Athanasius Yohan, head of the Faithful Church, has died after a car accident in the USA

The supreme leader of the Believers Eastern Church, Athanasius Yohan I, who suffered an accident in the United States, has died at a hospital there, church officials said Wednesday.

“He died of sudden cardiac arrest at a hospital in Dallas, Texas, where he had been receiving treatment since his accident,” a church official said. He was 74.

Athanasius Yohan I suffered some serious injuries, mainly to the head and chest, in the accident on May 7, the Thiruvalla-based church official said.

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He was born KP Yohannan in Niranam village near Thiruvalla in 1950 and after completing high school, he dedicated his life to serving God.

“In obedience to the great commission of the Lord Jesus Christ, he spent the next eight years of his life preaching the gospel and doing charitable works in South Asia,” a church document said.

Yohannan received theological training in the United States in the 1970s and founded a missionary organization that eventually became one of the largest missionary and church planting movements in many Asian countries.

On February 6, 2003, he was ordained and appointed Metropolitan of Believers Eastern Church.

In accordance with Orthodox Christian tradition, he took the name Athanasius Yohan in honor of his beloved patron saints, Saint Athanasius, the Defender of Orthodoxy, and Saint John (Yohan), the Apostle and Evangelist.

Under his leadership, the church grew over the past two decades, planting more than 12,000 congregations in Asia and Africa.

He is also the founding patron of St. Ignatius Theological Seminary, Believers Church Residential School and Believers Church Medical College & Hospital in Thiruvalla.