Deposed Kuraev is ready to defend the rights of the Ecumenical Patriarch

“Deprivation of dignity according to canonical church law is akin to murder,” this is how the well-known theologian, Orthodox publicist and missionary Andrei Kuraev reacted to the decree of Patriarch Kirill to overthrow him from the dignity. We contacted Andrei Vyacheslavovich immediately after this news.

Based on the content of this document, which was published by Kuraev himself, by the way, extremely harsh in its wording, Father Andrei was punished for not showing signs of repentance and not rethinking his position, which His Holiness considers “destructive and anti-church”.

The conflict between the rebellious theologian and the Russian Orthodox Church lasted more than two years. In December 2020, the diocesan court defrocked him. And before that, they were banned from serving. The decision of the court did not enter into force. Kuraev himself has repeatedly stated that the accusations against him are groundless. Nevertheless, it is felt that today’s decree, although it was quite expected, still touched him to the quick.

“I already said two years ago that the Patriarch took a break in our relations in anticipation of a major global crisis. When people’s attention is riveted to a different level of problems, then within this framework it will be possible to solve a small problem related to me. Now these conditions have arrived,” he says.

Recall that Andrey Kuraev is known for his critical statements about church authorities and his personal opinion on many issues of religion and faith, which he does not consider it necessary to hide. And this is not in trend now. He was warned that such self-will would not end well, but everything somehow managed, until in April 2020 Kuraev made a publication in his LiveJournal, which was considered an insult to the newly deceased Alexander Ageikin, Archpriest of the Elohovsky Cathedral. The latter opposed the closure of temples during the pandemic, arguing that this indicates distrust of God and that many diseases, including the plague, were defeated by prayer. Before his death, the archpriest was diagnosed with coronavirus.

Kuraev’s post was considered offensive. However, many believe that this was only an excuse for persecution.

– May I hear your opinion as an expert? If we imagine that this is not happening to you, but to someone else, how often are Orthodox priests defrocked?

– In fact, it happens very rarely that a clergyman is defrocked not for fornication, criminal offenses or heresy. No serious faults were presented to me. It turns out that a person was tried for words …

It’s a common thing these days, I think…

– Unfortunately. At the same time, he did not hear the necessary explanations that I gave. I wrote a whole book about the trial of myself, and it was published. Probably, it was possible to find out from there in what sense I used this or that phrase. Alas, the original setting was to hear nothing.

– Is an appeal or something like that on such a decision possible?

– It is technically possible, starting just from today – with the decree of the Patriarch. Before this, there was no final verdict in my case. There is no time limit for filing an appeal. It’s just that up to this point, the fact that they didn’t let me serve was a minor nuisance that the highest authorities do not seriously understand. Such an appeal is now possible outside of our Local Church.

– In Constantinople?

– Yes, the Ecumenical Patriarch. She has the right to accept this appeal, there were precedents recently – priests from Belarus and Lithuania turned to him. They were defrocked for political reasons.

– What do you think, will your example become another science? Is it now possible for someone to go against the official position not on political issues, but on some more personal situations?

– From the point of view of Patriarch Kirill, the behavior of the rest should be just that. Since Kuraev was not spared, others will be all the more silent: no one else has their own opinion. What is – is derived from the point of view of the state. The Patriarch says this with joy, that today the Church has a complete symphony with the state – a fuller consonance than in Byzantine times. As for other clergy and their points of view on what is happening, I will not speak for anyone. If they are silent, it is their right.

– What are you planning to do now? Are you thinking of leaving?

– I will do what many people did in Soviet times – write, as they say, for posterity. Sometimes my honest thoughts are interesting to other people. So I have motivation, my head works. I know that eras alternate and end, one day new times will come, my favorite poem on this topic is by Ilya Ehrenburg about the children of the south who cannot understand how hard it is for northerners to wait for an icebreaker: , even in a dream / Even if you inadvertently guess / What does it mean to think about spring / What does it mean in the March cold / When despair takes / Wait and wait, how clumsily / The heavy ice stirs … That’s how I live.