Moscow, April 29, 2020
Archdeacon Andrei at the premier of the scandalous film Mathilde that blasphemed the memory of the Royal Martyrs. Photo: Andrei Lyubimov
The internationally-known cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church Archdeacon Andrei Kuraev was suspended from serving today by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
Formerly an influential figure in the Russian Church whose books brought many amongst the intelligentsia to the Church, Archdeacon Andrei has upset many in recent years with repeated inflammatory statements made about the Church in the media and on his personal LiveJournal blog. In late 2013, he was dismissed from his position at the Moscow Theological Academy for his continued agitation.
His suspension is connected with the latest scandal surrounding him, after he insulted the memory of Archpriest Alexander Ageikin, the former rector of the Theophany Cathedral in Moscow who reposed in the Lord on April 21 at the age of 48 due to complications from the coronavirus.
Pat. Kirill’s decree on his suspension reads in full:
In connection with your public insult to the memory of the rector of the Theophany Cathedral in Moscow, Archpriest Alexander Ageikin, on the day of his repose, despite the grief of his wife and children, which characterizes this act as not only immoral, but as particularly cynical, causing the indignation of the hierarchs, clergy, and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church, and also considering your previous acts, concerning which I have received complaints, you are banned from serving until the eparchial ecclesiastical court makes a decision on the consideration of the aforementioned acts.
+ KIRILL, PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA
A petition appeared online soon after Kuraev published his incendiary remarks, calling for him to be defrocked:
We consider his work incompatible with the high dignity of a cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that this cleric regularly conducts subversive work against the Russian Orthodox Church, publicly and without evidence accusing the hierarchy of sodomy and thus embarrassing the faithful. One of his last attacks against the clergy was to mock a dead cleric, which is completely immoral. We ask the ROC Patriarchate to take measures against Archdeacon Andrei Kuraev, who is a disgrace to the entire clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The petition was then reported on by several outlets. Tsargrad spoke with several dozens of clerics of the Russian Church to learn their thoughts on Archdeacon Andrei and his media activity, none of whom spoke positively of him.
His Grace Bishop Philaret of Dalnekonstantinov, a vicar of the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese, noted that Archdeacon Andrei has a versatile education and is theologically savvy. At one time, his works were read with admiration for their missionary spirit.
“But a personal grudge against the Church system has clearly caused a breakdown in his ecclesiastical orientation,” the hierarch added.
“His work has become associated with a desire to show the Church’s inability to be a grace-filled bulwark and saving institution for people and society as a whole… And as never before, today’s statements of Fr. Andrei often repel a person from understanding the Church as the God-established institution of Christian salvation. And this is very sad,” Bp. Philaret lamented.
“I am truly sorry for this man, who is mired in gossip and disoriented. There is nothing left in him that resembles a man of the Church. I couldn't take Communion from the same Chalice with him today. It is simply impossible!” commented Archimandrite Alypy (Svetlichny), rector of the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Kiev.
Hieromonk Vyacheslav (Maximenko) of the Kamensk Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church noted that many in the UOC consider Archdeacon Andrei to be a supporter of the schismatics and those who persecute the canonical Church.
The archdeacon had not yet commented on his suspension on his LiveJournal at the time of publication of this article.
