Russian Orthodox priest Father Daniil Sysoyev known for his outspoken criticism of Islam and his attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity was assassinated in his Moscow church by a masked gunman.
The gunman approached Father Daniil Sysoyev, 34, in his small wooden church in Moscow on Thursday night, checked his name and then shot the priest in the head and chest, police said.
The priest died on the way to hospital, Interfax news agency quoted investigators as saying. A choirmaster was injured in the attack, and is in hospital under armed guard.
Father Daniil, who claimed to have christened 80 Muslims, had repeatedly received death threats.
“I have received 10 threats via e-mail that I shall have my head cut off (if I do not stop preaching to Muslims)”, Father Daniil stated on a television programme in February 2008, according to Interfax. “As I see it, it is a sin not to preach to Muslims”.
The killing could increase tensions between the powerful majority Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Kremlin, and the country’s growing Muslim minority of about 20 million.
“The main theory is that religious motives are behind the crime,” a spokesman for the prosecutor-general’s office said.
Father Daniil had written books including “An Orthodox Response to Islam” and “Marrying a Muslim”, in which he advised Russian women against taking a Muslim partner.
A masked gunman armed with a pistol has shot dead a Russian Orthodox priest in his Moscow church, police say.
The gunman walked into St Thomas Church in southern Moscow, asked priest Daniil Sysoyev his name and then opened fire, investigators said.
The church’s choirmaster was also injured in the attack.
A police spokesman said they believed the gunman had “religious motives”. Reports said Father Sysoyev, 35, had received threats via e-mail.
Russian media said he had been involved in missionary activities aimed at encouraging young people to choose the Orthodox Church.
A statement on the website of Father Sysoyev’s missionary training centre said he had been threatened by Muslims, AFP reported.
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Russian Priest Killed in Church
Russian Priest Gunned Down in Church
Tags: News
November 21st, 2009 at 7:36 pm
ISLAM IS A CULT!!!! IT IS A DEADLY CULT!!!!!! IT IS A TOTALITARIAN IDEOLOGICAL CULT!!!!!