Kerala evangelist KP Yohannan dies of cardiac arrest after a road accident

Believers Eastern Church founder and evangelist Mor Athanasius Yohan I, also known as KP Yohannan, passed away on Wednesday, May 8, after suffering cardiac arrest. He was in Dallas, Texas in the United States of America where he met with an accident. He was 74.

According to the church’s official spokesman, he died of sudden cardiac arrest in a Dallas hospital where he was being treated after his accident.

“Dear believers of the Church, it is with deep sadness and sorrow that we wish to inform you that His Holiness Athanasius Yohan I, our Honorable Metropolitan, rested in the Lord this evening, May 8, 2024. He died of sudden cardiac arrest at a hospital in Dallas, Texas, where he had been treated since his accident. Further details will be announced shortly by the Holy Synod. May his memory be eternal!” said the Facebook post shared by Believers Eastern Church.

Church spokesman Father Sijo Pandapallil also confirmed the news.

According to reports, Yohannan was out for a morning walk around 5:25 pm IST on Tuesday, May 7. Although he normally walks around the Believers Church campus in Dallas in the morning, at the time of the accident he was on a county road that had no sidewalk. Shortly after the accident, police arrived on scene and he was taken to hospital. Yohannan had undergone lung surgery and spent the next 24 hours under medical observation.

Believers Eastern Church was founded in 1993 by Yohannan, a former Syrian Marthoma priest. The church claims to have a large membership of over 30 lakh members in 12,000 congregations worldwide. Recently, it became the first church in Kerala after the church and Yohannan’s offices were raided by the Income Tax Department in recent years.