PATHANAMTHITTA: Believers Eastern Church Metropolitan Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan, also known as KP Yohannan, who was critically injured in a car accident in the US, passed away due to a sudden cardiac arrest, official church spokesperson said on Wednesday.
"He passed away due to sudden cardiac arrest in a hospital in Dallas, Texas, where he had been receiving treatment since his accident," a Church official said.
He was 74.
He was under intensive care at a hospital in Dallas, Texas following the accident that happened during his morning walk.
"Beloved Archbishops, Bishops, Fathers and all the Faithful With profound grief and sorrow, we would like inform that His Holiness Athanasius Yohan I our honorable Metropolitan reposed in the Lord this evening, the 8th of May 2024. He passed away due to sudden cardiac arrest in a hospital in Dallas, Texas where he had been receiving treatment since his accident. Further details will be announced soon by the Holy Synod. May his memory be eternal!, " a Facebook post shared by Believers Eastern Church read.
Church spokesperson Father Sijo Pandapallil also confirmed it in an official statement.
On Tuesday, at around 5.25 pm IST, Yohan was out for a morning walk. Usually, he goes for morning walk in the believers' church campus in Dallas. However, at the time of the accident, he was on a county road, which had no walkway, he said.
According to the church official, a surgery had been performed on Yohan's lungs and he was on medical observation for 24 hours.
Soon after the accident, police rushed to the spot and he was airlifted to a Dallas hospital.
Pandapallil had said, that though there is not much clarity about the accident, it is not a hit-and-run case and prima facie there is nothing suspicious. The police have also recovered the vehicle that hit the Metropolitan and registered a case, he said.
Born as K P Yohannan in 1950 in the village of Niranam near Thiruvalla, he dedicated his life to serving God after finishing high school.
"In obedience to the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ, he then spent the next eight years of his life proclaiming the gospel and doing charitable works in South Asia," a church document said.
Receiving theological training in the US in the 1970s, Yohannan founded a missionary organisation, which eventually became one of the largest missionary and church-planting movements in many Asian nations.
On February 6, 2003, he was consecrated and elevated as the Metropolitan of the Believers Eastern Church.
In accordance with the Orthodox Christian tradition, he took the name Athanasius Yohan in honor of his beloved patron saints, St Athanasius, the defender of orthodoxy, and St John (Yohan) the Apostle and Evangelist.
Under his leadership, the church has grown over the last two decades, with more than 12,000 parishes established in Asia and Africa.
He is also the founding patron of the St Ignatius Theological Seminary, the Believers Church Residential School, and the Believers Church Medical College & Hospital in Thiruvalla.
(With inputs from PTI)