Andrey Kuraev, protodeacon of the Russian Orthodox Church: biography, family, activities and creativity

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

In absolutely all spheres of human life, there are people whose activities in some cause respect, sometimes even admiration, and others discontent, bordering very often on hatred. It is no secret that especially difficult relationships arise in a religious environment, where love and honor today or tomorrow can be transformed into accusations of unseemly activities and inciting conflicts. One of such controversial, but at the same time very colorful characters of our time is Andrei Vyacheslavovich Kuraev, a well-known clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church. We will talk about his life, work and work in as much detail as possible in the article.

Birth and family

The biography of Andrei Kuraev says that he was born in Moscow on February 15, 1963. For several years of his childhood, the boy lived in the capital of the Czech Republic, where his father and mother worked at that time. By the way, it is worth noting that they were all unbelievers. The father of our hero, Vyacheslav, worked as the secretary of Peter Fedoseev, who was a famous scientist of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The mother of the future churchman was a sector employee at the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Earlyyears of life

The current protodeacon of the Russian Orthodox Church Kuraev was brought up as an atheist in his childhood, which is not surprising, because in Soviet times there were very few people who believed in God, and almost all of them were persecuted. If a young man positioned himself as Orthodox, then he could well experience problems both with entering a university and with subsequent employment.

As a schoolboy, Andrei Vyacheslavovich Kuraev published a wall newspaper with the sonorous name "Atheist", in which he consistently explained his position.

Getting higher education and coming to faith

In 1979, Andrey Kuraev, reviews of which will be given below in the article, became a student at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. And just three years later, the young man made the final decision to be baptized and on November 29, 1982 performed the sacrament in the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist. As the priest himself later admitted, this step was prompted by his acquaintance with the work of Dostoevsky, namely the reading of the novel The Brothers Karamazov.

It goes without saying that Andrei Kuraev's family was in absolute shock from such a step. One fine day the parents came home and saw their offspring reading the Gospel. After that, all the father's hopes for a brilliant career of his own and a bright future for his son could be safely buried. The persuasion did not give any results, and the man first lost a prestigious business trip to France, and a little later he was completely fired. Despite all the difficulties in the family, nonevertheless, there was no significant discord between the parents and Andrey.

In 1984, Kuraev graduated from Moscow State University, and he received a red diploma for his achievements. The head of his scientific work at the university was Kirill Nikonov. After that, Andrei entered graduate school in foreign philosophy, but never graduated.

Studying in religious schools

In 1985, Kuraev served as secretary of the Moscow Theological Academy. In parallel, he began to deeply comprehend the basics of religion in the theological seminary, but already in 1986 there was a serious fire in it. Andrei was forced to go to work at a construction site, where he worked until the moment when the building was completely restored, and the rector of the seminary again called him back to study. Kuraev graduated from the seminary only in 1988.

Shy steps

The first publications on the topic of theology Andrei Vyacheslavovich made back in 1988. At the same time, he initially took on the pseudonym Andrey Prigorin, and his works were published in a magazine called Choice. Under his real name, the confessor was published in Moscow News and in Questions of Philosophy.

In the period 1988-1990, a man studied at the University of Bucharest at the Department of Orthodox Theology. It is worth noting that he got to study at this university thanks to the victory in an open dispute at the Kolomna Pedagogical Institute, where he was able to unconditionally bypass inveterate atheists.

Establishment in church

July 8, 1990 became for Kuraev in somehistorical degree. It was then that he was ordained a deacon by Patriarch Feoktist at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest.

After that, Andrei returned to Russia and until 1993 was the personal assistant of Patriarch Alexy II.

Professional development

In 1994, Andrey Kuraev, for whom Orthodoxy had become his life's work, became a candidate of philosophical sciences thanks to the successful defense of his dissertation at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His supervisor in this matter was Pavel Gurevich. And a year later, the churchman became a candidate of theology, having defended his work called “Tradition. Dogma. Rite at the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1996, Patriarch Alexy II appointed Kuraev as a professor of theology on the recommendation of the Academic Council of the RPU.

Teaching activities

In 1993-1996, theologian Andrei Kuraev served as Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Russian Orthodox University of St. John the Theologian. As the minister himself now recalls, he was not just a dean, but one of the founders of this now prestigious university. Also, world-famous and respected professors were invited to the educational institution, who lectured to students. Kuraev himself listened to them with pleasure.

For twenty years (1993-2013) the churchman was an employee of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary. In addition, he headed the Department of Apologetics and Theology at St. Tikhon Orthodox Humanitarian University.

Recognized by peers

In March 2002, Kuraev, on the basis of the decision of the Synod, was included in the editorialcollegium of the collection, called "Theological Works". In December 2004, he became a member of the Synodal Theological Commission. And on the last day of March 2009, he was enrolled in the ranks of the Church and Public Council, which oversees issues of protection from the alcohol threat. The professor was also a member of the advisory council dealing with the problems of freedom of conscience, which functioned on the basis of the RF State Duma Committee for Religious Associations and Various Public Organizations.

Very often many people today ask the question: “Where does Andrei Kuraev serve?” It is authentically known that until the end of 2007 he performed the church duties assigned to him in the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist (Presnya, Moscow), and then moved to the Church of the Archangel Michael (Troparevo).

Step up

Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev received his current rank during the liturgy within the walls of St. Isaac's Cathedral on April 5, 2009, which was personally led by Patriarch Kirill. Our hero was ex alted through his active and productive work with the younger generation and zealous missionary work.

Film Reel

In November 2007, on the basis of the Tula Orthodox studio "Svet", director Valery Otstavnykh, who is also a religious scholar and an employee of the missionary department of the regional diocese, made a film called "48 hours from the life of deacon Andrei Kuraev." Taking into account all the technical nuances, the film work was finally released on the screens only after a year and a half.

Problems

December 30, 2013 happenedan event due to which many believed that Andrei Kuraev was excommunicated from the church. The reason was the news that the confessor was expelled from the teaching staff and professors of the academy for rather outrageous behavior, as well as provocative work in the media and the Internet space (in blogs). The churchman himself expressed his indignation about this and connected this “attack” on him by his leaders with the fact that he put on public display the scandal that took place in the Kazan Theological Seminary, which is worth dwelling on in more detail.

In December of the same 2013, a special inspection arrived at the Kazan Theological Educational Institution headed by Archpriest Maxim Kozlov. Such close attention on the part of the Educational Committee of the ROC arose to the seminary for a reason: many students complained of sexual harassment by the rector and other mentors. As Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev said on this occasion, young people actively confirmed all the facts of sodomy in front of the visiting commission, only a few people from the fifth year were silent. Ultimately, the vice-rector and press secretary, Abbot Kirill, were fired.

Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, speaking about what happened in Kazan, in one of his interviews said that the vast majority of clergy in Russia are absolutely normal, adequate people. Despite the fact that there are a lot of monks living in the country, even among these voluntary hermits there are no manifestations of homosexual inclinations. However, unfortunately,There is a certain group of church office employees who began to use their power and opportunities, forgetting what they serve in general and what they were originally called to do. At the same time, speaking about the fact that he was excommunicated from the church, Andrei Kuraev said that he was not afraid of being thrown out of the bosom of Orthodoxy, since, based on history, he is absolutely sure that even after a potentially possible excommunication, the next one will invariably restore him. patriarch.

In addition, Kuraev believes that an additional factor in the attacks on him can be considered the fact of his speeches in defense of the sensational Russian punk band Pussy Riot. She became "famous" for trying to perform within the walls of the Epiphany Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Opinion about Islam

In the fall of 2004, Archdeacon Andrey Kuraev became the sole author of an article for the Izvestia newspaper. And although in it he admitted that terrorist attacks were strategically planned in the name of Islam in Western states, nevertheless, the clergyman directly pointed out the full responsibility of the religious movement itself for the increase in terrorist attacks. Kuraev believes that various calls from television screens and newspaper pages that terrorism has no religion and nationality are absolutely groundless. As arguments, the spiritual mentor says that it is not Buddhists who seize schools, it is not Taoists who blow up planes, it is not Christians who take people hostage. Kuraev also focuses people's attention on the fact that terrorism is to some extent a consequence of a very distortedunderstanding of the Qur'an and not of any other book. Moreover, the authors of these distortions are very educated Islamic men, and not illiterate Arabs. But the most important thing, according to Andrei, is that a significant part of the entire Muslim world does not consider terrorists scoundrels, but classifies them as heroes and very often tries to imitate them to some extent.

The confessor also showed his dislike for Islam in one of its monasteries - the Crimea. In 2006, Andrey Kuraev's lectures on this peninsula were aimed at counteracting the extremely radical policy of the Mejlis, the ethnic parliament of the Crimean Tatars.

Attitude towards the LGBT community

The churchman is a vocal critic of homosexuality. Many of Andrei Kuraev's books, including The Church in the Human World, signal to believers that tolerance for homosexual contact is a kind of cover for "attacking the traditional Christian family." In addition, in one of his conversations with journalists, Andrei Vyacheslavovich equated homosexuality and drug addiction, calling pity for these sins "harbingers of death." In 2007, the hero of the article said that the church is simply obliged to help those gays who recognize their weakness and sinfulness. At the same time, Kuraev called the unrepentant homosexuals “bastards.”

In early 2008, Andrei made an appeal to the current President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, with a call to give the most objective assessment of a number of New Year's programs aired on the NTV channel, where there were allegedly a lot of "homosexual gestures" andhalf-naked girls. At the same time, Kuraev stressed that if the appeal is not considered and an official response is not given, then such a position of the authorities will be regarded as the desire of the country's leaders to corrupt the youth and promote homosexuality.

In 2012, there was a large-scale public outcry due to the proposal made by Kuraev. The thing is that the confessor wanted to disrupt the planned concert of the American pop singer Madonna in St. Petersburg, at which this world-famous woman wanted to express her indignation and dissatisfaction with the law against the promotion of homosexual relationships. Giving an answer to the question of one of the Russian deputies about what the residents of Northern Palmyra should do, Andrey made a short speech: “A normal person in such situations picks up the phone and makes a call to the FSB, telling law enforcement officers that someone has planted explosives somewhere”.

Verbal battles with Lolita Milyavskaya

What else distinguished the worker of the Russian Orthodox Church? Andrey Kuraev also distinguished himself by the fact that after the birth of Philip Kirkorov's daughter from a surrogate mother, he demanded to excommunicate the people's artist of Russia from the church. The confessor, describing his vision of the situation, explained that the essence of this issue is not in surrogate motherhood as such and not in the position of the Church on this situation, but the main point is the question of human dignity. Simply put, if you buy or sell a child, then be prepared for the fact that after a while you will also be able to either sell or buy out.

Kuraev zealously defended his opinion in the framework of a television program called "Duel" on April 26, 2012, where Lolita Milyavskaya opposed him. By the way, in fairness it should be noted that the representative of the Orthodox Church turned out to be the winner in this dispute.

Ukrainian theme

Some of Andrei Kuraev's lectures and his interviews on the topic of the political situation in Ukraine have always caused a strong reaction in society. For example, on March 29, 2014, the confessor successively outlined in nine paragraphs his vision of the situation regarding the annexation of the peninsula by Russia. As a result of his thoughts and analysis of the situation, Kuraev came to the sad conclusion that the Russian Federation still loses more because of such a conflict, and does not gain. Needless to say, such an opinion of a clergyman is inherently oppositional and does not add to Andrei's authority in the country.

Kuraev also spoke extremely negatively about the silence of Patriarch Kirill about the situation with Crimea, but later Andrei Vyacheslavovich spoke positively about the main person of the Russian Orthodox Church, noting that he was under severe pressure from the Moscow elite.

Recognition

Despite the high-profile scandals, for his stormy life in many respects, the churchman was awarded the following distinctive signs:

• Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh of the third degree.
• Order of the Club of Orthodox patrons for his active missionary work and promotion of tolerance and solidarity.
• Medal of the saintAlbert Chmielewski from the Polish Catholic Church.
• Order of Nestor the Chronicler of the third degree, which he received from the hands of Metropolitan Vladimir of Kyiv and All Ukraine in 2007.
• 2008 Person of the Year
• Gratitude from Patriarch Alexy II for missionary work.

About the king and cinema

In 2017, there was a scandal in Russia over the release of the film "Matilda". Many Orthodox activists felt that the film is blasphemous and exposes the last Russian autocrat in a negative light. However, Kuraev notes that, in his opinion, there is nothing in this work that could denigrate Nicholas II. He believes that we should all remember the sainted king as a great martyr, and not as an ordinary person who has the sins of youth and youth. The confessor paid special attention to the fact that Nicholas did not commit adultery.

Private

Who are Andrey Kuraev's children? This question is of interest to a large number of people today. The church leader himself answers him that he does not have any natural sons and daughters. At the same time, thanks to his many wanderings, he meets with ordinary people, military personnel, prisoners in prisons, students, schoolchildren. At the same time, the churchman considers all of them to some extent his offspring, albeit spiritual ones.

In conclusion, I would like to say that you can treat the hero of the article in any way, however, it cannot be noted that he is stillis a full-fledged Christian who is trying to call on society to come to their senses and live according to the laws of God.