It became known what the future awaits priest Kuraev, who left for Prague

Banned from serving by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, Andrei Kuraev announced on the evening of October 16 that he was leaving for Europe. The former deacon called “public lectures and meetings” the purpose of the relocation, but it is obvious that Kuraev can hope, at a minimum, for his restoration to the rank or ordination to the priesthood (with receiving his own parish, a department at a university, and so on). The “window of opportunity” opening up for the “disgraced” figure was commented on by the Orthodox publicist, author of investigations in the church and political sphere, Alexander Voznesensky, to MK.

– Alexander, a new rank for Kuraev – who can give it?

– From a church point of view, rank is not a passport, so you cannot get rank here and there. According to the canons, he either exists or he doesn’t. In the Russian Orthodox Church, Kuraev is not deprived of his rank – he is prohibited from serving (this does not remove his rank).

And regarding his rank, he can file an appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew to have the ban lifted from him.

– How will the head of the Church of Constantinople react to such a step?

– On the one hand, Bartholomew may do this purely to annoy the Russian Orthodox Church, on the other hand, Kuraev has a bad character and is very arrogant, and lately his writings have become more and more reminiscent of the tabloid press of the mid-90s with an abundance of innuendo. His commentators on Telegram are half Ukrainians who play along with him in hating the Russian Orthodox Church and Russia, and half are liberals who are moving in the same direction. Whether Bartholomew will want to get involved with this is a big question.

– Will Kuraev even try to become a priest in the Czech Republic?

– No, no options, besides, he’s unlikely to want to – his health is poor, and being a priest means a lot of problems. In addition, it must be taken into account that if he really goes to Prague, then there is the jurisdiction of another local Church – the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. That is, if he wants to serve in the Czech Republic, he will still need to coordinate this issue with this structure, and this is by no means easy.

– What if we decide through Istanbul?

– If he wants to serve, he will most likely have to leave for Turkey later.

– Why did Andrei Kuraev decide to leave Russia?

– This is a typical result for people who play against the Church and Russia: the fear that they will go to jail is pressing, since even high-ranking officials, according to Kuraev, are threatening to sue him. Remember his post about “three knocks”: “The first is Volodin about Magadan. The second is from Kipshidze about his desire to initiate a criminal case against me. The third is a subpoena.”

Vakhtang Kipshidze is by no means the last person in the Church. And this was a clear signal that everyone was fed up with Kuraev’s mockery of believers. For a long time they turned a blind eye to this, but apparently they decided that there was a limit to everything.

– What is the official position of Vakhtang Kipshidze in the Russian Church?

– Deputy Chairman of the Department for Relations of the Church with Society and the Media – an important position through which certain signals are given that have already matured in the Patriarchate. Therefore, if Kuraev’s words about Kipshidze are true, then this is probably the position of the entire Patriarchate.

– Is it known exactly where Kuraev went?

– Now everyone writes that they are going to Prague.

– Why is he “modest” and offers himself to new “employers” only as a lecturer?

– Kuraev himself realizes: it is not a fact that Bartholomew will want to restore him (otherwise there would be a different tone of statements and rhetoric). And therefore he modestly writes that he can give lectures and so on, without claims to anything more.

But it is quite possible that he will be assisted in this matter by Archimandrite Kirill Govorun, banned in the Russian Orthodox Church, who has a similar position regarding the Russian Orthodox Church and Russia (i.e., he has long and deeply hated them and denigrated them in every possible way).

– Is the scenario excluded that Kuraev will be “sheltered”, for example, in the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”?

– It is unlikely. The OCU operates on the territory of Ukraine. There are attempts to create foreign parishes, but so far this is prohibited by the charter. In addition, there are other risks… Kuraev is known for the fact that he likes to constantly write about LGBT people among clergy and does not bother with the presence of facts. The OCU has an abundance of hierarchs like Drabinko, who has long been known to everyone as a homosexual.

There could be a powerful conflict here, and the OCU is unlikely to want to get involved with it. In addition, one should take into account his latest blunder, when he wanted, out of habit, to write nasty things about the UOC and the persecution of believers, and wrote about the “Rakhs” on church calendars and “narcissistic peacocks.” But it turned out that the calendars were from the OCU. That is, due to the fact that Kuraev is unfamiliar with the Ukrainian issue, he publicly insulted the prominent hierarchs of this structure.