Moscow, December 30, 2020
Archdeacon Andrei at the premier of the scandalous film Mathilde that blasphemed the memory of the Royal Martyrs. Photo: Andrei Lyubimov
The ecclesiastical court of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church considered the case of the suspended Archdeacon Andrei Kuraev yesterday, and having considered the reports of his ecclesiastical offenses, recognized him as subject to being defrocked.
The decision will come into force if it is approved by the ruling bishop of the Moscow Diocese, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, reports the official diocesan site.
In turn, the Archdeacon said in an interview that for him it is more important to speak his mind than to obediently serve in the Church.
Archdeacon Andrei was suspended by the Patriarch on April 29 in connection 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.
The Patriarch wrote in his April decree:
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.
Meeting yesterday, the ecclesiastical court found signs of blasphemy against the Church in the Archdeacon’s various statements, and slander against the Russian Church in accusing it of “organizing a schism.”
The court recalled that the Archdeacon, who was once a respected theologian and missionary, was admonished by diocesan confessor Archpriest George Breev and members of the disciplinary commission in 2015, but he did not change the nature of his activities. He is well known for using his LiveJournal to stir up scandals in the Church and keep himself in the limelight.
In accordance with court regulations, Archdeacon Andrei was summoned to the court three times, but only in one instance did he supply by a valid reason for refusing to come.
In response to the summons to the fourth session, held yesterday, he sent an email saying: “I urge you to postpone the meeting to January, as Moscow traffic is gridlocked in the days before New Year’s, and it is dangerous to go on the metro because of the pandemic.” And yesterday morning, he sent a letter to the chairman of the diocesan court announcing his refusal to appear in court.
The Archdeacon has long showed such a frivolous attitude towards the Church. After he was suspended in April, he publicly stated that he didn’t care, because he almost never serves anyways, and he just wants to spend time with his grandchildren.
Given his refusal to attend, the court decided to consider the case in absentia. The decision is now in the Patriarch’s hands, though it can be appealed within a certain period.
The Archdeacon claims that the court never informed him which of his statements in particular were under examination, and so he had no way to prepare a defense. Unable to defend himself, he saw no reason to appear, he wrote in a letter to the court.
In an interview with The Insider, Archdeacon Andrei said that “to be defrocked for negative statements about the deceased is a completely unthinkable thing,” adding that he had apologized to Fr. Alexander Ageikin’s family.
“The Patriarch and the court expected that I would come running and get on my knees, begging them not to remove my diaconal orarion,” the suspended cleric said. “But the thing is that it’s a choice—either the right to say ‘Again and again…,’ or the right to speak my own conscience, my own beliefs.”
He also defiantly stated that he will only speak his personal views louder now.
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