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Daniel Alekseevich Sysoyev was born on January 12, 1974, to Alexsei Aleksei Nikolaevich Sysoyev and Anna Midkhatovna Amirova, within a family of teachers and artists. He was later baptised on October 31, 1977 in Vorobyovy Hills. He attended church with his family, assisting in the altar and in the choir at the church where his father was sacristan. <ref>'''Pravmir'''. [http://www.pravmir.com/article_793.html]</ref>. Later, Aleksei was later ordained to the priesthood, and his wife (a Tatar) taught Orthodox catechism.

He was tonsured a reader on December 19, 1994 by Bishop Rostislav of Magadan and Chukotka, beginning a series of great changes. Rdr Daniel was married to Iulia Mikhailovna Brykina on January 22, 1995, by Fr [[Dionisy Pozdnyaev]]<ref>'''Pravmir'''. [http://www.pravmir.com/article_790.html]</ref>; in May 13, Bishop Evgenii of Verey ordained him as deacon. Dcn Daniel graduated from Moscow Theological Seminary at the top of the class on June 14, 1995, with his first child (of three) being born later that year. He subsequently enrolled in the correspondence course of the Moscow Theological Academy, and was assigned to the Bulgarian [[metochion]] church of the Dormition of the All-Holy Mother of God in Gonchary, Moscow, where he taught the Law of God senior classes of the [[Iasenevo Yasenevo Orthodox Classical Gymnasium]] (high school), and was noted for his strictness in compliance with the [[Typikon]] and canons, which caused some conflict between himself and Archimandrite [[Boris (Dobrev) of Agatoniysky|Boris Dobrev]], rector of the metochion at the time.

From August 1996, the Patriarch blessed him to hold missionary Biblical conversations in the Kriutitsy Patriarchal Metochion with people who had suffered from the influence of sects and, later, occult activities. He began work at the Rehabilitation Centre of St John of Kronstadt, under the direction of Hmk [[Anatoly (Berestoy)]].

In 2005, the Moscow city government allocated Fr Daniel was soon transferred to be the rector 's community 0.5 hectares (just under 1.25 acres) of land in Kantemirovskiy, Moscow, for the Church construction of the Apostle Thomasa stone church, where he initiated a growing community in honour of dedicated to the [[Prophet Daniel]]. One By November 2006, land was cleared of undergrowth and debris by the goals of this centre community, and a small, temporary wooden church was dedicated to the conversion of Apostle Thomas. Fr Daniel's parish aimed to convert non-Christians, mostly non-Russians. This is particularly the case as the Kantemirovskiy district who resided in Moscow, where and was in an ideal location to do this, as Kantemirovskiy distict is the is a district of many expatriate communities, and where many different sects are active. The parish runs missionary courses, including Baptistssinging lessons, Mormons, Adventists iconography classes and occultistsa scout group. Until Fr Daniel came, there was no Orthodox centre. He also opened a catechetical school about abotu the basics of Christianity, and ran a successive five-week catechetical discourses course for those who wished to know more about Christianity (whether for baptism or for interest). In time, a community of Orthodox Tartars (began in 2003) built up, and the information agency of St Akhmet began activity. Fr Daniel's church had initiatives such as an open house, where the church would be open and the priest available for questions. [[Moleben]]s were frequent, particularly for conversion of the non-Orthodox, and also for students at the nearby Moscow Engineering and Physical University. Fr Daniel later began to offer missionary courses, preparing preachers of the Gospel.

In 2009, the parish had some difficulties from the Moscow City Department of Environment Management, due to a change in thought about the use of that allocation of land (changed to a park and nature reserve). Due to popular demand, however, a church remained a part of the draft General Plan for the area. As rector of St. Thomas' church in southern Moscow, Fr Daniel was a noted missionary, especially among the Muslim, neo-Pagans, and Protestants communities of Russia. As the Orthodox Church in Russia has come around to the importance of missionary work in recent years, Fr. Daniel became known for his active missionary work, particularly among non-Orthodox, and also for his bright polemic performances. He established an active missionary movement, including training Orthodox street preachers. He had especially built a reputation as a priest who stood out for his proselytizing work among Russia’s Muslim community, baptising around eighty Muslims <ref>'''OrthodoxyToday.org'''. [http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/blog/2009/11/20/orthodox-priest-who-converted-muslims-murdered-in-russia/]</ref>.

On [[November 19]], 2009, between 23:10-23:20, he was mortally wounded in his church by a Muslim fanatic, who shot him four times. The killer also heavily wounded parish’s choir director Vladimir Strelbitsky. An hour later around 12:15am on November 20, Fr. Daniel died on the operating table at a Moscow hospital<ref>Sophia Kishkovsky. [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/europe/20moscow.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sysoyev&st=cse Russian Priest Killed in Church]. '''The New York Times'''. November 19, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.newsru.com/religy/19nov2009/foma.html В Москве убит настоятель храма Святого Фомы, его помощник ранен]. '''Newsru.com'''. November 20, 2009.</ref> Fr Daniel was 34 years old. Fr. Daniel was the twenty fifth Orthodox priest murdered in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.