Vissarion
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2008-07-10T08:21:50Z
Meco
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/* External links */ ABC Nightline video and article
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'''Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop''' ({{lang-ru|Сергей Анатольевич Тороп}}), (born [[January 14]], [[1961]]) 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, while having approximetally 10,000 followers around the world.
Vissarion claims to be a [[reincarnation]] of [[Jesus]]. He teaches reincarnation, [[vegan]]ism, 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 ''Tserokvy Poslednego Zaveta''), also known as "Community of Unified Faith".
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,<ref>[http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2002/11/9/146644.html The Argus, Brighton 2002]</ref> and are allowed no vices such as smoking or drinking alcohol. Money is banned. The aim of the group is to unite all religions on Earth.
Vissarion is also a painter.
'''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 [[sustainability|ecological principles]]. It is centered around the villages of Petropavlovka and Cheremshanka, at ca. {{coor dm|53|53|N|93|45|E|}}. The settlement is now also called '''Ecopolis''' and has a three-tiered structure: the Town itself (''Abode of Dawn''), the ''Heavenly Abode'', and the ''Temple Peak''.
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.
Since 1992, biographer Vadim Redkin (born 1958) has published an annual volume detailing Vissarion's activities. Vissarion has attracted a number of [http://wissarion.info/ followers from Germany]'s [[esoteric]] subculture, and seven volumes of Vadim's account have been translated into German.
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
==See also==
* [[List of people who have claimed to be Jesus]]
==External links==
*[http://www.vissarion.ru/ Official Russian-language website]
*[http://www.vissarion-en.org/ English-language website]
*[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/special/audio/jesussiberia.html Audiovisual journalism piece about the movement]
*[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060401.wfcover01/BNStory/National/ Globe and Mail: Jesus Lives]
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601938.html The Washington Post: Novel Faiths Find Followers Among Russia's Disillusioned]
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,721088,00.html The Guardian on him]
*[http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/9906b.html Section in news about religion in Russia listed under "Sect in Siberia]
*[http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/18/1029114050435.html Sydney Morning Herald article]
*[http://www.vissarion-unifaith.org/main.phtml THE COMMUNITY OF UNIFIED FAITH]
*[http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/FaithMatters/story?id=5225539&page=1 ABC Nightline video and article]
[[Category:1961 births]]
[[Category:Russian religious leaders]]
[[Category:Mystics]]
[[Category:Russian vegans]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Siberia]]
[[Category:Russian painters]]
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[[ru:Виссарион (глава Церкви Последнего Завета)]]
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