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Initech

(99,913 posts)
Thu Jul 18, 2013, 12:06 AM Jul 2013

Siberian Cult Believes Their Chosen Leader Is Jesus

If you need a backup plan for the end times, or if you're just looking to retire in an idyllic country setting that doesn't allow alcohol, tobacco or decisions made by women, this Russian cult has got you covered.

Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop is the charismatic leader the Church of the Last Testament, a so-called cult numbering more than 10,000 people, about 4,000 of whom live in a rustic religious settlement in southern Siberia. His followers claim that he is the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, but he calls himself Vissarion.

The leader's beliefs, which according to travel site Atlas Obscura blend "elements of the Russian Orthodox Church with Buddhism, apocalypticism, collectivism and ecological values," came to fruition around the fall of the Soviet Union, after he was fired from his job as a traffic cop.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/siberian-jesus-vissarion-russian-cult_n_3612265.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news
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Siberian Cult Believes Their Chosen Leader Is Jesus (Original Post) Initech Jul 2013 OP
Wait, he can't be Jayzus.... trusty elf Jul 2013 #1
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