Kuraev, Andreĭ

Andrey Vyacheslavovich Kuraev (Russian: Андре́й Вячесла́вович Кура́ев; born 15 February 1963) is a Russian theologian, philosopher, publicist, blogger, and missionary. Since 3 April 2024, he has been a Protodeacon of the Church of Constantinople (since July 2024, a clergyman of the Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Lithuania). Kuraev is the author of the first textbook on the Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture. He was formerly protodeacon of the Church of Archangel Michael in Troparevo of the Diocese of Moscow of the Russian Orthodox Church. On 29 December 2020, by decision of the Moscow Diocesan Court, Kuraev was defrocked, which came into force after the decision's approval by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' on 28 April 2023. Kuraev himself did not recognize the decision, citing the fact that at the time of his defrocking, he was no longer under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Diocese and, as a result, the decisions of Patriarch Kirill as the ruling bishop of the Moscow Diocese do not apply to him. On 3 April 2024, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople reinstated his ecclesiastical rank.