Religion is a delicate and delicate topic, not everyone is able to correctly evaluate certain events from the point of view of a Christian. All the more interest arises in the figures of the Russian Orthodox Church who choose publicity. Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev is a publicist, missionary, preacher, writer and scientist whose work evokes a wide variety of emotions: from admiration to complete rejection.
Childhood and adolescence: the beginning of a biography
Andrei Kuraev was born in 1963 in Moscow. The family was not considered religious, the father of the future clergyman was the secretary of academician Fedoseev, his mother worked at the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences. After graduating from school, the young man became a student in the philosophy department of Moscow State University. He was fond of ancient philosophers, religious studies and the work of Dostoevsky. By the way, later Andrei Kuraev said that it was the spiritual quest of Fyodor Mikhailovich that pushed him to the religious path. After 3 years, the philosopher student was baptized and took up the independent study of the gospel.
Parents made the decision of the son with difficulty, the prospects of the church-governing student for a successful career became illusive. Yes, and his father began difficulties in the service, ending with dismissal. Problems and misunderstanding did not prevent Andrei from successfully completing his studies and getting a red diploma. Yesterday's student entered graduate school at the department of foreign philosophy.
Spiritual career
A year later, Kuraev left graduate school at the Moscow Theological Academy as a secretary. At the same time, he studied at a theological seminary, filling in the gaps of secular education. After the seminary, there were first publications in the journal Vybor, the newspapers Moscow News and Questions of Philosophy. The next two years, Kuraev devoted to teaching Orthodox theology within the walls of the University of Bucharest. In Bucharest, a young clergyman was ordained to the rank of deacon. Kuraev returned to Moscow and worked for 3 years as a referent for Patriarch Alexy II.
In 1994, the deacon defended his thesis and became a candidate of philosophical sciences. The next step is the candidate of theology. The work "Tradition. Dogma. Rite" was awarded the highest mark of the Moscow Theological Academy; on the recommendation of the Academic Council, Kuraev was awarded the title of Professor of Theology. Until 1996, Andrei Vyacheslavovich held the post of Dean of the Russian Orthodox University of St. John the Theologian, until 2013 he headed the Department of Apologetics and Theology at St. Tikhon Humanitarian University. At the same time, the Protodeacon performed the church duties assigned to him in the churches of the Nativity of John the Baptist and the Archangel Michael.
Kuraev’s activities were highly appreciated by Russian and foreign colleagues, but in 2013, for the shocking behavior and disclosure of some scandalous issues related to the internal issues of the Russian Orthodox Church, the protodeacon was expelled from the teaching staff of the academy. Kuraev’s views on the situation in Ukraine, issues related to LGBT people and other topics, the attitude to which in society are ambiguous, were also criticized.
