Abstract
<jats:p>The current state of law and order in Ukraine and in the world as a whole testifies to a deep crisis not only of national, but also of international and natural law, which has a distinct ontological-deontological dimension. Violation of the legal imperative as the existential basis of what is proper is manifested in contempt for obligations, historical truth and universal principles of justice, which has been especially exacerbated in the context of military aggression against Ukraine. In this situation, legal science is faced with the need not simply to fix normative failures, but to deeper understand the loss of synergy between the ontology of law and its deontological obligation. It is in this context that “Lament of Yaroslavna” appears as a scientific and metaphorical way to articulate the pain of the lost legal imperative and at the same time as a call for its restoration. The image of “Lament of Yaroslavna”, known from the ancient Russian legal and cultural tradition, appears not only as an emotional test of grief, but as a symbol of an appeal to a higher, superhuman order of being, when the usual mechanisms of power, force and agreements turn out to be powerless. It is in this sense that “lament” acquires ontological significance – as a sign of the loss of the proper and violation of the principles of the legal worldview. Similar thoughts were expressed by Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Hrushevsky and others. These are archaic forms of appeal to a higher cosmic and moral order, when human and political mechanisms no longer function. The relevance of this study is due to the crisis of the legal imperative as the ontological and deontological basis of the modern legal order. As G. Gratsii points out, this state of affairs testifies to the destruction of the very principle of the obligation of law, which in the classical tradition of natural law is considered indisputable even in conditions of war. The military aggression against Ukraine exposed systemic violations of international, binding and natural law by the aggressor state, which testifies to the destruction of the synergy of law as a consistency between being, belonging and responsibility. At the same time, the internal challenges of Ukrainian society - corruption, betrayal of elites, devaluation of the national oath and professional responsibility - deepen the gap between the normative form of law and its existential content. Under these conditions, the philosophical and legal analysis of the existential status of the legal imperative, as well as the return to the deontological principles of law, including canonical deontology, which historically shaped the culture of promise, conscience and responsibility, acquires special importance. Understanding these processes is necessary not only for the theory of law, but also for the restoration of the moral and legal stability of Ukrainian society in the conditions of an existential threat to statehood. Keywords: ontology of law, legal imperative, deontology of law, canonical deontology of law, synergetics of law, natural law, international law, legal anomaly, war and law and order, responsibility, oath and promise.</jats:p>