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July 24, 2008 8:37:31 AM CDT

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Russians Flock to New Religions

Posted Jul 17, 07 3:42 PM CDT in World,  Arts & Living,  Glossies 

(Newser) – Is a former traffic cop named Sergei Tropov really the reincarnation of Jesus? Five thousand devoted followers of the Church of the Last Testament believe so, and they've relocated to a remote corner of the Siberian wilderness, where they are constructing a new town founded on the 18-year-old religion. The Washington Post pays a call.

The trend hardly unique to Russia, where citizens disillusioned by the abuses of traditional churches are flocking to thousands of religious start-ups. "It is a massive phenomenon," says one expert. The converts aren't "the mad and the gullible and the stupid," he adds. "Often they are very well-educated."

Source Washington Post

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Sergei Torop's followers gather in frozen Siberia.   (Getty Images)
Sergei Torop, also known as "Vissarion," is the self-declared Jesus of southern Siberia, with over devoted 5000 followers.   (http://www.vissarion.info)
Torop's central church. Built by his followers on Torop's settlement in Taiga, known as Tiberkul, and more recently, Ecopolis.   (Wikimedia Commons)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Ex-policeman turned self proclaimed Messiah leads...   (itnsource (YouTube))
Commutity of Vissarion on the Siberian Land 1   (boggybg (YouTube))

« Prev « Prev  |  Next » Next »
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Russia  • religion  • church  • Soviet Union  • faith  • Siberia  • worshippers


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