Related
Advertisements *
Elsewhere
Subscribe: RSS
RNB's RSS feed What is this? |
Subscribe: Email
![]() |
![]() Subscribe by Email What is this? |
Most Popular
- Todd Bentley commissioned as an evangelist: a Christian role-playing game
- Pentagon asked to block Christian broadcast
- Scientology is focus of flap over Will Smith’s new school
- Cult expert: Texas shouldn’t have released FLDS kids
- FLDS sells cult fashion online; Ex-member helps FLDS victims
- Convicted molester sentenced to 45 years to life
- Islam is real threat to church, says Synod member
- Muslims outraged that police ad features a police dog-in-training
- Hamas worried about rise in support for religious sect
- Exorcism protected by 1st Amendment, Texas high court rules
Authorities continue negotiations with Russian doomsday sect
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, April 2 (RIA Novosti) - Negotiators have resumed attempts to persuade 14 members of a doomsday sect to leave the dugout in central Russia they have been holed up in for five months, a local government spokesman said on Wednesday.
The group, ‘Heavenly Jerusalem,’ went underground in the Penza Region in November to await the end of the world, which they say will come in May. However, 21 fellow sect members have emerged from the hideaway in recent days after most of the dugout’s roof collapsed due to thaw waters weakening the structure. Two young children are amongst those still underground.
“They prayed at night and resumed negotiations on coming to the surface in the morning. The negotiations are being carried out by Deputy Governor Oleg Melnichenko,” Anton Sharonov said.
The group had earlier threatened to set themselves on fire if any attempt was made to remove them by force.
Sharonov also said he hoped all the remaining members of the extreme Russian Orthodox movement would voluntarily come to the surface today. He also said no fresh damage had occurred to the shelter during the night.
Rescue workers have cleaned up and reinforced the entrance to the shelter following its collapse, clearing the way for the sect members should they wish to end their underground wait for the Apocalypse. A group of rescue workers is also on duty day and night near the shelter in order to provide assistance in the case of an emergency.
The group had earlier promised to come to the surface on April 27 (Orthodox Easter) or in early May.
The sect’s founder, 43-year-old Pyotr Kuznetsov, earlier said that the group had “spent one and a half months, often working nights,” digging out their underground shelter. “God gave us cover, and angels helped us,” he expounded, adding that the tunnel was “fifty meters in length, and the height of a man.”
Kuznetsov did not join his followers in the shelter, saying that he had “another mission in life.” He was earlier charged with inciting religious and racial hatred, but was declared mentally unfit to stand trial last Wednesday. He has been held in an asylum in Penza since November.
He is reported to have told his followers that they would be given the power to decide who would go to hell and who to heaven after the Apocalypse.
The sect members who came to the surface on Saturday and Tuesday turned down offers of medical help, authorities have said. Most of them are now staying in a nearby village.
Religion was tightly controlled in the U.S.S.R. and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 saw an avalanche of sects, mystics and self-proclaimed psychics. There are currently believed to be around 500-700 sects in Russia, containing some 600,000-800,000 people. Many of these profess an extreme form of Russian Orthodoxy. Such groups, as was the case with ‘Heavenly Jerusalem’ burn their passports, as they “contain the number of the Beast” and shun modern society.
There are also many other types of sects in Russia. One of the most famous of these has its base near the southern Siberian town of Abakan, where thousands of people, both Russian and foreign, worship a former Russian provincial traffic policeman, Sergei Torop, or Vissarion as he is known to his followers, as the second coming of Christ.
Share this
To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:
Article and Site Tools
» PermaLink to: Authorities continue negotiations with Russian doomsday sect Need a shorter link? You can remove everything after the final / » More news articles + news archive on Heavenly Jerusalem, Pyotr Kuznetsov, True Russian Orthodox Church » More religion and cult news Subscribe (RSS / Email) [What is RSS?] » RSS News Feed - All Topics: Religion News Blog RSS Feed » RSS News Feed - Single Topic: Heavenly Jerusalem, Pyotr Kuznetsov, True Russian Orthodox Church » Headlines by Email: Daily Religion News Blog Headlines |
More Article Tools
Bookmark / Tag: Del.icio.us Bookmark / Tag: Furl Save this article Email this article Print this article [Temporarily out of order] More Information Books about Heavenly Jerusalem Relevant books (and other goodies) |
About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.



