The defrocked Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev said that the essence of the accusation was hidden from him and deprived of the opportunity to defend themselves in court. This is evidenced by a letter sent to the chairman of the church court under the Diocesan Council of Moscow, Archpriest Mikhail Ryazantsev which the priest posted in LiveJournal .
According to him, the patriarch’s decree contains an undisclosed wording “previous acts regarding which there have been complaints against me”, for which Kuraev is being brought to trial. The priest noted that he did not know what exactly it was about. Because of this, he cannot prepare himself for repentance or defense.
Kuraev stressed that he sent a letter to Ryazantsev on November 29. However, the court rejected the request for access to the case materials and a meeting with a court representative. According to the priest, he was denied a lawyer or an expert in church law, and was also banned from using gadgets and the Internet.
“This means that I will not be able to check even certain words attributed to me (if they will be discussed at the trial), their context and my clarifications of their meaning during a discussion on social networks. Moreover, I will not be able to explain on the basis of what exactly these words were said by me. I will not be able to quickly find historical, church and patristic precedents. I will not be able to clarify the interpretation of certain canons cited by the prosecution (court) “, – wrote Kuraev.
Earlier it was reported that the Moscow Diocesan Court had defrocked the protodeacon. The court found blasphemy and slander in Kuraev’s statements, including statements about organizing a split Russian Orthodox Church a >.
April 29, Kuraev banned from serving after he did his “Live Journal” publication, considered an insult to the archpriest of the Yelokhovsky Cathedral, Alexander Ageikin, who died that day. It was later revealed that Ageikin opposed the closure of churches in a pandemic, arguing that this speaks of distrust of God. It was reported that before his death, Ageikin was diagnosed with a coronavirus.