The Kórmchaia Book, also known as the Books of the Pilot (Russian: Ко́рмчая книга, Ко́рмчая from кормчий, Church Slavonic: кръмьчии 'helmsman, ship's pilot'; Pidalion (Russian: Пидалион from Ancient Greek: Πηδάλιον, Πηδαλίων 'stern oar, helm, handle of helm, rudder') or Nomocanon (Russian: Номокано́н from Ancient Greek: Νομοκανών from νόμος 'law, statute' + κᾰνών 'canon, rule'), are collections of church and secular law (see also Byzantine law), which constituted guide books for the management of the church and for the church court of Orthodox Slavic countries and were also the transmission of several older texts. They were written in Old Church Slavonic and Old East Slavic.
| Номоканонъ | |
|---|---|
Synodic Kormchaia of 1282 (Novgorod), containing Russkaya Pravda among other articles
| |
| Created | second half of the 11th century |
| Author(s) | churchmen and monks |
| Purpose | guide book for the management of the church and for the church court; transmission of several old texts |
| Full text | |
 Kormchaia bookatWikisource | |
The Kormchaia Book goes back to the Byzantine Nomocanon, composed in the 6th century by John Scholasticus, Patriarch of Constantinople. The Nomocanon was translated for the Bulgarian Church in the second half of the 9th century and then was spread to Rus'.[1][2] Nomocanons in Russian processing[clarification needed] were called Kormchaia Books at the end of the 11th century; they were supplemented in Russia by the norms of secular law.[3]
The Kormchaia was translated from Greek into (Old) Church Slavonic in Serbia about 1225, which was proposed by Russian Metropolitan Kirill as a guideline for the management of the Russian Church in 1274 at the Church Council in Vladimir[4] (a number of researchers believe that this event took place in Kiev a year earlier.)[5]
In the 13th century, another type of Kormchaia appeared, where some elements of the Bulgarian and Serbian Kormchaia Books were consolidated. This was the so-called Saint Sophia version, or the Synodic version (named from its place of discovery in the St. Sophia CathedralofNovgorod and which was then kept in the Synodic library in Moscow). It was also supplemented by Russian articles: Russkaya Pravda, the church statutes of the princes Vladimir and Yaroslav, the rules of the 1274 Council and others. The Synodic Kormchaia became widespread and is known in a large number of copies.
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the Kormchaia Books were revised due to the large number of variant readings. In 1650, the so-called Joseph Kormchaia (ofPatriarch Joseph) was published and based on Zakonopravilo of Saint Sava. In 1653, the Nikon Kormchaia (ofPatriarch Nikon) was published. In 1787, the so-called Ekaterina Kormchaia was published. The latest edition of the Kormchaia was published in 1816.
Since 1816 the Book of Rules (Kniga pravil) have been published instead of the Kormchaia Books in Russia. The Book of Rules contains a collection of the local canons (rules) of the Russian Orthodox Church as well as older canons adopted at the Ecumenical councils.[6]