Kuria, the second African-born leader of the Anglican Church of Kenya, died on 19 September aged 76. But in death he still managed to ruffle the feathers of some fellow Christians when, according to his wishes, he was cremated the following day.

"He had always wished God to call him in the simple manner in which he lived," retired Anglican bishop Peter Njenga said at a memorial service for Kuria on 22 September in Nairobi's All Saints Cathedral.

Njenga noted that Kuria had always disapproved of the common practice of keeping dead bodies for long periods while seeking to raise exorbitant amounts requested for funerals.

"He told us he would hate this to happen to him. Now we understand why he chose to be cremated," said Njenga.

Some eyebrows were raised at the cremation, with some Christians arguing it was unbiblical and foreign to treat a deceased person like that.

"It's like they are punishing his spirit. They should have buried him. He was a great man," said Lilly Rono, a Roman Catholic.

But local Anglican bishops found nothing wrong with Kuria's cremation.

"Burying or cremating does not limit God's power on resurrection," Anglican Bishop Francis Abiero told Ecumenical News International. He said Kenyans needed to reconsider burial practices since the interment of bodies was using large tracts of productive land.

Kuria was enthroned as an archbishop in 1980 at the age of 51, when the church had only seven dioceses, but at the time of his death the church had 20 dioceses, with more than 1000 clergy and two million followers in Kenya.

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