Old Believer preacher Ignaty Lapkin dies at 87

Russian Old Believer preacher Ignaty Lapkin died at 87 on November 2, according to messages from his community and followers.

He lived in Barnaul in recent years and had been seriously ill, but his cause of death has not been disclosed.

Lapkin was born in the Altai region and became interested in religion while serving in the navy, after reading the New Testament.

He spread religious literature during the Soviet period and was sentenced to two and a half years in a prison colony in 1986.

He later preached and founded several religious associations, some of which the Russian Orthodox Church considers sectarian.

In recent years, videos of Lapkin made him a familiar figure online, with his direct and sometimes radical style prompting many memes.

The accounts of his death offer no further details about what happens next.