Kerala-based church's founder KP Yohannan dies in Texas after ...
Renowned evangelist Mor Athanasius Yohan I alias K P Yohannan, who founded the Kerala-based Believers Eastern Church, died in Dallas in Texas Wednesday where he had met with an accident.
An official communication from the Church said “the metropolitan passed away due to sudden cardiac arrest in a hospital in Dallas, Texas where he had been receiving treatment since his accident on May 7.’’
Yohannan, 74, who rose from the ranks of a Pentecostal preacher, is an influential Christian leader in Kerala. Once blamed by RSS in Kerala for converting Hindus into Christianity, Yohannan had recently hit headlines by extending support for Anil Antony, BJP’s candidate in Pathanamthitta constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Yohannan and his Church have been under the scanner of the Income Tax Department for the last few years in connection with the alleged diversion of a charity fund, reportedly to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore, for real estate and other business purposes.
Yohannan, who joined the evangelical mission at an early age, had set up Gospel for Asia (GFA) in 1979 along with his wife Gisela, a German by birth, to promote biblical teachings. Yohannan’s highly spirited preaching won him lakhs of followers across the world. Athmeeya Yathra (spiritual journey), one of the dozen trusts Yohannan set up, has been broadcasting religious radio programmes.
He established Believers’ Church in 2000 at Thiruvalla in central Kerala, appointing himself the bishop of the newly formed Church. He later became Metropolitan Archbishop, with a bunch of junior bishops under him.
Yohannan’s real estate interest came to the fore in 2005 when the Believers’ Church purchased 2,263 acres of rubber estate from Harrison Malayalam Ltd for Rs 63 crore. He also owned the Cheruvally estate, one of the best-managed rubber estates in Kerala.
