Russian sect goes underground to await doomsday
Russian sect goes underground to await doomsday - in silence
Luke Harding
November 17, 2007
TO LOCALS in the Russian village of Nikolskoye they were simply a group of eccentric Christians. And when 29 members of the sect abruptly disappeared last week, villagers assumed they had packed up and gone.
In fact, members of the religious doomsday cult had moved to a remote cave and decided to barricade themselves inside until May 2008 — the date when their spiritual leader had told them the world was going to end.
Yesterday authorities were attempting to talk to cult members by bellowing through a ventilation shaft cut into the cave's roof. So far, however, the members — who include 25 adults and four children, one of them a 16-month-old baby — have refused to emerge.
"They have covered the entrance and refuse to come out and are threatening to blow themselves up," a local official said.
The sect members are hiding out in a snow-covered hillside about 95 kilometres from the town of Penza in central Russia. Regional chief prosecutor Alvetina Volchkova said they moved in at the end of October.
"They don't regard themselves as a sect but refer to themselves as 'the chosen ones'," she said.
Police sealed off the area and were trying to negotiate.
Sect elders began secretly preparing the cave last month, bringing in supplies of gas and kerosene as well as half-a-tonne of honey and a lot of jam, locals said.
The sect's leader is Pyotr Kuznetsov — a divorced 43-year-old architect from Belarus. Kuznetsov travelled across Belarus and Russia, spreading his message of apocalyptic doom, before settling in the village 18 months ago.
His followers moved into abandoned houses, refusing to use electricity.
After decades of state suppression, the Orthodox church is enjoying a revival. But many Russians have fallen under the sway of sects. Some even refuse passports and taxpayers' numbers, claiming the figures conceal "satanic" meanings.
Police have arrested Kuznetsov, who led investigators to the cave entrance.
Relatives of cult members are expected to arrive from Belarus and Ukraine to try to persuade them to give up. This may be tricky: cult members have apparently taken a vow of silence.
http://tinyurl.com/2sdq8o
Luke Harding
November 17, 2007
TO LOCALS in the Russian village of Nikolskoye they were simply a group of eccentric Christians. And when 29 members of the sect abruptly disappeared last week, villagers assumed they had packed up and gone.
In fact, members of the religious doomsday cult had moved to a remote cave and decided to barricade themselves inside until May 2008 — the date when their spiritual leader had told them the world was going to end.
Yesterday authorities were attempting to talk to cult members by bellowing through a ventilation shaft cut into the cave's roof. So far, however, the members — who include 25 adults and four children, one of them a 16-month-old baby — have refused to emerge.
"They have covered the entrance and refuse to come out and are threatening to blow themselves up," a local official said.
The sect members are hiding out in a snow-covered hillside about 95 kilometres from the town of Penza in central Russia. Regional chief prosecutor Alvetina Volchkova said they moved in at the end of October.
"They don't regard themselves as a sect but refer to themselves as 'the chosen ones'," she said.
Police sealed off the area and were trying to negotiate.
Sect elders began secretly preparing the cave last month, bringing in supplies of gas and kerosene as well as half-a-tonne of honey and a lot of jam, locals said.
The sect's leader is Pyotr Kuznetsov — a divorced 43-year-old architect from Belarus. Kuznetsov travelled across Belarus and Russia, spreading his message of apocalyptic doom, before settling in the village 18 months ago.
His followers moved into abandoned houses, refusing to use electricity.
After decades of state suppression, the Orthodox church is enjoying a revival. But many Russians have fallen under the sway of sects. Some even refuse passports and taxpayers' numbers, claiming the figures conceal "satanic" meanings.
Police have arrested Kuznetsov, who led investigators to the cave entrance.
Relatives of cult members are expected to arrive from Belarus and Ukraine to try to persuade them to give up. This may be tricky: cult members have apparently taken a vow of silence.
http://tinyurl.com/2sdq8o
bin66 - 18. Nov, 01:25
