Meet 'Siberian Jesus': the bizarre story of man who believes he is Jesus Christ

If we are to believe the Russian man pictured here, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, is currently sitting in a cell block in a Russian prison. Yes, that's right, the man pictured here speaking into the microphone believes he is the saviour.

Many people have claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ over the centuries, and the stories that go along with these individuals are always pretty wild. However, the "Siberian Jesus" case is one of the most interesting in recent years.

Photo by Ekaterina Dawn - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114954740

Meet Sergei Anatolyevitch Torop, also known as Vissarion, which means "he who gives new life." This long-haired former traffic policeman is the leader of a sect described by many as a cult called The Church of the Last Testament.

Vissarion started the church just over 30 years ago after proclaiming himself the Son of God following what he says was a revelation.

According to Torop's website vissarion.world, he was born on January 14, 1961. He seemed like an average Russian until he had a "spiritual awakening in August of 1990 when he was 29 years old. 

Sergei was eager to spread the word, and just one year later, in August of 1991, Vissarion gave his first public teaching in Minusink.

Sergei went on to found his spiritual community, the "Church of the Last Testament", which according to Wikipedia, is also known as the "Community of Unified Faith."

The head church of this spiritual community is located deep in the "Siberian Taiga, in the Minusinsk Depression east of Abakan," in a small community called the "Abode of Dawn."

Around 4,000 followers who all adhere to strict ecological principles live at the Church of the Last Testament settlement. According to a 2020 article in Forbes, the sect claims it is the largest religious reservation in the world.

The group also claims to have 10,000 followers around the globe, according to a piece on this Siberian Jesus published in France 24.

Sergei's religious beliefs are a strange mix of teachings from the Russian Orthodox Church combined with Buddhism, collectivism, apocalypticism, and ecological principle.

Vissarion warns followers that the end of the world was near and that only those that follow him will find salvation.

In 2002, Vissarion told The Guardian, "I am not God. And it is a mistake to see Jesus as God. But I am the living word of God the father. Everything that God wants to say, he says through me."

According to The Guardian, followers of the Church of the Last Testament living in the community must follow a strict set of rules ranging from eating a strictly vegan diet, dressing simply and abstaining from alcohol, smoking, cursing, and using money.

Pictured: followers in a greenhouse at the Abode of Dawn.

Forbes reported that Vissarion "abolished Christmas and replaced it with the anniversary of the date of his own first sermon (August 18)." In addition, according to Wikipedia, the calendar that the Church of the Last Testament starts from the day of Vissarion's birth in 1961.

In an interview with the BBC in 2017, Vissarion said, "We have a school of noble maidens here. We're preparing girls to become future wives, future brides for worthy men."

Vissarion then went on to tell the British media outlet that the women of the community must learn "to understand not to rise above the man, not to be proud of her independence but to be shy, inconspicuous and weak."

In a piece about Vissarion in The Daily Mail, the newspaper reported that Vissarion has two wives and at least six children, "having at one stage married a 19-year-old who had lived with him since the age of seven."

Despite all these strange ideals and some undoubtedly questionable behaviour on Vissarion's part, the community at the Church of the Last Testament in Siberia seemed relatively happy. That is until September 2020.

In September 2020, The Guardian reported that Russian special forces arrived at the sect's remote settlement in Siberia via helicopter to arrest Sergei Torop and his two top aides on charges of illegal religious organisation and causing severe harm to two or more people.

Image: Global News, YouTube

Furthermore, FSB investigators accused Vissarion of manipulating followers for financial gain and mentally abusing followers to the point of compromising their health.

There is little information available on exactly which charges Sergei Torop was found guilty of, but nearly three years after his arrest, we do know he is still behind bars.

Apiece in 2021 by The New York Times makes it seem as if Vissarion's arrest did little more than reinforce his followers' beliefs. Valerie Hopkins of the NYT wrote, "For many of the believers, their leader's arrest, combined with the coronavirus pandemic, is a sign that Judgment Day approaches."

Hopkins added that other devotees believed Vissarion's arrest was "the fulfilment of a prophecy, comparing their teacher's plight with that of Jesus more than 2,000 years ago."

We don't know much about how many followers remain but we can deduce that Vissarion at least has enough followers to keep his webpage active and to help him share his message from behind bars.

Photo: vissarion.world

In the New York Times article, followers told the publication that they are able to communicate with their spiritual leader every night at 10:05 pm.

No, Vissarion doesn't have fantastic access to video calls every night. Instead, followers told the NYT that they communicate through "a ritual they call "sliyaniya," which means integration or blending; they direct their thoughts to him for 15 minutes, and he addresses them in his thoughts."

Interestingly, Vissarion's website has a page dedicated to his detention with the following text, "Disciples, followers and supporters, as well as just well-wishers from around the world are anxiously awaiting the expiration of the maximum time of legal detention, hoping and believing that justice will prevail and the Teacher will return to his honoured place!"

In addition, on Vissarion's website, messages to his followers are occasionally uploaded in a multitude of languages. The latest was in July of 2022.

Photo: vissarion.world

It remains unclear when or if "Siberian Jesus" will be released, nor exactly how many followers still remain. However, if the 2021 piece on the group by The New York Times is any indication, members of the Church of the Last Testament are very faithful and are awaiting the return of their leader patiently.