Kuraev Meets Pussy Riot

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Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, an outspoken Russian Orthodox cleric, said that there’d be no more controversial protest performances inside another Russian Orthodox church by the all-female band Pussy Riot, after holding a meeting with two of the band’s recently released members. He met with freed members of the Pussy Riot band, Mariya Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. After the meeting, he said that he was confident that they’d never stage another protest inside a church. Pictures published after the meeting showed Kuraev having a cup of tea with Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova. Kuraev posted on his Facebook page after the meeting that he was glad that the women would seek to open churches in prisons and to help inmates. According to him, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova recognize that the church world had both diversity and change. Immediately after Pussy Riot’s controversial stunt at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and during their subsequent trial, Kuraev’s reaction was more lenient than the official Church position. He condemned the Pussy Riot performance as “ugly and unacceptable from a moral standpoint”, but urged mercy and forgiveness on the part of the church. Snob magazine organised Kuraev’s meeting with Pussy Riot.

Kuraev himself was in the spotlight recently. Late last year, the MDA sacked him from his teaching position. He responded by saying that he had fallen victim to “the gay lobby”. Kuraev was referring to his blog post about the Kazan Theological Seminary, where students allegedly complained of sexual harassment from some teachers. Kuraev believes that he lost his post because he made the controversy at the seminary public. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, an official Church spokesman, insisted that the Church wasn’t persecuting Kuraev for ideological reasons. However, Chaplin pointed up that Kuraev often missed his lectures and violated internal regulations, which may have prompted his dismissal.

13 January 2014

Marina Obrazkova

Russia Behind the Headlines

http://rbth.ru/society/2014/01/13/russian_orthodox_priest_meets_pussy_riot_33225.html

Editor’s Note:

Usually, those with oddbod theological views try to justify them by quoting a fictitious “gay lobby”. Now isn’t the time to go into detail, but we all know how the konvertsy caterwaul about gays and how they’re so “expert” in ferreting them out. Hmm… a lot of ‘em were ordained by Feodosy Lazor and those like him… a lot of ‘em hung out with the nutty crew in Platina (even after Podmo got le sabot from the ROCOR… such as Paffso, Freddie M-G, Reardon, and Eliel, just to name a few)… need I go on? In short, the ranting about false gays (whilst accepting ordination from the hands of gay clerics!) and persecuting relatively harmless sorts such as Lazar Puhalo leads me to a conclusion. Those who rant the most about gays are the ones most likely to be led astray by a gay guru.

They all revere Podmo… they all think that the toll houses are an “important doctrine of the Church” (it had NO real push until Rose brought it up in the 70s)… that says it all, doesn’t it? They’re all Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future and nothing else. Beam me up, Scotty…

BMD