Uzbek citizen brutally murders altar man in Moscow ROC church

On April 2, 2025, in the Moscow church of the Savior of All Mighty Grace of the Russian Orthodox Church, there was a brutal murder of the altar boy Ilyas Safiullin, who 8 years ago converted to Orthodoxy from Islam and was baptized with the name Ilya. The murderer was a citizen of Uzbekistan, who had unpleasant feelings for the victim because of the latter’s conversion to Christianity. This is reported by MK.RU.

It is reported that before committing the murder, accused of the crime, who professes Islam, allegedly took drugs that suppress mental disorders. In addition, he was married to a woman of the Orthodox faith, with whom he lived a family life for 13 years. Nevertheless, according to the detainee, during the commission of the crime he was “possessed by demons,” because of which he came armed with a knife to the Spassky Cathedral on Novoslobodskaya Street, where he committed the murder.

According to other information, the target of the killer should have been also the clergyman of the temple, which at that time was not in place.

Recall that on June 23, 2024 in the Republic of Dagestan (RF), during an attack on an Orthodox church in Derbent, the 66-year-old priest of the Makhachkala diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Archpriest Nikolai Kotelnikov was killed by extremists. The terrorists slit the clergyman’s throat and set fire to the church where he was serving.