Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev was defrocked

The text of the official statement notes that Kuraev was given time to "rethink his position and return to the path of the Church."

"You have not shown signs of repentance either in words or in deeds, and, in particular, you have not ceased your destructive activities ... You are erupting from the priesthood," the message says.

In December 2020, the Moscow Diocesan Court defrocked Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev after his words about the late Archpriest Alexander Ageykin, rector of the Epiphany Yelokhovsky Cathedral.

At the end of April, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia banned Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev from serving.

In August 2022, the Nikulinsky Court of Moscow fined Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, who was banned from serving, 30 thousand rubles in an administrative case for discrediting the Russian armed forces.