Archpriest Andrey Kuraev. Pop Blogger Mistake

Unsolicited advice for the Yekaterinburg diocese. You are so omnipotent. The mayor, governor, security forces, sponsors, militants, the press are all in your hands. So give a gift to the city. Come not to where it’s good without you (to the park), but to where it’s bad, sad and degenerate. Take the most abandoned area of ​​the city and collect all your resources to regenerate it. Make the Church of St. the visible symbol and slogan of its revival. Catherine. And along with it, install a metro there, resettle the slums, build a clinic and a modern school. When is International

18:40 18.01.2019

Is Epiphany swimming in an ice hole beneficial?

A year ago, on Epiphany on January 19, on the main website of the country Kremlin.ru at 08.00 a blissful photo report appeared about how Vladimir Putin took part in Epiphany bathing on Lake Seliger. (http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/56667). And at 18.40, Deacon Andrei Kuraev posted a short entry on his LiveJournal blog: The failure of Putin’s double. And in it he said that he knew Vladimir Vladimirovich well as an Orthodox believer. The president, the priest wrote, strictly follows all church rules and knows how to be baptized correctly. And the one shown

08:38 16.09.2018

Andrey Kuraev: our Synod gave Phanar a very strong argument

Deacon and theologian Andrey Kuraev criticizes the first reaction of the Russian Orthodox Church to the position of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople) on the Ukrainian issue. In particular, it can now deprive Russian priests of the opportunity to visit the monasteries of Mount Athos in Greece. The Synod announced a break in concelebration with Constantinople, writes Andrey Kuraev in his LiveJournal. - A second-level schism has been declared: only patriarchs and bishops will not concelebrate (the third - the priests turn their faces away from each other; the fourth - and the laity join

10:41 12.03.2018

Who will we vote for on March 18 - Putin or his double?

On January 12, the country was shown how the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, was presenting the papers of the presidential candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to the director of the prosperous state farm named after. Lenin to Mr. Grudinin P.N. He kissed the head grandmother of the Central Election Commission on the cheek as a sign of gratitude and began posing in front of journalists with the gift he received. And on the evening of January 19, deacon Andrei Kuraev made a sensational entry in his LiveJournal under the heading The failure of Putin’s double. The Holy Father claimed that it was not President Putin who plunged into the Seliger ice hole at Epiphany, but his double. Because he didn't understand

14:30 23.02.2018

Should residents of Crimea go or not go to the elections on March 18?

They say that Vladimir Vladimirovich must present his election program to the general public. I completely disagree with this. Firstly, because we don’t know where he is or what’s wrong with him. Deacon Andrei Kuraev authoritatively stated on LJ on January 19: it was not the president who plunged into the Epiphany ice hole on Seliger, but his double. He did not cross himself like an Orthodox believer, but in the Catholic manner he fanned himself with a triangle from left to right. An obvious double. There were no denials from either Mr. who dived or Mr. who emerged. So the servant of the Lord is right

09:34 12.09.2017

Andrei Kuraev accused the patriarch of creating “Orthodox extremism”

Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev stated that it was at the instigation of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill that radical movements appeared in Orthodoxy, which, in particular, created the current situation around the film Matilda directed by Teacher. Kuraev suggested that there are quite a lot of radical movements within the Russian Orthodox Church that pose a threat to society, so they should be dealt with by law enforcement agencies, writes URA.RU. According to the protodeacon, radicalism has taken deep roots in Orthodoxy: the Patriarch himself incites Orthodox Christians to hatred. All

12:16 14.04.2017

A scandal is brewing in the Tobolsk diocese due to accusations of pedophilia

The Tobolsk Metropolis sharply criticized Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev for publishing on his blog, where he provides anonymous evidence of the local bishop’s homosexuality; a statement from the press service was published on the diocese’s website. We are talking about a blog entry by Andrei Kuraev dated April 11, entitled Tobolsk complaints. He cites an anonymous letter stating that Metropolitan Dimitry (Kapalin) of Tobolsk and Tyumen goes to the bathhouse with the students of the boarding school for minor schoolchildren at the Tobolsk seminary and asks them to rub

12:00 12.04.2017

Deacon Kuraev published a complaint about the corruption of boys by the Tobolsk Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church

Deacon Andrei Kuraev published an anonymous complaint on LiveJournal accusing Metropolitan Dimitry of Tobolsk of pedophilia and confirmed that he himself had long known about the Metropolitan’s habits. The case concerns a boarding school for minor schoolchildren at the Tobolsk seminary. Almost 100 children from grades 1 to 11 live there and study in an Orthodox gymnasium. For many years now there has been a tradition that high school students go to the bathhouse with Bishop Dimitri (Kapalin). Wearing panties or towels in the bathhouse is strictly prohibited. The Metropolitan walks naked in a crowd of naked boys, drinks tea,

10:15 28.03.2017

Andrey Kuraev: exorcism is a church business

A few days ago, NI reported how in one of the monasteries the rite of exorcism (driving out the devil) was demonstrated to Ural schoolchildren. This is how Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev commented on this incident. The occasion was an incident that occurred on March 23 with schoolchildren from the Yekaterinburg Paris gymnasium, who, during an excursion to the Sredneuralsky Convent, became accidental witnesses to the process of reprimanding and were extremely frightened. According to the parents, demons were expelled from a 12-year-old girl; she allegedly barked and screamed in male

15:34 28.08.2016

“How expensive it is to herd you sheep!” Scandal in the Russian Orthodox Church

A new church scandal was started by Deacon Andrei Kuraev, known for his sharp statements. On his pages on social networks, he posted a post entitled How expensive it is to shepherd you, sheep! with criticism of the Moscow monastery for selling luxurious and very expensive utensils, reports URA.Ru. Kuraev was outraged by the prices in the online store of the Danilov Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow. For example, the bishop’s staff alone costs more than 1.5 million rubles there. It is made of silver with gilding, decorated with many precious stones, including

17:44 22.06.2016

The secret of the scandalous office of Patriarch Kirill was revealed by Andrei Kuraev

15:00 29.01.2014

“Real repentance is not declarations”

Andrey Kuraev and Mikhail Ardov - about the results of the patriarchal service of Bishop Kirill On February 1, it will be five years since Metropolitan Kirill was elected patriarch at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. Over the years, many scandals have occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church and around the patriarch: the two-room defendants in the Pussy Riot case, the exposure of the patriarch’s bad apartment, the story of the retouched Breguet watch. And just in time for the fifth anniversary, a new scandal: the famous theologian and popular blogger Andrei Kuraev declares the existence of a blue lobby in the Russian Orthodox Church. What is happening in the Russian Orthodox Church today?

16:06 17.01.2014

The Russian Orthodox Church called on Kuraev to abandon intrigues and repent

Moscow. January 17. INTERFAX.RU - The Moscow Patriarchate said on Friday that behind Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev’s information dumps regarding the “blue lobby” in the Russian Orthodox Church lies a desire for revenge and self-promotion. The head of the Synodal Department for Relations between the Church and Society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, said that Kuraev’s judgments were caused by revenge for dismissals from the Moscow Theological Academy. He expressed this opinion on the air of the “Commentary of the Week” program on the Orthodox TV channel “Soyuz”. According to him, Kuraev, who was fired from the MDA at the end of December

08:06 12.01.2014

Protodeacon of the Russian Orthodox Church Andrey Kuraev met with Pussy Riot

Protodeacon of the Russian Orthodox Church Andrei Kuraev met with members of the punk group Pussy Riot Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Fontanka reports. After the meeting, the missionary of the Russian Orthodox Church said that he was happy about the release of the girls under the amnesty timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution. I am glad that they do not intend to repeat actions in churches similar to those that brought them to prison. I am glad that in the zones they went to churches and waited for the priests to pay attention to them. I am glad that they will help open churches in the zones. I'm glad they intend

13:39 09.01.2014

Andrey Kuraev about surrogacy

The position of the Church on surrogacy is clearly expressed in the Fundamentals of the Social Concept of our Church, adopted by the Council of Bishops in 2000. Surrogacy... is unnatural and morally unacceptable even in cases when it is carried out on a non-commercial basis. This technique involves the destruction of the deep emotional and spiritual closeness established between mother and baby already during pregnancy. Surrogacy traumatizes both the pregnant woman, whose maternal feelings are violated, and

MOSCOW, December 23 RIA Novosti. Serving a sentence in a colony did not benefit Pussy Riot group member Maria Alekhina, Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev said on Monday, commenting on Alekhina’s first statements after the amnesty. REUTERS/ Sergei Karpukhin Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina was released On Monday, Alekhina, who was serving a sentence in a Nizhny Novgorod colony for hooliganism in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, was released. After her release, she announced that she intended to meet with another amnestied member of the Pussy Riot group.

14:49 26.08.2013

Andrey Kuraev: Gays came out of bedrooms and moved into big politics

Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, protodeacon and professor of the Moscow Theological Academy Andrei Kuraev, in an interview with NSN, spoke out sharply against attacks on Russian champion Elena Isinbayeva and called LGBT activists a cruel and totalitarian enemy. The scandal that broke out with three-time world champion Elena Isinbayeva further inflamed an already painful Russian society, the question of the rights of representatives of LGBT movements, in light of the recently adopted law banning the propaganda of homosexuality among minors.

13:00 13.07.2013

The priests joke, the priests continue to joke

During the transition from Khrushchev's thaw to Brezhnev's stagnation, two small books were popular among the intelligentsia: Physicists Are Joking and its sequel Physicists Continue Joking. The wits quickly came up with a title for the third, never published book in this series. The physicists were joking. This story came to mind in connection with Andrei Kuravev’s last two speeches: about the dangers of the Neptune holiday and the need to adjust the procedure for lighting the Olympic flame in pagan Greece, since he will soon be delivered to such

I’m a sinner, Lord: a week ago, “Business Petersburg” published my great interview with Fr. Andrey Kuraev. In the newspaper it was reduced to a double page spread, but on the website - everything is in in full .
I feel terribly sorry for those who, being religious (when we say “he (she) is very religious - we are dealing with the same innate property as hot temper or kindness), realize this property when dealing with the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Church in general.
The Church is an institution, in Toffler's language, of the first wave of the agrarian era. The second wave, the industrial one, hitting church dogma, either changed the church (take the famous Protestant work ethic) or left it on the reserves. Massive declericalization occurred. The more developed the country, the fewer churches there are, and there is one exception to the rule - the USA, but that is a separate conversation.
Going to church today, and even to ours, in search of an answer to “burning questions” means not only wasting time, but also exposing yourself to risk. “I know these Saaaave priests!” - as Bashirov’s hero used to say in “Black Rose”. Well, these Gundyaevskys are the heirs of the Saaavetskys.
That is why even such an intelligent and conscientious person as Kuraev seeks out and fights the gay mafia in the Russian Orthodox Church, although it would be more reasonable to understand why sex in Christianity was criminalized. It’s funny, but until recently, the position of a wife on top was considered, judging by the penance imposed, a sin much greater than the sin of malaria or sodomy.
But in fact, sex has no more to do with morality than the love of green apples or ginger tea.
So drink tea, eat apples - and be happy.

Here's the interview.

DEACON ANDREY KURAEV

The most famous Orthodox missionary serving outside the state - about how the body of the Russian Orthodox Church works and why it suffers from those diseases that cannot be ignored

Forgive the stupid question, Father Andrey: but who are you? What is your status? A professor without a pulpit, a priest without a service? Is it true that you are on staff in the Russian Orthodox Church? If you serve, where? Can you be called an Orthodox dissident?
- It seems that towards the end of my life I became close in social status to those whom I loved from my youth. The phenomenon of Russian Orthodox culture is that the people who were its pride did not keep a work book in the church. Be it Chaadaev or Khomyakov, Gogol or Berdyaev, Vladimir Solovyov or Semyon Frank. They simply believed and simply thought, without receiving money for it either from the Synod or from the academies. As for my service, yes, I am “on staff”, and this is one of the degrees of my freedom. But I was on staff for all 25 years of my diaconal ministry. And I serve in the Church of the Archangel Michael in Troparevo, which is shown every year in the final scenes of the film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” And to conclude my answer: I do not consider myself a dissident. It's just that the tradition continues. And I don’t have an ax called “corporate solidarity” hanging over me.

From the outside, you resemble a Marxist renovationist, a Soviet publicist like Len Karpinsky, dreaming of communism with a human face, who was kicked out of work for this and made it clear that just a little more and they would take away his party card, i.e. banned from serving...
- You know, I like everything with a human face, so I won’t be offended by such a parallel. I would really not like the Russian church to have the fate of the USSR and the CPSU. However, I believe that the church needs ethical and, at a minimum, etiquette reform. You know, etiquette is a thing that affects a lot. If people allow their boss to be rude, poke, and almost shout obscenities, this is a marker that shows the culture of internal corporate relations and the degree of its ethicalization. And the fact that there are almost criminal relations within the church, a moral institution, is very sad.

This remark will probably surprise those who go to church only on Easter. What do you mean by “almost criminal relations”?
- Perhaps even those who often attend services will be surprised by the incredible number of bows to the leadership that accompany the service itself. Bows from the sexton to the deacon, from the deacon to the priest, from the priest to the rector, from the rector to the bishop, and so on. And the one receiving the bows is pushed towards the primitive formula: you are the boss, I’m a fool, I’m the boss, you’re a fool. About 4 years ago, I asked a person from the Patriarch’s close circle if there was at least one person left there who could say “no” to the Patriarch twice in a row. I was told that such people no longer exist.

You involuntarily repeated the question that Boris Akunin, having already left Russia, asked in his LiveJournal: are there any people left in the Kremlin, even if they have alien political views, who can be called decent people?
- Perhaps this is true. I will repeat: a simple etiquette reform would mean a lot. So Catholics at one time refused to kiss the shoes of the Pope. It’s a small thing, but it added a lot of respect to the Catholic Church. Little things matter. Compliance with formalities in labor relations. So that a priest, for example, has a work book with adequate records. To have employment contracts. So that dismissal or transfer procedures are carried out in accordance with the labor code.

Do you mean that a priest today is in the position of a television talk show host, with whom they usually sign a contract for exactly 1 month, and sometimes for 1 program, which may not be renewed?
- No, that’s not true, because the priest doesn’t have a contract at all. And I am in favor of more formalization in church life. Not one that increases the power of superiors, but one that can protect subordinates.

Let me return to the parallel with the USSR. How did it happen that the institution that many people relied on during perestroika, declaring humanism, non-acquisitiveness and justice, almost turned into a model of intolerance and ignorance? In the 17th century, the Swedish theologian John Botvid wrote a dissertation “Are Muscovites Christians?” - well, today we can ask the same thing again.
- I can’t agree with your conclusion, but for me this question sounds like this: what have we, the church, learned during the most bitter 20th century for us? Over the past 25 years of our renaissance, neither at the official level, nor even at the level of theological discussions, the question was raised: “for what, Lord?!” This is what scares me: there is no desire to comprehend the experience of persecution not from the point of view of the untruths of the executioners, but from the point of view of our untruths that invited the executioners. What was wrong in our state-church life before 1917? What made the Lord, who, from our point of view, is the ruler of history, pierce us with a red-hot iron?

- Until 1917, the Orthodox Church persecuted the Old Believers in the same way...
- That's what I'm talking about! What were our sins in previous centuries that all this came back to us?! Because from the official point of view, we are white and fluffy, we lived more and more spiritually, and then suddenly the evil Jewish Freemasons sent the Bolsheviks... This is a very unbiblical point of view, non-Christian and unpromising. But here, unfortunately, this question is not even raised. Like the second question - what does the church apparatus that came out of the Soviet Union have to do with the new martyrs? Roughly speaking, these people who make up the apparatus - to what extent are they people of that persecuted church? Or are they actually its antipodes? This is a serious thing. And the third level of reflection... In the early 1990s, I was the press secretary of Patriarch Alexy. Therefore, I can testify that church strategy was not even discussed anywhere at that time. The regime of Patriarch Alexy's rule was situational: we do what we can. If, say, some sponsor appeared, ready to pour expensive bells - good. But no one told him: listen, now we need not bells, but books to send to libraries! Moreover, there was no serious reflection, as we would like to see the church in modern society. We expand, we expand... Are there limits to self-expansion? And what means do we ourselves define as unacceptable for us? Do we have internal taboos? Let's say, this year information leaked that Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga wrote a letter to the commander of the North-Western Military District with a request to provide soldiers and cadets to conduct a procession on the day of Alexander Nevsky. This is just according to an old Soviet joke!

- “But for this, father, can I put my membership card on the table”?
- Yes, yes, yes!.. Complex barter... I’ve been saying for two years now: imagine that we find ourselves in a “karmic” vacuum. Nothing stops our dreams from coming true. And let different people get together and dream on the conditions that their desires will become a law for the entire Universe. Let in your dreams all power pass, for example, to the anti-clericals: what will you allow and prohibit people who are different from you? Will you ban bell ringing or not? What about raising families in a Christian spirit, so that they fast and pray? What will the LGBT movement allow others to do if it has power? But this also applies to religious people. What will Muslims allow if they have all the power in Russia? What about the Orthodox? And what will be banned? I would really like to read such honest “dream lists” for each of these groups. And then decide who is more dangerous, and for whom the muzzle should be tighter.

This is such a promising idea that I almost forgot about the question that you never answered: what happened to the church that it began to resemble the church of Saul, and not Paul?
- I have given a sketch of an answer more than once. We know exactly which places in church life the fiery sword of suffering burned through in the twentieth century. These are precisely our nerves and organs that were connected with politics and politicking. This means that the violence that we, churchmen, previously committed against people - it responded to us. Including the tears of burnt Old Believers of the 17th-18th centuries. And when I hear today from the lips of the patriarch that the Russian Church has never oppressed anyone, I am speechless. Such declarations require a complete amputation of all historical memory.

- The next logical question is what do you propose to do?
- As a person with philosophical taste, I can offer only one thing: think. Watch both series "Borgia", for example. Somehow the Catholic Church was able to overcome this?

They will tell you that the Catholic Church went through schism and reform, but at the same time half of the mirror shattered into separate fragments...
- But we consider ourselves smarter than Catholics? And a smart person learns from the mistakes of others.

There is a hypothesis that current Russian political surrealism indicates an accelerated movement back to the collapse of 1991. If this is so, then when everything collapses, the intelligence and personal affairs of the shepherds and archpastors will be revealed. After which the ministry of many of them will become impossible. What church forces can then come out? What might happen after this?
- I am not a supporter of the phrase “there have been worse times, but there were no meaner ones.” As a person who knows a little about church history, I know that there have been meaner and worse things. Therefore, a smart Christian, I think, should hold on to the Gospel, and at the same time remember that Christ did not come to the pure, and that what is bad in the Church is ultimately determined by us - by what we allow ourselves and with ourselves. I look in the mirror and I see that I am not a perfect Christian. And this lowers the bar of rigor towards my co-workers and bosses. Christ somehow tolerates the church he created. As for forces, in “The Borgias,” for example, the rebellion of Savonarola’s adherents is shown, when children go and destroy everything in their path...

- ... and which ultimately leads to the pyre on which Savonarola himself was burned.
- I can’t look that far. Such a revolt is possible, but I am not a supporter of an all-destructive grassroots popular revolt. This applies to both secular and church life. But still, seeing that in the 1980s many young people came to the church through Berdyaev and Dostoevsky, who then put on robes, I really hoped that this particular vision of Christianity would become mainstream.

At one time, the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Vladimir Sorokin, painted a different picture: that with the rise of gigantic interest in Christianity, many were ordained priests who should not have been. There was a wild staff shortage. And this gave rise to a host of problems related to the ignorance of priests, their anti-Semitism, and so on.
- This one came later - in the 1990s. Yes, our theological schools of the early 1990s were courses for junior lieutenants of the 1941 model. They showed which side the rifle was firing from - and at the tanks. Yes, it was a massive recruitment of people, largely random, but what next? We priests are perhaps the only professional group in Russia that does not offer advanced training courses. This is what you left the seminary with - live with it, gradually forgetting... And all this trouble was repeated under Patriarch Kirill. He is an amorous person, so he falls in love with some projects, but quickly forgets. For example, he had the idea of ​​a church-wide graduate school as a personnel reserve. Where do bishops come from in the church? Let's not go far, let's take the 19th century. There the career was built like this. A student at the theological academy takes monastic vows, upon graduation he is sent to teach at a provincial seminary, over time he becomes vice-rector and rector, then he is sent as abbot to a monastery, then the Synod in St. Petersburg decides to send him as an assistant to the ruling bishop, and after some time he is already receiving a chair. At the same time, the biographies of this so-called “learned monk” were monitored by the structures of the Synod. For the Synod it was a personnel corps. What happened in the 1990s? There is a bishop somewhere in the outback, and there is a young monk who, for some reason, he likes, he wants to make him a vicar and submits documents to the Patriarchate, to which the Patriarch says: “It’s good for you to work with him.” Moscow, by and large, did not select people and did not develop personnel - and this is the painful legacy of Patriarch Alexy II.

Which also affected Patriarch Kirill? He completed a two-year course at the academy in one year, a year after graduation he became an archimandrite, and at the age of 28 he became a rector. The speed of training of red commanders!
- Against. So he ended up in the personnel incubator under Metropolitan Nikodim! And Nikodim had a certain taste in selecting people, and he tried to provide them with career growth. And with him there was a kind of home kindergarten, a kind of home school for future bishops. And under Alexy it turned out that these chicks grew up out of sight of the patriarchy... What did Patriarch Kirill propose in the first years of his pontificate? He proposed that promising monks with an academic education come to Moscow for several years, conduct scientific work, but at the same time be in the sight and at hand of the leadership of the patriarchate. What happened next? The Patriarch decided that it was urgently necessary to fragment the existing dioceses, triple the number of bishops, and the level of requirements for the episcopate dropped sharply. And today people are becoming bishops who, under Alexy, had no chance for this. People with purchased diplomas, dubious pages in their biography. Take the story of the appointment of Mordovian Archimandrite Seraphim, in the world Mikhail Shkredya, as rector of St. Isaac's Cathedral...

Yes, it was a remarkable story, with the scandal caused by the director of the St. Isaac's Cathedral Museum Burov, which is why Shkredy, I believe, was eventually removed... But still: why does Orthodoxy today inspire people to destroy statues, and not go to sinners and lepers, for example, to HIV-infected people? What mechanism ensures the production of intolerance with simultaneous insult to religious feelings?
- In the world of Orthodoxy, there are also volunteer movements that help the sick... But there is also a mainstream, set personally by the Patriarch. The mainstream is looking for a demonstration of its insult and for the manifestation of such a powerful-male principle. We won't let them down! This started in 2012. This, in fact, is the main question on which I cannot agree with my Patriarch. He thinks it's good for the church to look like one of the law enforcement agencies. This seems very unhelpful to me.

- What happened in 2012?
- And then the famous dance of girls in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior happened, and this was used as a reason to radically change the image of the church.

As a result, today Enteo and Milonov have become symbols of practical Orthodoxy, relatively speaking. And here the official reaction of the church to the actions of the same Enteo is interesting. Speakers of the Patriarchate invariably say that if Enteo violated the law, then let him answer according to secular law. But Enteo is a parishioner of a Moscow church. Why then the “educational” conclusions at the diocese level? As far as I understand, there is a wide choice of means - from censure to the imposition of penance?
- The reaction of Chaplin and company shows that they consider the church incompetent to make a moral assessment of Enteo's actions. They say, let the secular Inquisition decide this. The secular inquisition is good. But usually the assessments of a religious organization are stricter, because the church deals with the concept of sin, which is much broader than the concept of offense. Therefore, the attack of legal thinking in Chaplin and Legoyda speaks, rather, of their hypocrisy and internal agreement with Enteo. By the way, not so long ago in the Izvestia newspaper Maxim Sokolov cited a selection of statements from leaders of the Russian church who positively assessed Enteo and his associates... And as for Enteo’s confessor, he seems to be jealous of his spiritual child: “My rank doesn’t allow me, but You’re going to hit me in my name!”

- How are such spiritual mentors formed?
- By reading shocking patriotic literature, where all the glory of Russia is the glory of the army and navy, where all problems are solved through pressure, and at the same time our country and our side are always right.

- Since we are talking about books. If you go, for example, to a storePrimus Versus in Moscow on Pokrovka, which is such a home bookstore for students of the St. Philaret Institute, and if you ask for something modern, close in intensity to the religious thought of Berdyaev or Rozanov, they will shrug their shoulders. There are no such religious publicists today. Why?
- Here I will not be a pessimist. I think in some ways our church is like a teenager whose body parts are developing disproportionately. The fact is that in the 70s of the last century, only historians and philologists, but not philosophers, could reflect on the topic of Orthodox theology in the USSR. As a result, people like Sergei Averintsev or Gelian Prokhorov gave high Russian theology the features of source studies, history and philology. This is, in fact, what Russian theology needs to overcome “Belieberdyaevism.” Because Berdyaev moved too easily to broad historiosophical generalizations. It was even easier for his epigones to do this. When, based on two or three random facts, concepts were built and civilizational conclusions were drawn... This was an amazing feature of Russian philosophy at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. In it, serious, persistent religious thought, which was ready to question, and not simply repeat the language of the catechism, was combined with undemandingness in sources and facts. Therefore, it is logical that theological philosophers were replaced by historians and philologists. Now in our church there are wonderful patrolologists who know how to work with manuscripts. The much-needed time for literalists has come. But I believe that in a generation we will try to philosophize again, but after going through the normal school of textual criticism.

Since this is an interview for a business newspaper, it is appropriate to ask how correct it is to talk about the ROC as a closed joint stock company that does business in a non-competitive environment, does not pay taxes, does not provide financial statements, etc.? Sometimes, by the way, contrary to their statutory documents, where are the early Christians Ananias and his wife Sapphira killed by God for hiding financial statements mentioned? And where can an ordinary shareholder of ROC CJSC read the financial report of the management company?
- You know, in a recent interview with Archpriest Alexander Pelin to Fontanka.ru about St. Isaac's Cathedral, I was amazed by his smiling confidence that if you ask for an annual financial report of a parish, you will receive it. Even if some rector foolishly gives a copy, the diocese will make sure that this rector will remember his excessive openness for a long time. There is no accountability at any level. The rector does not tell parishioners about income and expenses, the bishop does not tell the priests, and the patriarchate does not tell the bishops. I have already said more than once that my observations of the financial life of the church give rise to a conflict of faith and knowledge in me. My scientifically educated memory remembers a problem about a swimming pool with two pipes: water flows into the pool through pipe A, and flows out through pipe B. Over the 30 years of my presence at the church, I have never been able to find pipe B. That is, I see many pipes through which the budgets of bishops and the patriarchate are filled, but so far I have not been able to find a pipe through which these funds flow back into church life. I do not know of a single church project that would be financed with this money, and not with sponsorship or government funds. And I have been to many diocesan meetings, and there the main, and sometimes the only subject of the meeting of bishops with their priests is money. Like, such and such parishes are late, such and such do not fulfill their obligations.

- Do parishes have planned obligations?!
- Naturally, the diocese sets a plan for them.

- But can you really earn a lot from candles?
- Why? Candles just give 400-600 percent profit. But there is no problem in selling candles above cost. The problem is the lack of transparency in how these funds are spent.

Okay, but who decides the question of how much to spend on maintaining the patriarch’s residence? Or how many of these residences does he need?
- It is only he himself who makes such a decision. This is not even formally approved by the Synod.

I have heard wits who suggested hanging a “Eye of the Needle” sign above the entrance to each residence.
- That would be useful.

The sensational proposal to transfer St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church is also connected with money. As far as I can tell, the church proposed to nationalize losses and privatize profits.
- By and large, yes. At the same time, the degree of ill-conceivedness of this initiative is simply off the charts. If Father Alexander Fedorov, who heads the department of church arts at the St. Petersburg Academy, or Father Georgy Mitrofanov, a historian, had been appointed rector of St. Isaac's Cathedral, this would have been understandable, and museum workers would not have had much to fear for the future. But when an outspoken adventurer without any education is appointed, then the interest behind this can only be financial.

- A priest I know is scheduled to preach a Sunday sermon in the cathedral in the presence of the bishop, he wrote the text and submitted it for verification, received the verified text and writes to me: “ I feel like I’m just sick at heart - I don’t want to go there and say something round and round! I don’t want to serve with them, I don’t want to pray with them. Is it my reluctance - is it my pride, my complexes, etc.? Or am I still right and the situation is much worse: to serve with them, to pray with them, to remember the nano-dust patriarch means to betray Christ? How does Fr. resolve this issue for himself? Andrey Kuraev?
- Yes, unfortunately, this is a kind of tax that one comes to pay for the opportunity to serve. And in this sense, there is no difference between the choice of a priest and an ordinary Soviet employee, a person, a teacher, who had to attend some meetings and doze off, from time to time raising his hand with everyone, so as not to be an outcast. And to console this priest, I can remind you of the diaries of the famous French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain. In 1910, when the young Maritain first picked up the church calendar, his confessor “Father Clerissac laughed very much about the feeling of horror that gripped me when I saw photographs of our bishops” ( Maritain J. Carnet de notes. Paris, 1965. p. 92). Because it is one thing to read about bishops - the successors of the apostles, and another thing to see their wonderful faces.

- Didn’t you yourself want to break with the Russian Orthodox Church? Convert to Catholicism like Chaadaev? Resign?
- For me, faith is loyalty to the brightest moments of your life. And the time has come for me to confirm these old words with my destiny. I saw different things in church, but also bright, joyful, spiritual, and grace-filled things. I'm not going to make my opponents happy by leaving. I am not a boy, and I have no illusions that somewhere there is an ideal Christian community or, especially, that it can be created from scratch.

- But the apostles created.
- Absolutely right. And this is what they created now.

- Why are you worse than them?
- Because I am not an apostle. I am not an eyewitness to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, and my shadow has not yet healed anyone.

What do you say to those parishioners who are breaking with the church because they cannot accept what it approves of today?
- Humanly, I can understand them, but I cannot approve. I don’t remember whose words it was about Martin Luther, one of the Russian philosophers said “Luther’s crazy but honest rebellion.”

There is a topic that I cannot ignore. This is your investigation into what you call the gay mafia in the Russian Orthodox Church. The story of Metropolitan Anastasius, the Kazan seminary, and so on. This topic is extremely not close to me, because, from my point of view, a person’s sexual life has no more to do with morality than gastronomic preferences: coercion and violence have to do with morality. But in your investigations you stop every time when it comes to the late Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod Nikodim. The same one whose personal secretary was the current Patriarch. You are scared?
- When the name Nicodemus appeared in my texts in the appropriate context, then patriarchal anger followed, and I was fired from both the academy and Moscow State University. But I always write only what I know. I have been in the seminary since 1985, by which time Nicodemus had already died for 6 years, and I can only testify to one thing. In whatever church circle, among monks or priests, the conversation about Nicodemus came up in the 1980s, the constant in these memories was the mention of “Nicodemus’ sin.” That is, the constant in the church's memory of him is his homosexual reputation. I have years of stories from people who personally suffered from it. So I shut up. I name some church name in connection with homosexuality only if 3 factors coincide. First: if I have a feeling of this person’s homosexual aura. Second: if rumors about this reached me. Third: if there are at least two people who are ready to go to court and testify about this.

I'm not glad I brought this up. I don’t want to continue, so I’ll return to questions from churchgoers. Here’s another one: “What should a Christian do, how should he behave in conditions of deepening darkness, increasing arrogance and dishonesty? Sit and keep your head down? If you fight, then for what and against what, by what means?”
- Don't know.

- Do not know?
- This is a matter of personal moral intuition in each specific situation. I can't come up with a standard of behavior for millions of other people in billions of different situations. And Orthodoxy has always been nicer to me than Catholicism because we don’t have these encyclicals, when a person sitting on a throne in Rome tells the whole planet what they should think and do. For us, these issues are resolved at the level of personal pastoring, which is less traumatic. I assure you that in recent years I have had to persuade priests many times not to imitate me.

How do you see the future of the Russian Orthodox Church? Is it possible, for example, for us to have a revolt of cardinals? Is church repentance, which never happened in the 1990s, possible in a new round?
- Never say never. The future is open. And most importantly, it is not in our hands, but in the hands of God.

- It’s said too beautifully to end the interview with this.
- The history of the church does not end today; it still has centuries to live. Well, to reassure Patriarch Kirill: today I do not see any traces of the cardinal’s conspiracy. The episcopate is faithful to its patriarch and our president. And they will live happily ever after...

While the New Year holidays are underway, a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions is unfolding in the life of one famous LJ figure, Deacon Andrei Kuraev.
I have no doubt that there will be someone who asked the question: “Who is this Deacon Andrey Kuraev?” Here's a link from Wikipedia:

As follows from this article, he was born in 1963. His father served as secretary to a very interesting person - Pyotr Fedoseev, director of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the CPSU Central Committee (1967-1973), Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1955-1962), vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in charge of the humanitarian block (1962-1967, 1971-1988). In short, Andrei Kuraev’s dad was the secretary of a man who for a long time determined the ideology in the USSR. Isn't it Fedoseev who we owe Perestroika to? Tell me who you work for as a secretary, and I will tell you who you are and what you get from it.
In any case, Andryusha Kuraev published the school newspaper “Atheist” in the 9th grade and at the age of 16 he entered the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. Anyone who remembers the cuisine of that time will immediately understand that we are talking about very big connections and reluctance to serve in the army. Apparently, mom put pressure on dad to do everything to prevent the boy from joining the army; the child had to start publishing an atheist newspaper, which probably counted towards his admission: it was necessary to somehow explain why priority was given to 16- a summer boy at the faculty, where they recruited mainly those who had already served in the army and were former members of the CPSU.
Kuraev specialized in the department of scientific atheism. But even then he showed the inconsistency of his character: in his third year he was baptized. This did not prevent him from graduating from the faculty and even enrolling in graduate school: apparently, his father’s old connections continued to work. It’s not that those who were baptized were repressed back then, but still, when admitted to graduate school at the philosophical (primarily former ideological) faculty, membership in the CPSU was almost mandatory. He did not complete graduate school, but defended his dissertation in 1994: “Philosophical and anthropological interpretation of the Orthodox concept of the Fall.” In 1985 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1988. In 1995 he defended his dissertation “Tradition. Dogma. Rite" for the degree of candidate of theology. All this time he worked on the staff of the Moscow Theological Academy, including, like his dad, as a secretary.
Here is this passage from Wikipedia: “In the same 1988, I was invited to a debate at the Kolomna Pedagogical Institute. Based on the results of the dispute, the Moscow Regional Committee of the CPSU issued a special resolution “On the unsatisfactory organization of atheistic education at the Kolomna Pedagogical Institute” and lobbied for Andrei to be sent to study in the Romanian Orthodox Church.” I don’t understand why the regional committee of the CPSU lobbied for Kuraev’s studies in the Orthodox Church.
Kuraev did not graduate from the institute in Bucharest, but it was there that he was ordained a deacon.
Upon returning from Romania, from 1990 to 1993, he worked as an assistant to Patriarch Alexy. Then he taught at various theological universities. In 1996, Patriarch Alexy II, on the recommendation of the RPU Academic Council, was appointed professor of theology. He has gratitude from Patriarch Alexy II for his missionary activities. On February 15, 2003, Patriarch Alexy awarded the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, 3rd degree.
In 1995, he participated, together with a group of other young intellectuals (S. Chernyshov, A. Belousov, V. L. Glazychev, S. E. Kurginyan, V. L. Makhnach, V. Radaev, Sh. Sultanov, etc.), in the collection “Other. A Reader of the New Russian Self-Awareness.”
From the autumn semester of 2004 to December 2013, the main place of work was the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary (MDAiS).
In the 2009 elections, he actively supported the future Patriarch Kirill.
Andrey Kuraev maintains a blog on LiveJournal, writes a lot for various media, participates in TV shows, etc. I think many people know him.
From LiveJournal I remember him from two scandals. The first was associated with the death of Patriarch Alexy II. It was Kuraev who wrote that he died in the toilet. It’s like, what’s special here? But the sediment remained. Another time, Kuraev stood up for Pussy Riot. Even at the very beginning of the hysteria associated with their performance, he made a reconciling post, saying that nothing terrible had happened, and if he were the rector of the KhHS, he would have invited them to drink tea and pinched their butts. There was also a scandal with Jews over the holiday of Purim.
Despite this, Kuraev felt great. Just recently, he published on his blog a scan with the result of some survey, according to which he was in 12th place among the greatest intellectuals of Russia, and Patriarch Kirill was only in 13th (Navalny is in first place, Putin is somewhere far away in end). Kuraev expresses his joy as follows:
« I did not want
I just didn't know
I didn't vote
I won't do it anymore

Sorry, Your Holiness,
I don't agree with them"
And on December 19, 2013, Kuraev began publishing in connection with the history of the Kazan Seminary. Students of this educational institution wrote a letter of complaint against the vice-chancellor, who they alleged harassed them with indecent proposals. An inspection from the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, went to Kazan. Based on the results of the commission’s work, the vice-rector of the seminary and press secretary of the Tatarstan Metropolis, Hegumen Kirill (Ilyukhin), was fired.
This is how Kuraev describes the current situation:
« In December 2013 I made a mistake...
Well, here I am, having learned about the inspection of Fr. Maxim Kozlov to the Kazan Seminary and that Fr. Maxim accepted the complaints of the seminarians, believed them and insisted on the dismissal of the lustful vice-rector, and decided that “it had begun all over the country.”
Knowing Fr. Maxim, as an exclusively career priest, who would not take a single step without the will of the leadership, I felt that the determination had finally awakened in the patriarchate to disturb at least one blue swamp.
In addition, it was clear that there was a lobby, that the Kazan Metropolitan had put all “his” under arms, and on Fr. Maxim and the recipients of his report (including the Patriarch) will be subjected to the greatest possible pressure in order to hush everything up again.
So I decided to help and Fr. Maxim and Kazan seminarians with his publications. And at first I just made posts from the Kazan press and other blogs».

It would seem that Kuraev did nothing wrong. Moreover, he counted on gratitude:
« It is interesting that a week before the Academic Council of the Academy, at a meeting of the Synodal Theological Commission, we had a quite friendly conversation with Fr. Maxim Kozlov and specifically on the topic of his Kazan inspection. Then he confirmed the guilt of the vice-rector and that the inspection itself was caused by a stream of complaints from seminarians. Claims against me for supporting the inspection findings about. Maxim, it was not expressed. We also talked in the presence of the rector of the Academy, Archbishop Eugene. To the comic proposal of Fr. When Maxim appointed me to the vacant position of vice-rector of the Kazan Seminary, Bishop Evgeniy reacted quite seriously: he liked the idea...»
You see: “quite seriously”! Happiness was so possible! But on December 30, at the academic council of the Moscow Theological Academy, in his report, the head of the inspection commission, Rev. Maxim Kozlov confirmed the guilt of the vice-rector of KazDS, abbot Kirill Ilyukhin, and then proposed moving to organizational conclusions - dismissing Deacon Kuraev from the MDA.
Here is how Kuraev himself explains the decision of the academic council:
« And suddenly the main reason for my dismissal from the Academy was the report of Fr. Maxim puts forward precisely my support for his own position. At the same time, it was not me who made the Kazan inspection public.
To the credit of my colleagues, they were, to put it mildly, amazed by such a pirouette. But in the end, the issue of my dismissal was adopted without a vote and simply entered into the minutes. Moreover, at the dinner, Kozlov persuaded those who disagreed with the argument that the Academy needed to get rid of me as quickly as possible, before the Patriarchate took more drastic measures against me.
At the Council I was accused of signing everything as a professor at the Academy.
Even at the council I was accused of defending “pusek”. Well, I explained many times that I am not defending their hooliganism, but our Gospel.
But the height of passionate and vengeful thoughtlessness was the stupidest link between my dismissal and the Kazan homoscandal. Moreover, this homo-subtext was emphasized even by the great fighter for the purity of the general line, Kirill Frolov: “Yes, Kuraev was expelled from the Theological Commission. He finished his game. What was the last straw? I think the publication on a blog of someone’s slander against the spiritual father of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotova )".

I wanted to look at the posts for which Kuraev was fired. Here is an excerpt from the first, dated December 19:
« In some future century a homosexual will become the patriarch. This man is a Christian by conviction, an ascetic who noticed a vile passion in himself, recognized it precisely as an abomination and was able to overcome it, at least in the sense that he kept his bad thoughts from turning into deeds. And he sincerely and repentantly wants to cleanse at least the church elite of homosexuals.
That’s exactly what he would be able to do - since to solve this problem he would not need megabytes of archives of secret filming and volumes of denunciations. They say that homosexuals have a “gay radar” - “the ability of a gay person to figure out a gay person based on a number of external signs or internal sensations. Such judgments are usually spontaneous, based on the first impression, the inner voice»
Curious fantasies, right? What kind of patriarch is this, who is a latent homosexual and can therefore easily distinguish gays from everyone else?
Further more. Kuraev publishes an open letter to him from a certain anonymous person:
"http://diak-kuraev.livejournal.com/566085.html
« ...In Leningrad, in 1976, I was baptized at home. The priest Father Lev Konin baptized me... My godfather was a psalm-reader in the Kulich and Easter Church, where I met Father Vasily Ermakov, whom I still remember with gratitude and respect. Before serving as a psalm-reader (not the best career?), my godfather was a cell attendant for Metropolitan Nikodim, about whose influence on the modern Russian Orthodox Church you know more than I do. I will say that I saw the Bishop of Vyborg more than once; he was, one might say, a friend with my godfather. The Bishop’s secretary at that time was Hieromonk Simon, the current Archbishop of Belgium. Why am I doing all this? It’s just that the mother of Rostislav, my godfather, was terminally ill, and I performed the duties of a nurse, cook, etc. And then one time she told me this thing - Rostislav was “exiled” as a psalm-reader from the Vladyka’s cell attendants because he did not give in to his, the Vladyka’s, harassment... I know for sure that Metropolitan Nikodim Rotov, who died at a reception with the Pope in the presence of Father Leo Tserpitsky, the greatest figure of the Russian Orthodox Church of the last 50 years, was definitely homosexual.
Why am I here? It turned out that I was gay too, although I didn’t realize it at the time. Without realizing myself (in one sentence), I went to the city of Kirov, on the Vyatka River, and arrived there before Christmas 1979. Bishop Chrysanthos received me as a proper righteous person would receive me - at about midnight they opened the door to a stranger, let him in, fed me and put me to bed. In the morning I went with the Vladyka’s cell attendants and subdeacons to the service in the only cathedral in Kirov at that time. A few days later, Vladyka sent me to serve as a psalm-reader in Slobodskaya, in the huge Catherine Cathedral, where I saw for the first time the only saint I had ever seen in my life - Father Apollinaris Pavlov. And it just had to happen that it was there that all THIS happened. What I knew before became real to me.

Father Andrey, I have been a homosexual since I was 10 years old. I simply did not put it at the forefront. I thought that’s how everyone grows up, and, in general, it didn’t interest me.
I even eventually got married, I have two children, but when the youngest of them was three years old, I left the family and began to live with a man, and this marriage (there is no need to attach sacred meaning to something that does not exist, namely the word "marriage" only on the grounds that Christ blessed the wine in Cana of Galilee) has been going on for 24 years. The children understand me, I love my grandchildren, the eldest of whom will soon study at an Orthodox school, which I don’t really like, but I won’t object. Why do you, who stood up, at least partially, for the puss, why don’t you say anything about the idiotic persecution of gays, which did not exist in the USSR, when there was an almost non-working article?
Why is the Patriarch, who was once ordained by a homosexual metropolitan, silent (this is not a reproach, but Kirill knew everything) the greatest figure of the Russian Orthodox Church, and now watches dispassionately as his clergy preaches hatred?
Okay, I know that I will not inherit the Kingdom of God, but, you see, this is my personal business. I only risk that I will end up in hell with such unsympathetic persons as “simple fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, malachis (and as far as I understand, there are so many of them that it is impossible to count them), thieves, covetous people (convicted or not? ), drunkards (don’t make me laugh here, a third of Russia will come here), slanderers (okay, we’ll put up with it), predators (but I can’t even understand who they are, I think you can too). I know that I will not inherit the Kingdom of God just because I was born gay, and I come to terms with this. But you personally, Father Andrei, can’t you understand that this is my personal business, and the one who will hunt me only for the fact that I am like this will most definitely end up in hell?
There is much more I would like to say, but I need to finish, and the best way to end, in my opinion, is this: “So in everything, whatever you want people to do to you, do so to them, for this is the law and the prophets” ( Matthew 7:12)."
The most interesting thing here, of course, is the assertion that the spiritual mentor and ordainer of the current patriarch, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), ​​was an open homosexual who punished those who refused him. We can conclude that it was not without reason that he favored Kirill.
Well, since they did this to Kuraev, he went on the warpath:
« This story will now become obvious to many as proof of the existence of the most influential blue lobby in our Church (not in the Moscow Academy: it is now clean).
To what heights does this blue guarantee go? However, it is better to stop the flight of illicit fantasy with an old joke about a husband who hired a private detective to spy on his wife: “Oh, again this damned unknown!”».
As I understand it, this is again an allusion to Patriarch Kirill.
The deacon says that after his dismissal he had a lot of free time. Every day now Kuraev publishes new horrors about seminaries and clergy. If anyone loves porn, then this is the place for you. There naked boys swim in the pools, and the hierarchs look at them and drool, there the highest clergy tell obscene jokes on a blue theme, drink vodka and get children drunk, bathe in luxury, mock ordinary priests, hate women.
Kuraev justifies his posts with “the tears of a child,” i.e. seduced seminarians. In addition, he finds that the abominations of the priesthood lead to the fact that Russian people convert to Islam and become Wahhabis, blowing up Russian cities.
Here is his post about Pavel Pechenkin (Pechenkin was a suspect in the explosion at the Volgograd train station, but the suspicions were not justified
http://pg12.ru/news/view/63718).
« ...For a Russian guy born and living in the Volga region to convert to Islam, a fair amount of energy of hatred and rejection of Orthodoxy must accumulate in him. Not just indifference and ignorance, but hatred.
And what could be the provocateur of such hatred? - No, not philosophical books.
I believe that the rumor about the dirtiest dirt at the very top of the Church also plays a terrible role. The rumor about the sodomy of the local metropolitan is very convenient for the cheaters of Wahhabi propaganda, and Anastasius himself in the post of metropolitan is very convenient for the local Wahhabi lobby. His actions and inactions (in particular, indifference to the problems of the Kryashens, refusal to defend them) lead to the fact that the ethnic Orthodox of the Volga region - Russians, Kryashens, Maris, Chuvashs, Mordovians - are losing trust in Orthodoxy».
http://diak-kuraev.livejournal.com/577878.html

But today he posted something altogether: this is from the confession of another anonymous seduced person:
http://diak-kuraev.livejournal.com/579299.html
« For the first time I was initiated into “theirs” not in Tver. Internally I was ready. Unfortunately yes. I’ve gotten used to it, there’s no other way. I have been told a hundred times that “this is how everyone lives.” And Patriarch Alexy first of all. They showed me the Sofrin calendar with photographs of bishops and said: this *** has lived with the patriarch for many years - and is now a great saint. They showed photos of how this *** was in Kalinin. And he looked like me. This one was talking to another, lives, etc.».
Those. Kuraev places allegations that Patriarch Alexy was also a homosexual. But they even proposed to canonize him, but for now they decided to wait 50 years.
Let us remember that Alexy did a lot of good for Kuraev, and that he was his referent. So where does this hostility come from? Either a story about a not entirely decent place of death, or an anonymous publication with similar statements? Why did Kuraev dislike the deceased? I can’t help but want to ask what kind of relationship they had.
« All people will say about me with a pure heart and without arrogance
Or am I not handsome enough on your scale...».

Maybe because of this?


To the top thematic table of contents
Thematic table of contents (For life)

Andrey Kuraev - protodeacon of the Russian Orthodox Church, missionary, writer, professor of theology, philosopher. Known for his controversial statements on religious, moral, and political issues. Has devoted admirers and ardent opponents. One thing is certain - this rebel leaves few people indifferent.

Andrey's childhood

As a child, Andrei lived in Prague with his parents, who were sent to Czechoslovakia for work. Otherwise, the boy's childhood was the same as that of many Soviet children.

Origin and birth

The future cleric was born on February 15, 1963 in Moscow. Father, Vyacheslav Ivanovich, was a philosopher, held the position of Scientific Secretary of the section of social sciences of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Mother, Vera Trofimovna, worked as a teacher at the Institute of Philosophy.

Family

The Kuraev family was non-believers - in those days this was considered the norm. The parents did not talk about the soul and faith with the boy. But they were not fascinated by communist ideology either: they listened to Vysotsky, Galich, and read Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The parents dreamed of their son’s career, not knowing what vocation he would choose.

Schooling

Andrey grew up as an ordinary child and studied well. He had no interest in Orthodoxy. As a high school student, he created several issues of the wall newspaper “Atheist”. He was fond of philosophy, often eavesdropped on the conversations and reasoning of his father and his friends who came to his house.

Teenage years and early life

Andrei's youth became a turning point in his life: a reassessment of values ​​occurred. The years of youth are a time of spiritual quest, finding faith and one’s calling.

Student times

The young man had no questions about which faculty to enter after school - philosophical. Difficulties arose when choosing a department. He was more attracted to logic and foreign philosophy, where the young man’s father was known. Andrei did not want to study under his father's patronage. He enters the department of history and theory of scientific atheism at Moscow State University (MSU).

The young man, being a student at Moscow State University, was responsible for atheistic work: he wanted to show independence. The only event he organized was a performance by the rock band “Resurrection” for the school he sponsored.

Spiritual education

The turning point for Kuraev was the funeral of Vladimir Vysotsky (1980). When the young man and his father said goodbye to the legendary figure, many classmates stood in a cordon. Red bandages were visible on his arms. It was as if a barrier separated them. Then the future rebel wanted to go beyond the red flags.

Andrei was irritated by Soviet ideology. Dislike for power became the first step towards faith.

In his 3rd year at Moscow State University, after reading Fyodor Dostoevsky’s book “The Brothers Karamazov”, the young man comes to faith in Christ as the Savior. A year later, Andrei was baptized.

The parents found out about this by chance: when their son was getting ready for a church service, he did not hide the prayer book and icons. Mother and father were worried and tried to persuade him to come to his senses. His parents were worried about his future and career. A few days later, they accepted their son’s action and did not prohibit visiting church.

After graduating from Moscow State University, the young man entered the Moscow Theological Seminary (1984). It cost his father his career. As a seminarian, the young man writes his first articles. Then he begins to preach among students. His active activities alarm the party leaders.

After graduating from seminary (1988), the future missionary is sent to study at the Bucharest Theological Institute. Two years later he returns back as a deacon - an assistant priest. Having fulfilled his dream, Father Andrei graduated (1992) from the Moscow Theological Academy (MDA).

This video shows one of the first performances of the future clergyman: broadcast in January 1990 on cable television in the Saburovo district of Moscow.

Personal life

Andrei Vyacheslavovich’s personal life is devoted to church, missionary and writing activities. Some are interested in his marital status in his biography. Kuraev has no family or children. The cleric lives alone in a small apartment in the west of Moscow. Books keep him company in the evenings - the publicist reads a lot. He often travels around the city on a motor scooter.

Mature age

After his studies, Kuraev was at a crossroads - to become a priest or remain a deacon. He chooses the second, despite the appointed day of priestly ordination. This decision gives the cleric more freedom for missionary and writing activities and determines his future life.

The archdeacon talks about one of the reasons for his reluctance to accept the priesthood.

Work in the Russian Orthodox Church

After returning from Bucharest, the deacon was appointed as a referent of Patriarch Alexy II at the request of the latter. He worked as a secretary for 3 years. According to the theologian, the Patriarch treated him favorably.

Later the protodeacon held the following positions:

• until 1996 he worked as dean of the philosophical and theological faculty of the Russian Orthodox University of St. John the Evangelist;
• until 2014 he was a professor at the Orthodox St. Tikhvin Theological Institute;
• Since 2004, the Moscow Theological Academy has become the place of work.

Patriarch Kirill ordained the missionary to the rank of protodeacon - the chief deacon of the diocese at the cathedral (2009).

Missionary activities

Father Andrey is widely known as a preacher of Orthodoxy.

The main activities of the protodeacon in missionary work:

1. Runs a blog.
2. Gives lectures.
3. He travels around the country preaching the fundamentals of the Orthodox faith to high school students, youth, military personnel, middle-aged and older people.
4. He often appears on radio and television.
5. He runs his own website and forum.
6. Writes articles and books.

To support the work of the few Orthodox preachers, the Kuraev Missionary Fund was created. Donations are necessary to ensure that the financial burden of traveling to distant regions does not fall on poorer dioceses.

Dismissal from the academy

On December 30, 2013, the Academic Council decided to dismiss the protodeacon from the Moscow Theological Academy. The reason, according to the leadership of the MDA, was the shocking statements of the theologian.

Andrei Vyacheslavovich was not present at the Council, as he was at the funeral of a loved one.

He considers his publications about the Kazan case to be the reason for his dismissal. At the end of December 2013, an inspection headed by Archpriest Maxim Kozlov visited Kazan. The reason was complaints from seminarians about many years of sexual harassment by the management of the educational institution. The local metropolitan did not react to the terrible situation.

The Moscow commission confirmed the correctness of the students of the Kazan Theological Seminary. The accused vice-rector was fired. The case was not examined by either the police or the church court. The former vice-rector then found a place for himself in the Tver diocese.

Kuraev announced this on his page after the local press published information about the scandal. Andrei Vyacheslavovich did not protest the decision to expel him from the MDA, although there was a violation of the protocol. The theologian's supporters were not allowed to defend the professor. Contrary to rumors, the protodeacon is not banned from ministry.

Scandalous statements

The cleric’s speeches and publications often cause a lot of controversy.

The protodeacon’s statements, which received mixed reviews in society:

1. In the article “Is it possible not to celebrate March 8?”, published in the Yekaterinburg “Orthodox Gazeta”, he associates February 23 and March 8 with the Jewish holiday “Purim” (1999).
2. With a publication written for the newspaper Izvestia, he begins a chain of statements that Islam is responsible for the growth of terrorism (2004).
3. Interprets the words of Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem as the latter’s doubt about the divine origin of the Holy Fire (2008).
4. Calls on believing Russians to ignore the concerts of the singer Madonna because of her stage name, performance on a mirror cross and protection of homosexuals. She asks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deprive her of her entry visa.
5. Advocates for the excommunication of singer Philip Kirkorov after the birth and baptism of children born from a surrogate mother (2012).
6. He comes to the defense of the members of the Pussy Riot group, offering, instead of punishment, to treat them to pancakes and invite them to the Ceremony of Forgiveness (2012).
7. Lists the negative consequences for Russia after the annexation of Crimea (March 29, 2014).
8. The most scandalous are the words about the “blue lobby” in the Russian Orthodox Church (2013 - 2014). Kuraev reports that part of the episcopate is homosexual: during the existence of the Soviet Union, they were promoted by the KGB.

Participation in the film

In 2009, Valery Otstavnykh shot a thirty-minute film “48 hours in the life of Deacon Andrei Kuraev.” The cleric's travels and interactions with people after lectures are shown. The basis for creating the film was an interview recorded in the form of a monologue.

In 2016, director Viktor Tikhomirov shot the film “Andrey Kuraev. Direct Speech”, where musicians Boris Grebenshchikov and Yuri Shevchuk took part. Viewers will see fragments of performances and the daily life of Father Andrei.

This video features trailer for the film by Viktor Tikhomirov.

Modern activities

Considering what an extraordinary personality Father Andrei is, many are wondering where the protodeacon is currently serving. The missionary still gives lectures and continues to blog. He serves in the Church of the Archangel Michael, located in the Troparevo district of Moscow, not far from the Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station.

Writing activity

Protodeacon fully realized himself as a writer and publicist. He writes both scientific books and articles, and works for a wide range of readers.

Books

One of the sensational books is “How to Make an Anti-Semite,” where the theologian reflects on the attitude of Jews towards Russians and touches on the topic of Jewish journalism. “Does it matter how you believe” - the work contains criticism of Darwinism. The book “Dispute with an Atheist” is interesting, taking into account the author’s childhood and partly his youth.

Articles and publications

The deacon’s scientific articles are published on the pages of the Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary, as well as in the publications “Questions of Philosophy”, “Science” and others.

The magazine “Alpha and Omega” published many publications. The names of some of them: “The Commandments of Eden”, “The Sacrament of Redemption”.

Often the philosopher’s articles contain “hot” topics:

• “How to fight terrorism without special forces” (Izvestia newspaper, 2002);
• “Ukrainian division - who needs it” (“Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, 2006);
• “Abkhazian knot of church politics” (Profile magazine, 2008).
• “Hostages of Clip Thinking” (2004);
• “How to properly celebrate Easter” (2005);
• "Seduced by the End of the World" (2007).

The conversation with the theologian “On imaginary and true miracles” is instructive. In it, the cleric shared that the main miracle in his life happened on the day of baptism. He also warns of negative consequences for a person involved in extrasensory perception and magic ("How to Live" edition).

In a conversation with young people about Lent on the Grad Petrov radio, questions were raised about how to fast for schoolchildren and students studying in educational institutions. The archdeacon told how to prepare and properly spend this important time for a Christian.

From recent interviews, Kuraev’s conversation with a Radio Liberty journalist (2018) is interesting. The theologian touches on the topics of his acquisition of faith, work in the Russian Orthodox Church, and dismissal from the MDA.

Video

The protodeacon in his sermon talks about the sinfulness and meaninglessness of some ways of making money.

This became one of the most discussed topics in the first days of 2014.

During the meeting, the issue was also considered about the lack of a positive reaction on the part of Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev to the resolution of the Academic Council of March 12, 2012, in which he was fraternally reminded that: “the title of professor of the Moscow Theological Academy imposes high responsibility for the form and content of public statements, since both the educational institution and the entire Church are judged by them.”

The Academic Council stated that Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev regularly appears in the media and in the blogosphere with shocking publications, and that his activities in these areas remain, in a number of cases, scandalous and provocative.

In this regard, the Academic Council decided to expel Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev from the teaching staff and exclude him from the number of professors at the MDA, keeping in mind that he was awarded the title of professor at another higher educational institution.

Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev: Justice would be the return of purity of life to Kazan seminarians

On the air of the Dozhd TV channel, Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev answered questions about his dismissal.

- Tell me, why were you fired?

– As far as I can judge from the message from the MDA press service – for those judgments in the blogosphere that seemed shocking to the Academic Council. For me, as a professional, this is a joyful formulation - it means that there are no complaints about me as a professor at the Academy - the lectures that I gave, the books that I wrote on my subject “Missiology”. This is good.

– Has anyone before you ever been fired from the Moscow Theological Academy for statements on blogs?

“For this they fired Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky, who taught at the MDA for 36 years and then ran for the State Duma on the list of cadets, not monarchists. But it was not the Academic Council that fired him. There was a decision of the Synod, the rector insisted - and so that all colleagues were dirty - this is the first time.

– Why didn’t your colleagues speak out against it?

– I was not at the Council, it happened in my absence, I, unfortunately, had the funeral of a person close to me, but I was told that there were different voices both in essence and in procedure. A significant part of MDA professors are also professors and graduates of Moscow State University - these are people of university culture. And in my mind – and I have been teaching at Moscow State University for 20 years, as well as in the minds of other Moscow State University graduates – it is unthinkable for the Academic Council of Moscow State University to fire a professor for something he does outside the university space, for private statements on a blog. Even in Soviet times this was unthinkable.

– So you were legalized as a church dissident?

– You know, this is a very strange decision, illogical. If the Academy fires me because I did something wrong on my blog, brought something out, told something from church secrets, this instantly means that the entire blogosphere rushes to me. What is happening – in the language of the Internet – is a strengthening of the audience, a multiple strengthening of the audience. That is, the effect is exactly the opposite. They wanted to hide something. On the contrary, it has become extremely obvious.

– The fact that your bosses are following your blog is, on the one hand, flattering for you, on the other hand, have there been such hints before?

– There were such hints, including in the situation with Pussy Wright, when my opinion differed from the official opinion of the Patriarchate. You see, we are talking about issues that involve my conscience.

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov: Unfortunately, Father Protodeacon did not hear the fraternal admonition that took place more than a year and a half ago, in March 2013, when his corporation had already asked him to take care of the dignity of the place in which he was called to serve, asked him to stop shocking provocative speeches in the sphere of mass media. information. The problems that exist at the Kazan Seminary, and which, in particular, led to the dismissal of the vice-rector, they, like in any theological school, there are certain problems, they are being considered. Dismissal o. Andrei from the MDA professorship should in no way be associated with this Kazan case; in this sense, he is wishful thinking.

– What kind of Kazan business is this?

– This is an unprecedented case - the dismissal of a professor in the middle of the academic year. not at the end, when the contract could not be renewed. It is clear that something happened now, not some time in the past. I've been conflicted about Pussy Riots in the past, but they're free now. Now this topic is irrelevant.

I spoke harshly about the surrogacy of Philip Kirkorov and Alla Pugacheva, but my position is now the official position of the Church. Look at the Synod's statement at the end of December on surrogacy.

Therefore, the only thing that could be considered scandalous was the Kazan case. At the end of December, a commission headed by Fr. Maxim Kozlov traveled to Kazan in response to numerous complaints from seminarians about sexual harassment by the leadership of this seminary. They tried to contact the local metropolitan for many years. The commission went and, to Father Maxim’s credit, confirmed that they were right. A survey of seminarians was conducted - out of 74, 42 or more said that harassment had occurred.

The vice-rector who was accused was fired from his post as vice-rector, but this was not reported to the police. And a boss pestering a subordinate is an article. There was no appeal to the prosecutor's office, there was no church court, it was not stated that this would be done, there was no defrocking or ban, he was immediately given a free flight, he began to look for a new place of improvement and found it in the Tver diocese. I wrote about this, but I’m not the first, I took it from the Kazan press.

Then, when local seminarians saw that I was on their side, they began to send me their claims. In particular, they sent me Metropolitan Anastassy’s speech to them after the departure of the commission, saying, how dare you complain, we eat and feed you, but you betrayed me, and so on.

– Were you expecting some kind of reaction?

– The normal reaction is that the test results are about. Maxim Kozlov are being transferred to the Investigative Committee. So far it turns out that there is a scandal at the Kazan Seminary, and for some reason they fired me for it.

– Our speaker explained that you are wishful thinking, and the motives were different.

– He is being dishonest and wishful thinking. There are no other motives.

“He said that you were warned about something and you didn’t listen then.”

– In March there was a meeting of the Academic Council dedicated to me, specially convened: in March we usually do not have meetings, only at the end of December and at the end of May. There was one issue on the agenda - Kuraev and Pussy Riots. But my statements were not scandalous - an offer to feed me pancakes - what's shocking about that? What's scandalous here?

– Have there been such scandals before?

- Were. For example, in Yekaterinburg in 1994 there was a scandal with Bishop Nikon of Yekaterinburg, but only when it went to the press. The Patriarchate did not react in any way. When the prospect of a criminal case arose and the federal press began to react, then an inspection commission from the Patriarchate was sent with a rattle and the decision was this: fire everyone. The bishop - according to the wording - for not controlling the situation in the diocese. That is, not for pedophilia, but for the fact that a squeak was heard outside the walls of the diocese.

– What else could have influenced your statements in blogs?

– Everything else has been tested for many years within the framework of normal theological discussion.

– Will you try to appeal the decision?

– I think this will be unpleasant for my colleagues. I don't like to appear where I'm not expected. Even if the Patriarchate forces a re-vote, it will still be unpleasant. People made their decision one way or another, albeit in violation of protocol.

– So you don’t want to fight for justice?

– For me it would be justice if the purity of life is returned to Kazan seminarians.

– You write that the “official position of the Russian Orthodox Church” on current political issues in its claim to infallibility and intra-church binding is a theological remake...

– There is no such term in the Bible or in the ancient canons of the Church. There are commandments, there are church dogmas, canons - we all know them. But there is no such rule that if the church leadership made some kind of commentary on social and political life, then all members of the Church must agree with this. All comments are inevitably partisan, that is, this is the opinion of a part (the word “party” comes from the word “part”). And the Church unites people on the basis of faith in Christ. Therefore, the Church cannot place a political party filter upon entering itself and cannot demand political loyalty.

There are 5 people in the Church - Patriarch, Metropolitan Hilarion, Archpriest. Vsevolod Chaplin, Vladimir Romanovich Legoyda - they have such a hard job - to conduct GR - dialogue with the government - they are forced to compliment the government. But they do not require that all priests say the same thing in their sermons.

I have been teaching at Moscow State University for 20 years, I am already receiving very interesting offers from various universities in Moscow and abroad, my writing work is always with me. I’m not such an idiot as to take the position of a person who was thrown off a train, and he shouts from afar: “You will now crash without me!” Everything will be fine in the Church; there are wonderful people left at the Academy, whom I respect and place above myself on the theological level. I'm not going to leave the Church. Patriarch Kirill is my canonical Patriarch.

-Are you not afraid of further persecution?

– It is possible that I will be excluded from several more commissions where I am a member. I may be defrocked. Probably, dioceses will be afraid to invite me to give lectures. If the bishops are afraid to invite me, how can I engage in mission? They tell me: “Write books” - show me the publishing house that will agree to publish me. We will have to go out into the secular field more.

Comments

Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin,

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy commented on the reason for the exclusion of Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev from the teaching staff

“The Academy Council did not discuss Father Andrei’s position on theological, church-historical issues, or on issues of relations between the Church, state and society. The reason was ethical issues. Since Father Andrei was already warned about two years ago about the need to change the tone of his publications, to introduce it into the framework of church etiquette, but this warning was ignored, the Theological Academy had no choice but to take administrative measures.”

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin:

reacted with understanding to the decision to exclude Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev from among the professors of the Moscow Theological Academy (MDA), noting that his statements were sometimes perceived as contradicting documents that express the conciliar will of the Church. “I am not his (Kuraev’s - ed.) judge or boss, but the decision was made by the teaching corporation of the Moscow Theological Academy; I think it's explained quite clearly. I personally could only add one thing: when visiting regions, meeting with clergy and laity, I constantly hear questions about some of Father Andrei’s statements, and these are critical questions,” Chaplin told RIA Novosti when asked to comment on the decision of the MDA leadership regarding Kuraev. As the clergyman explained, many people with whom he met “believe that in order to make an original and unexpected statement, he sometimes went quite far from the conciliar self-awareness of our Church, from the positions that are shared by the absolute majority of its clergy and laity.” . These statements by Kuraev “sometimes contradicted documents that expressed the conciliar will of the Church,” the agency’s interlocutor added.

According to Chaplin, a bright, original, non-standard statement is not always a bad thing, and “today, in order to shout to people, sometimes you need to speak briefly and vividly.”

“But on many issues - let us recall at least the story of the blasphemy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior or the view on Russian statehood, on the principles of church life, on the possibility of a Christian turning to the authorities to protect values ​​and shrines that are significant to Christians - the opinion of Father Andrei was quite at odds with what almost all the pastors and laity of our Church think and say, with few exceptions. And it’s worth listening to their voice, because this voice lies in the mainstream of the Orthodox tradition, based on the Gospel and which is God’s revelation to people,” noted the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov

According to Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, the decision to exclude Kuraev from the list of MDA professors “concerns a person speaking in the public sphere - this is not some kind of disciplinary charge or violation of professional discipline within the corporation.”

Prot. Maxim Kozlov noted that the protodeacon, in turn, “did not inform the Academic Council of the Academy that he would not be present.” As the clergyman noted, the methods of decision-making at the Academic Council are different. “The absolute majority of issues discussed at the Council do not involve voting by hand, much less any kind of secret ballot. We have an academic corporation, a family where people discuss certain issues with each other, and when it is clear that consensus and a common vision of the situation has been reached, this does not require any formal procedures with counting votes,” said Prot. Maxim Kozlov RIA Novosti.

“It’s strange to say that we are discussing the statements of a person who was not present himself (at the meeting of the MDA council) and writes (about what happened there) from whose words it is not known, it is not known to what degree of authority,” noted Prot. Maxim Kozlov.