Canon law of the Eastern Roman Empire as a historical source of domestic criminal law

The purpose of this work is to refute the point of view of a number of theorists about the legal "backwardness" and programmed implementation doom of domestic public (and, above all, criminal) law. In this article, the author declares and argues the thesis that domestic criminal law (Russian/Russian) was initially, from the moment of its formation, based on the traditions of classical Roman law in its most developed Byzantine form. The reception of Roman law into Russian criminal law was carried out in two directions: canon law and secular law. And if the vector of Byzantine influence on the development of secular criminal law has faded over time, then canon law continues to test it to this day. As a result, the author substantiates the conclusion that understanding the true historical roots of the formation of domestic law forms the foundation for its development at the moment and frees the reform of Russian criminal law from artificially imposed dependence on the trends of development of European public law.