brought to the defense in the Moscow Theological Academy. However, the work was harshly criticized by scholars and theologians. For example, professor of ecclesiastical law of the same Academy, O. Almazov, described the work as scientifically subjective. The rector of the Moscow Theological Academy -Bishop Feodor (Pozdeevsky) also expressed his negative assessment of the work. Considering this, the Holy Synod did not approve the decision of the Council of the Academy to approve the defense of A. Pokrovsky.
To improve his health, A. Pokrovsky was advised to change the climate to a milder, Black Sea. We assume that this situation, together with the difficult financial situation of the family of the scholar, influenced his decision to move to the city of Odessa, where on November 8, 1916, he was hired at the Imperial Novorossiysk University to the position of Acting Extraordinary Professor of the Department of Church Law (State Archive, 1921).
The period since 1912 in the history of the Department of Church Law of this University has become increasingly dramatic. After the liberation of Professor O. Almazov from the University in 1912, the Department needed a decent replacement, but in the conditions of political and social instability, it was difficult to find a specialist.
Until 1916, the Department remained vacant, and lectures on Church Law were given to the secretary of the law faculty, the Acting Professor of the Imperial Novorossiysk University, Alexander Muliukin (Kanzafarova I., 2015). In 1914, he defended his doctoral thesis and was a specialist in History of Law and Police Law. In the absence of a specialist, he gave lectures to students and held practical classes in Church Law (Smintina V., 2005).
Thus, the proposal of A. Pokrovsky was eagerly supported by the leadership of the Imperial Novorossiysk University. Realizing the prospect of the scholar, on May 27, 1917, the trustee of the Odessa educational district offered him scientific trip to Petrograd and Moscow (State Archive, 1921), which allowed A. Pokrovsky to raise again questions about the recognition of his doctoral dissertation.
On August 11, 1917, after the February Revolution, when the right to give degrees was transferred to the spiritual academies, the Council of the Moscow Theological Academy granted A. Pokrovsky a doctorate in Ecclesiastical Law (State Archive, 1921). After that, he was freely renewed in the teaching staff of this institution, but the main place of work remained the Department of Church Law of the Novorossiysk University, where he held the position of Extraordinary Professor (Dombrovsky A., 2010).
In the report of the Faculty of Law of the Novorossiysk University for 1917 we found the scholar mentioned. Thus, among other things, the protocols of the Law Faculty of the University stated "A. Pokrovsky was on a business trip to the Church Council in the autumn semester and asked for a transfer of the Church Law course for the spring semester / 1918 / with an increase in the number of hours, which was followed by the consent of the faculty". At this fitting time for the scientist, Proposal No. 8319 of the Ministry of National Education of October 4, 1917, was approved, according to which he was approved as Tenured Professor of the Imperial Novorossiysk University in the Department of Church Law. On March 20, 1919, in accordance with the ruling of the People's Commissariat of Education, the teaching of Theology and Church Law was abolished. At the same time, since the spring of 1919 the controversial processes of "proletarianization" of higher education began. 22 professors who did not share communist ideals were dismissed from the university. As a result of large-scale reform of the higher school, by the order of the People's Commissariat of May 1, 1920, the Law Faculty of Novorossiysk University was closed (Domdrovskiy A., 2010). The same fate was encountered by Odessa Higher Women's Courses in connection with their "bourgeois curricula, which did not meet either the needs of scientific methodology or the needs of Soviet institutions" (Kivalov S., 2017). Therefore, in accordance with the aim of educational policy (under G. Hrynka's scheme), new institutes were created on the basis of the structural units of the former Imperial Novorossiysk University, which had to meet the new tasks in terms of structure, professors, curricula and plans (Mazurenok V., 2015).
From the first of July 1920, the newly established institutes began to operate: public education, medical, physical and mathematical, humanitarian and social (Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences). The "basis" of the Odessa Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences was made by the Law and History and Philology Departments of the former Novorossiysk University. In 1920-1921, Professor A. Pokrovsky taught at Odessa Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, and then, from 1921 to 1928, at the Odessa Institute of National Economy he read Civil and Family Law. Such a reorientation of the scholar was prompted by new political orientations in the reform of legal education in the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. Religion was recognized by the new government as "Opium for the People". Therefore, the new authorities were not interested in Church Law.
As an ecclesiastical figure, the scholar actively participated in the Renewal Councils in Moscow in 1923, when he was elected a candidate for the Supreme Church Council and a member of the Holy Synod, and in 1925, when he was elected a member of the plenum of the Holy Synod. In 1924, A. Pokrovsky participated in the work of the updated Ukrainian pre-council meeting, where he opposed the patriarchate.
From the 1920s, the scientific activity of the scientist was little noticeable. It is suggested that on March 21, 1926, he attended the opening of the Higher Ukrainian Theological School, which was located in the Kiev-Pechersk St. Uspensky Lavra. At that time, 37 students were enrolled in the first year, including one woman. The lecture course was designed for 3 years of study. The rector was Metropolitan Innocent (Pustynsky). A. Pokrovsky worked as a teacher there for some time.
His fate remains little known. We were fortunate to find in State Archive of Odessa region his personal request for employment in the 1920s, dated March 29, 1939, and a request dated September 2, 1942, by Julia Pokrovskaya, the widow of a professor, to make a time reference to determine the approximate time of the scientist's death.
Studying the scientific and pedagogical heritage of A. Pokrovsky we compiled an approximate list of the scientist's works:

Conclusions
Legal rules governing the inner life of the Orthodox Church and reflecting its theological-dogmatic consciousness are commonly called Canonical or Ecclesiastical Law. The Contemporary Legal Encyclopedia, published by the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, defines Canon Law as "a set of Christian law norms established by the church councils and ordinances of the popes that determine the organization of the church, its internal order, worship, as well as the norms of morality, family relations and, to some extent, the rules of civil, criminal and judicial law, provided that they are sanctioned and are provided by the state". Among the various branches of law, the Ecclesiastical Law of the Orthodox Church is a coherent legal system and a comprehensive branch of knowledge that combines elements of legal, historical, and theological sciences. The study of Ecclesiastical (Canon) Law in the legal aspect since the nineteenth century has caused some difficulties. First of all, this was due to the problem of translating this discipline into the legal plane.
However, Church Law has a close relationship with the legal culture, spiritual heritage and national traditions of the Ukrainian people, as it is an important source of the national legal system. Therefore, the renewal of research interest in the history of teaching Church (Canon) Law is one of the important tasks of the development of national legal science.
In his scientific work, throughout his life, A. Pokrovsky kept true to the history of the church and the Bible. His method of research consisted in the textual and linguistic comparison of the sacred texts and their translations, as well as the application of the method of concordism, opposing the critique of historical evolutionism. Scientists often accumulated their creative potential to fight conservative scholars, but in the conditions of Bolshevik terror, it proved unnecessary for the new government. Unfortunately, in Soviet times Church Law, both as a science and as a discipline, was completely eliminated from the programs of law faculties. Even in the seminary revived later, it appeared only in the late twentieth century.