Ignatiy Lapkin: key obituary facts
Is Ignatiy Lapkin dead? Yes. Ignatiy Lapkin died on November 2, 2026, at age 87.
Cause of death: Ignatiy Lapkin's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Ignatiy Lapkin known for?
He was a Russian missionary, preacher.
More about Ignatiy Lapkin
Born: 10 June 1939.
Place of birth: Karpovsky.
Place of death: Poteryayevka.
Gender: male.
Occupation: missionary, blogger, preacher, poet, Eastern Orthodox priest.
Nationality: Soviet Union, Russia.
Education: Riga Nakhimov Naval School.
Also known as: Ignace Lapkin, Ignaty Lapkin, IgLa.
Ignatiy Lapkin, a Russian Orthodox preacher and author, died November 2, 2026, aged 87.
Born in Karpovsky on June 10, 1939, he grew up in a large Old Believer family, a background he later recalled as marked by poverty, austerity and deep religious commitment; he went on to follow Old Believer traditions. He was also known by the pseudonym IgLa and worked as a missionary and preacher.
During the Soviet period, his religious activities brought persecution by security agencies, and he was later rehabilitated. In the perestroika period and the 1990s, Lapkin established several religious organizations and declared affiliation with both the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Russian Old-Orthodox Church. Those affiliations were contested: the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia said his communities could not present themselves as its subdivisions, while Lapkin and his community declined to follow directives from the Russian Orthodox Church. Critics within the church and writers on missionary work described his activities as sectarian; sect expert Sergiy Dudin characterized the refusal to comply as schism and an example of sectarianism. Lapkin was an outspoken anti-communist and supported Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his ideas. He also voiced support for and prayed for Vladimir Putin, Recep Erdoğan and Donald Trump. Lapkin held antisemitic views and asserted that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was authentic, although the document is a forgery.