Daniel Alexeyevich Sysoev (russian: Даниил Алексеевич Сысоев; 1974–2009) was a married

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

priest, the rector of St. Thomas' church in southern

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and a prominent missionary. He was killed in a Russian Orthodox Church by a masked gunman on November 19, 2009. Sysoev was known for his missionary activity, including among Russia's

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

community,

neo-Pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

s, and

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

s. In December 2009, Sysoev's murder was claimed by a militant Islamic group based in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

. According to a statement made by Russian Islamists and released on kavkazcenter.com,

"One of our brothers who has never been to the Caucasian took up the oath of (former independent Chechen president
Doku Umarov Doku Khamatovich Umarov ( ce, Ӏумар Хьамади кӀант Докка, translit='Umar Ẋamadi khant Dokka, ; russian: Доку Хаматович Умаров, Doku Khamatovich Umarov; 13 April 1964 – 7 September 2013), also known as ...
) and expressed his desire to execute the damned Sysoyev."

Sysoev was born into a family of Soviet

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

s. His father was Alexei Sysoev, senior priest of St John the Theologian Cathedral in

Yasenevo District Yasenevo District (russian: райо́н Я́сенево) is an administrative district (raion) of South-Western Administrative Okrug, and one of the 125 raions of Moscow, Russia. The area of the district is . Population: 172,300 (2017 est.). Ge ...

.Julia Sysoeva: About Fr Daniel, Happiness, Miracles and Martyrdom
(in Russian) Sysoev's sermons were published in a series of books. Explaining the teaching of the Orthodox Church, Sysoev used the term 'Uranopolitanism'.

Hieromonk A hieromonk ( el, Ἱερομόναχος, Ieromonachos; ka, მღვდელმონაზონი, tr; Slavonic: ''Ieromonakh'', ro, Ieromonah), also called a priestmonk, is a monk who is also a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church and E ...

Job Gumerov and many other faithful and clergy consider the murder of Sysoev to be a

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

. Many Orthodox Christians hold him in high esteem, venerating him in iconography, liturgy and prayer though he has not yet been formally canonized by an Orthodox synod. 237 priests and more than 1000 lay people were present at the burial service. Patriarch Kiril I also came to say farewell to Sysoev.

References

1974 births 2009 deaths Russian Eastern Orthodox priests Eastern Orthodox theologians Eastern Orthodox missionaries Eastern Orthodox writers 20th-century Eastern Orthodox clergy Russian Christian missionaries Assassinated Russian people Deaths by firearm in Russia Clergy from Moscow Christian critics of Islam 21st-century Eastern Orthodox priests 20th-century Eastern Orthodox priests Christian missionaries in Russia {{Russia-bio-stub