Religious and public figure, theologian, philosopher, publicist and blogger Andrey Kuraev was deprived of the priesthood by the decision of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ Kirill. His decree published on the website of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The document, addressed to the “prohibited cleric of the Moscow diocese, protodeacon Andrei Vyacheslavovich Kuraev”, mentions that the decision of the Moscow diocesan court on his “defrocation from the priesthood” was accepted more than two years ago, but so far no patriarchal decree has been issued on this subject: Kuraev “had time to rethink his position and return to the path of the Church”.
“You have shown no signs of repentance in word or deed, and, among other things, you have not stopped your destructive activities,” the executive order reads.
Kuraev himself told Russian media that he took the Patriarch’s decision calmly, because it was quite expected.
“I still think it’s a little pleasure to be in the same company that Patriarch Kirill has made for himself over the past few years. And it’s probably best to stay away from him. Other times will come, of other assessments, and it will then be possible to come back to this subject. <…> I will try to live, read, write, think – everything is the same,” he explained his position.
Kuraev is unsure how the deprivation of dignity will affect him, not ruling out the possibility that “this could be a kind of green light for secular law enforcement – they say, it’s not up to us anymore, you can eat it”.
“We still have a fairly feudal society today, when it’s very important to know who your overlord is, who you serve, who you can call on for protection, and in that sense leaving one of the venerable bodies law enforcement, which is the Moscow Patriarchate , makes a person more socially unprotected “, – says Kuraev.
He recalled that the patriarch had forbidden him to serve and judged him even “in relatively peaceful times”.
Kuraev in his LiveJournal published many provocative posts related to Orthodoxy and the Russian Orthodox Church, and last summer one of the posts became the reason for a fine for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. For insulting the memory of the late rector of the Elokhov Cathedral in Moscow on the day of his death, Kuraev was banned from service. At that time, he also told Russian media that he expected such a development of events. A few months later, the Diocesan Court of the Moscow City Diocese, having considered Kuraev’s statements about the late rector, deprived him of the rank of protodeacon.
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