MOSCOW (RNS/ENI) A Russian Orthodox priest who was known for seeking to convert Muslims was killed Thursday (Nov. 19) by a masked gunman at his church in Moscow.
The official Web site of the Moscow Patriarchate said that the Rev. Daniil Sysoyev, 35, a father of three, died shortly after being shot in the head and chest by an unidentified assailant who entered his parish church of St. Thomas in southern Moscow. The church’s choir director was injured during the attack.
Anatoly Bagmet, an official of the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office, told news agencies that religion was being investigated as the primary motive.
In the Russian church’s statement, Patriarch Kirill I said any murder is a grave sin, and killing a priest in his church is “a provocation against God’s law, an affront to the holy places the Lord himself has given us.”
Kirill did not mention directly Sysoyev’s work among Muslims, and warned against jumping to rash conclusions.
“For now the names of the criminals are not known, and I ask all to refrain from any hasty accusations or sharp judgments against particular persons or groups,” Kirill said. He called on clergy and laity “not to forget that we are called by God to preserve peace among ourselves”.
A church official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Ecumenical News International that the murder could be connected to Sysoyev’s missionary work among Muslims. “He led to Christianity people, whether Tatars or other ethnic groups, that were overwhelmingly Muslim,” the official said.
Sysoyev gave lectures that were critical of Islam, debated directly with Muslim leaders, and wrote books on subjects such as the dangers of Christian women marrying Muslim men.
He also worked among people from other religions, and he had conflicts with pagans, the Interfax news agency reported. Sysoyev spoke out against nationalists who preach Stalin instead of Christ in one of the last postings on his blog.
Kirill Frolov, an Orthodox missionary activist who was close to the slain priest, told Interfax that Sysoyev had received threats over the past two or three years calling on him “stop his theological polemics with Islam” or otherwise “he will be dealt with like an infidel.”