The head of the Orthodox Church of Azerbaijan has died

Moscow/11.06.21/Turan: Archbishop Alexander (Ishchein) of Baku and Azerbaijan has died at the age of 69, according to the website of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).

"On June 10, the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, after a long and serious illness, the great religious figure of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the first bishop of the restored Diocese of Baku and Azerbaijan who preserved and strengthened Orthodoxy in Azerbaijan, His Eminence Alexander, Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan, died at the age of 69," the message reads.

No cause of death is specified.

It should be reminded that since 1995, he has been the rector of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in Baku. On December 28, 1998, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church elected him bishop of Baku and the Caspian Region (later, due to the transfer of the boundaries of the dioceses, the title was renamed into "Baku and Azerbaijan"). On July 18, 2012, Bishop Alexander was elevated to the rank of archbishop. -03D-