The dissertation includes the complex research and comparison of social and economic doctrines of representatives of Eastern and Western Christianity of the period of
the Middle Ages and their further reflection in social and political concepts. The novelty of the presented research lies in the study of the relationship between religion and social and economic aspects as at the stages of formation of socio-economic teachings of Christianity, so in the processes of formation of the newest Christian foundations of public consciousness. In particular, it is noted that the economic idea of Christianity received its final form in the works of the Fathers of the Western and Eastern Churches as a result of a synthesis of the teachings of the Old and New Testaments and Hellenistic philosophy. Its formation and evolution are closely linked to the socio-political decline of the Roman Empire, transformations of economic and religious forms of social consciousness in which religion was a translator of new worldviews, vital ideas, while economic form of consciousness was a lever of choice.
In the process of studying the medieval socio-economic teachings of Eastern and Western Christianity, it was found that the economic and social aspects of these doctrines
were formed on the basis of Old and New Testament teachings which include a whole layer of economic issues such as wealth, poverty, usury, trade, slavery, labor, etc. However, the New Testament focuses more on the spiritual plane than on the socio-economic one. Therefore, here the value of all economic and social categories is determined in the
eschatological plane, in the context of the use for the salvation of the soul. Based on theocentric, anthropological, axiological and eschatological positions which
remain unchanged up to the present, the Western and Eastern Fathers of the Church, at the same time, interpreted the relationship of notions of economic, social and spiritual
differently. Economic categories (wealth, poverty, property, etc.) proved to be a key factor in the differences in the moral and ethical dimension and in the context of the practical
activities of religious institutions. The foundations laid for the role of economic categories in the eschatological perspective set the direction of the relationship between the Church, the state and society up to the present day. Thus, the Western Church, based on the theology of Augustine Aurelius and Thomas Aquinas, enters into a close relationship with social processes and becomes itself an active subject of socio-economic life. The Eastern Church, based on the theology of John Chrysostom, Patriarch Photius, Gregory Palamas, Simon the New Theologian, Nicholas Kwasyl Hamaet, forms position of separation from socially significant processes, emphasizing the value of life in the eschatological perspective which put it in dependence on the secular power. Also in the context of the relationship of socioeconomic ideas of medieval theologians in Catholic and Orthodox socio-political doctrines, it was found that elements of the medieval theological doctrine of "two swords" were adapted to modern realities and manifested in the modern social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
A comparison of the medieval socio-economic teachings of the leading representatives of Eastern and Western Christianity has shown that despite common economic and social issues, there are confessional differences in the teachings of wealth, poverty, property, and so on. It is proved that the modern social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church contains provisions that can be characterized as a modernized manifestation of the medieval political and theological doctrine of "two swords", and also it is clarified that the Orthodox principle of "symphony" of Emperor Justinian I did not ensure harmonious existence of Church and State, moreover, on the contrary, it strengthened the
dependence of the spiritual institution on secular power which led to the emergence of Caesareapapsim, a principle that became the basis of church-state relations in a number of
countries of the Orthodox world.
Key words: socio-economic doctrines, social doctrine, economic categories, the principle of "symphony", the theory of "two swords", Caesareapapism, Papal encyclicals.
