On the night of April 2, 2025, altar boy Ilya (Ilyas) Safiullin was murdered in the church of the All-Merciful Savior of the former Sorrowful Monastery in Moscow.
In hot pursuit, law enforcement officers detained a suspect in the murder, the website of the Investigative Committee of Russia reports.
"According to the investigation, on April 2, 2025, the defendant, being in a building located on Novoslobodskaya Street in Moscow, attacked his friend on the basis of personal hostility and stabbed him multiple times. The victim died at the scene from his injuries, and the suspect fled," the report said.
A criminal case has been opened into the murder, an investigation is underway, and a number of forensic examinations have been ordered.
In addition to the version about personal hostility, the version about the mental disorder of the attacker is also being considered. In addition, according to another version, the criminal's personal hostility could overlap with the aforementioned mental disorder.
Some time after the tragedy, it became known that 56-year-old Ilya (Ilyas) Safiullin was killed in the temple. He was an ethnic Tatar, but baptized. He served as an altar boy in another church in the capital, in honor of the prophet of God Elijah in the former Novgorod courtyard on Ilyinka Street.
As told in the temple where Ilya Safiullin served, he was always ready to help both people and the temple itself, was friendly and responsive.
– He often treated us to his delicious dishes, he loved to cook very much. It's hard to remember him being unhappy or annoyed, he was always friendly, attentive, and constantly worried about everyone around him. This is how we will remember him – a true Christian, a wonderful man," the parish told about the deceased.
In addition to serving in the temple, Ilya Safiullin helped in the Alcoholics Anonymous group, did a lot of creative work – he painted, participated in dance studios and theater groups, and played in plays.
In his message of condolences to the parish, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill noted that Ilya Safiullin "showed himself to be a good soldier of Christ, striving to fulfill the Gospel commandment of active love for one's neighbors and to help people in need, grieving and overcome by the passion of drinking wine."