Altar server, former Muslim, brutally murdered in Moscow church of ROC

Murdered Ilyas Safiullin. Photo: Archbishop Savva Tutunov's TG channel

On 2 April 2025, in the Moscow Church of the Most Merciful Saviour (ROC), the altar server of the church, Ilyas Safiullin, was murdered. Eight years ago, he converted to Orthodoxy from Islam and was baptised under the name Ilya. This was reported on the Telegram channel of Archbishop Savva Tutunov, Patriarch Kirill's vicar, who reposted a publication by Yana Poplavskaya.

According to her information, Patriarch Kirill expressed his condolences regarding Safiullin’s death the day after the murder. At the same time, Poplavskaya claims that Russian media are deliberately downplaying the murder.

“There was complete silence in the media, news agencies, blogs, and social networks on this matter. A high-profile murder. In a church. In the centre of Moscow. Why did almost no one know about it? Why are the law enforcement agencies silent? The answer is obvious…” Poplavskaya wrote, adding that this is “very bad news for the national unity promoters.”

B. Korchevnikov, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Spas TV channel, wrote that Safiullin was a missionary, led many to Christ and “was killed for Christ”.

According to him, "Ilya was killed horribly: the murderer smashed his head with a fire extinguisher, tied his hands, cut his throat and then simply riddled the martyr's small body with a knife.

Korchevnikov believes that “according to the breakthrough data, the murderer, if not a Wahhabi, is like all Wahhabis – demon-possessed”.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that a scandal arose in Russia over a Muslim's namaz in a ROC temple.

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