Vissarion

For other people named Vissarion, see Vissarion (disambiguation).

Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop (Russian: Сергей Анатольевич Тороп, Sergej Anatolʹevič Torop; born January 14, 1961 in Krasnodar, Russian SFSR), known by his followers as Vissarion (Виссарион), is a Russian mystic. He founded and heads a religious movement known as the Church of the Last Testament with its head church in the Siberian Taiga in the Minusinsk Depression east of Abakan, in the southern Siberia Kuraginsk district of Krasnoyarsk territory. He has around 4,000 followers (called Vissarionites) in around thirty villages in the immediate vicinity of his base at Sun City and approximately 10,000 followers around the world.^{[citation needed]}

Vissarion claims to be a reincarnation of Jesus. He teaches reincarnation, veganism, and the impending end of the world, or at least of civilization as we know it. In May 1990, aged 29, Vissarion claims to have experienced a mystical revelation. He first spoke publicly in Minusinsk on 18 August 1991. He founded the "Church of the Last Testament" (Церковь Последнего Завета Tserkov Poslednego Zaveta), also known as "Community of Unified Faith".

History

He was born in Krasnodar; after service in the Red Army, he settled in Minusinsk. He worked as a traffic policeman before losing his job in 1989. In 1991 he was "reborn" as Vissarion, the returned Jesus Christ. In his system this does not make him God, but instead the word of God. His religion combines elements of the Russian Orthodox Church with Buddhism, apocalypticism, collectivism, and ecological values. His followers observe strict regulations, are vegans, and are allowed no vices such as smoking or drinking alcohol. Money is banned^{[citation needed]}. The aim of the group is to unite all religions on Earth.

Tiberkul, the settlement in the Taiga, was established in 1994 on a territory of 2.5 square kilometres, and today counts some five thousand inhabitants, largely living autochthonous and on ecological principles. It is centered around the villages of Petropavlovka and Cheremshanka, at ca. 53°53′N 93°45′E. The settlement has a three-tiered structure: the Town itself (Abode of Dawn), the Heavenly Abode, and the Temple Peak.

In October 1995, the religious association of Vissarion officially registered as the "Church of the Last Testament".

Personal life

Vissarion has two wives, and six children from two marriages. He has expelled the first wife and married the young nineteen year-old girl, who was brought up at Vissarion's home from the age of seven.

Vissarion has a sister named Irina. Vissarion considers Mary, mother of Jesus, as his own mother. The biological mother of Vissarion is a woman named Nadejda.

Interpretation

Vissarion's sect is estimated to have some ten thousand adherents, with claims of up to 50,000 adherents in eighty-three communities spread over 150 square kilometers.^{[citation needed]}.

Since 1992, biographer Vadim Redkin has published an annual volume detailing Vissarion's activities. Vissarion has attracted a number of followers from Germany's esoteric subculture, and seven volumes of Vadim's account have been translated into German.

In March 2010, UK TV channel, Channel 4 showed an hour long documentary about Vissarion and his followers.

See also

• Christianity in Russia
• List of people who have claimed to be Jesus

External links

• False-Christ Vissarion deceives people
• Orthodox church and Vissarion
• Film of BBC "A Long Weekend with The Son of God" (Filmmaker George Carey).
• Official Russian-language website
• English-language website
• English-language Last Testament
• Vissarion Community International Portal
• Stanislav Krupar's photos of Vissarion community
• Audiovisual journalism piece about the movement
• Globe and Mail: Jesus Lives
• The Washington Post: Novel Faiths Find Followers Among Russia's Disillusioned
• The Guardian on him
• Section in news about religion in Russia listed under "Sect in Siberia
• Sydney Morning Herald article
• ABC Nightline video and article
• Vice Guide to Travel: Jesus of Siberia