سرگئی توروپ

Tucked away in Siberia, there's a community led by a former traffic cop who believes that he is Jesus Christ reincarnated.

Some call him the "Jesus of Siberia." But Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop prefers to be called Vissarion.

He leads the Church of the Last Testament, a movement based in the Siberian taiga. Photojournalist Kate Brooks visited Vissarion's community in 2008 to learn more about him and his followers, and to document their way of life.

In her description of the project, Brooks explains that Vissarion's philosophy includes inspiration from "elements of the Russian Orthodox Church and Buddhism to Islam."

The community was "very welcoming," Brooks told Refinery29.

"They're vegetarian — I don't eat meat, so that was automatically something that connected me to them, even if I’m not following what they believe in, per se," she explained.

She stayed in the community for about two weeks while capturing the photo series.

Vissarion's following isn't a small one — roughly 4,000 people live in his community, according to Vice 's former editor-in-chief Rocco Castoro, who reported on his visit to the settlement in 2011. About 250 of his closest followers live in an area called the Abode of Dawn.

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سرگئی توروپ

NOVOSIBIRSK, September 23. /TASS/. The Central District Court in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk on Wednesday arrested for two months Sergei Torop, the founder of a religious sect, the "Church of the Last Testament," Judge Alla Veselykh said.

Torop, who calls himself Vissarion, is suspected of setting up a religious group, which used violence against citizens, the judge said. "Torop will be placed in custody for two months, until November 22," she said.

Torop has rejected the accusations against him. He has questioned the words of the alleged victims, adding that he had never seen some of them. According to him, many of these people, who are facing a challenging situation, are constantly complaining and expressing their discontent. "I have never seen one of them and I saw another one 15 years ago. In the past three years, three of these people have been constantly creating some difficulties and lodging their complaints," he said.

Early on Tuesday, law enforcement officers in Novosibirsk detained three leaders of the local religious group, the "Church of the Last Testament." According to the Investigative Committee, since 1991 Torop, Redkin and Vedernikov have led this organization. They are facing charges of setting up a religious group, which uses violence against citizens and causing damage to their health.

The group’s leaders are accused of using their followers’ money for making profits. They also allegedly used psychological violence, inflicting serious damage to the followers' health for a long time.

The "Church of the Last Testament" was set up in 1991 by Sergei Torop, who calls himself Vissarion. In 1995 his followers founded a settlement in the Kuraginsky district dubbed Sun City. Its members also live in many settlements of the Kuraginsky and Karatuzsky districts in the south of the Krasnoyarsk Region. Vedernikov leads a private school for children of the community’s members.

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/Sergei Torop/

Russian authorities on Tuesday carried out a special operation to arrest Sergei Torop, a former traffic police officer who claims to be the reincarnation of Lord Jesus and has been running a religious sect in Siberia for the last 30 years. Torop, also known as Vissarion by his followers, has been accused by the Russian intelligence committee of extorting money and causing physical and psychological harm to his followers. Two of his aides, Vadim Redkin and Vladimir Vedernikov, were also arrested in the operation that involved agents from Russia’s FSB security service as well as police and other agencies.

Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop was born at Krasnodar in southern Russia in January 1961. He worked in the Soviet army, before settling down at Minusinsk, where he worked as a traffic officer. Torop lost his job in 1989, and a year later he claimed to have had a mystical revelation, and that he was born as Vissarion, or the reincarnated Christ.

Torop was 29 years old back then, and the Soviet Union he grew up in had just disintegrated. The fall of the atheist state, gave rise to several domestic religious movements. A report in the New Yorker written in 2013, suggested that as per the Russian orthodox church, close to four thousand religious movements existed across the country. In an interview to journalist Rocco Castoro for a documentary film in Vice media, Torop had said it is no coincidence that his religious community came up at the same time as the fall of the Soviet Union.

“Freedom of a religious denomination was supposed to happen around that time, otherwise it would have been hard to establish the community….Man has to experience hunger for sacred truth, then go look for it,” he said.

به عنوان ویساریون، توروپ عموماً با موهای بلند و ریش مسیح مانند دیده می شود و ردای مخملی بلندی بر تن دارد. به زودی پس از مکاشفه روحانی خود، او شروع به نوشتن آخرین عهد کرد، که 12 جلد دنباله عهد جدید است، که جزئیاتی از اصول اصلی نهضت دینی و قوانین رفتار صحیح روزانه او را ارائه می دهد. او موعظه را در مارس 1991 آغاز کرد و همچنان که در سراسر جمهوری های سابق اتحاد جماهیر شوروی سفر می کرد، به گسترش تعالیم خود ادامه داد. انجمن مذهبی ویساریون به طور رسمی در سال 1995 به عنوان "کلیسای آخرین عهد" متولد شد.

کلیسای آخرین عهد که ویساریون تأسیس کرد، عناصر کلیسای ارتدکس روسیه را با مضامین بودایی تناسخ و نظریه هایی در مورد آخرالزمان قریب الوقوع ترکیب می کند. در سال 1995، پیروان کلیسا یک شهرک معروف به "شهر خورشید" را در منطقه کوراگا سیبری تأسیس کردند.

جوآنا اوربانچیک، انسان شناس، در مقاله تحقیقاتی خود با عنوان "کلیسای آخرین عهد - قدرت وحدت" اشاره کرد که تا سال 2013، تعداد کل پیروان ویساریون به حدود چهار تا پنج هزار نفر می رسید. آنها عمدتاً از روسیه و جمهوری‌های شوروی سابق آمده‌اند، اما برخی از اروپای غربی نیز وجود دارند، عمدتاً آلمان.

آنها با جذب آموزه‌های ویساریون به سرزمین موعود سیبری رفته‌اند تا جامعه‌ای ایده‌آل برای آینده بر اساس روابط عاری از پول و خشونت و تمرکز بر توسعه معنوی و روابط متعادل با محیط طبیعی ایجاد کنند. ،Vissarion’s settlement is governed by a set of mysterious religious tenets, prayers, and a new calendar that begins from the year 1961 when Torop was born. A strict code of conduct is in place where veganism is the rule. Use of abusive language, tobacco and alcohol is strictly prohibited. Any kind of monetary exchange within the community is not allowed. Restraining from criticising others and avoiding conflict are some of the fundamental rules of the movement.

با این حال، ویساریون زمان بسیار کمی را با گله خود می گذراند. معروف است که او در خانه‌ای مجلل در بالای تپه زندگی می‌کند، جایی که نقاشی می‌کشد، در حالی که کشیشان و دستیارانش به طور روزمره از پیروانش مراقبت می‌کنند. گزارشی از روزنامه نگار یان ترینر که در می 2002 در گاردین نوشته شد، اشاره کرد که "در سال های اخیر ویساریون به نیویورک، آلمان، هلند، فرانسه و ایتالیا به دنبال نوکیشان بوده است." تلاش‌های او در جهانگردی مکرراً باعث ایجاد سوء ظن در مورد زندگی او با پول شاگردانش شده است.While the Russian Orthodox Church has been critical of the group, up until now, they were largely left undisturbed. It remains to be seen what happens to the disciples now that Vissarion has been arrested.

/Vissarion/

Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop (Russian: Серге́й Анато́льевич То́роп, Sergej Anatolʹevič Torop; born 14 January 1961 in Krasnodar, Russian SFSR), known as Vissarion (Russian: Виссарио́н, IPA: [vʲɪsərʲɪˈon], "He who gives new life" or "life-giving"), is a spiritual teacher and founder of the non-profit, religious organization “Church of the Last Testament”.[1][2][3]

According to the followers of Sergey Torop and some of his own explanations, on 18 August 1990, at the age of 29, Sergey had some sort of a “spiritual awakening”.[1]

He gave his first public teaching after awakening in Minusinsk on 18 August 1991.

He founded the "Church of the Last Testament" (Церковь Последнего Завета Tserkov Poslednego Zaveta), also known as the "Community of Unified Faith", with its head church located in the Siberian Taiga in the Minusinsk Depression east of Abakan, in the small settlement called "Abode of Dawn" (official name) or "The Sun City" (unofficial name) near Petropavlovka. Since then, the Christianity-based religious movement has amassed more than 10,000 followers around the world with around 4,000 living in the few settlements in Siberia near Vissarion.[2][3]

As Vissarion, he teaches reincarnation, veganism, and harmonious human relations predicting the end of the world.[3]

From 1991 till the present time on the basis of Vissarion's meetings, giving speeches and teachings the few volumed text was written that called “The Last Testament,” a text outlining a set of principles, focused on self-improvement, self-governance and community.[4]

In September 2020 Vissarion and two of his close students were arrested and taken away from homes by a helicopters during a dramatic operation empowered by Russia’s Investigative Committee. The Russian authorities accused them of “creating a religious group whose activities may impose violence on citizens”. Nowadays after more than a year Vissarion and two others are still being kept in prison in Novosibirsk city, despite the fact that there is no evidence that can somehow confirm the prosecution and with no proper criminal indictment. No trial has been scheduled.[5][6]

Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop was born in Krasnodar to Anatoly Torop and Nadezhda (née Malashenko). At 18, he began compulsory service by enlisting in the Red Army, becoming a sergeant working on building sites in Mongolia, followed by three years as a factory metal worker in Minusinsk, Siberia.[7] In the town, he worked as a patrol officer before losing his job in 1989.[2][8] Reported to have gained nine commendations during his five years of service, he was made redundant.[7]

Torop claims that in 1990 he was "reborn" as Vissarion (meaning "he who gives new life"), claiming to be a returned Jesus Christ. In his system this does not make him God, but instead the word of God.[7][9] His religious beliefs combines elements of the Russian Orthodox Church with Buddhism, apocalypticism, collectivism, and ecological values. Torop founded the Church of the Last Testament in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia in 1991 just before the fall of the USSR.[10] He predicted the imminent end of the world with only his followers being saved.[11]

His followers observe strict regulations, including abstaining from meat, smoking, drinking alcohol, swearing and the use of money.[7][12][13] The aim of the group is to unite all religions on Earth.[14] He replaced Christmas with a feast day on his birthday (14 January) and claimed to possess an ability to heal cancer and AIDS with a touch from his hand.[11] The calendar runs from the day in 1961 of Vissarion's birth; the biggest feast day (August 18) originates from his first sermon in 1991.[7]

Tiberkul, the settlement in the Taiga, was established in 1994 on a territory of 2.5 square kilometres (620 acres), and expanded to several nearby villages, such as those of Petropavlovka and Cheremshanka, at ca. 56°37′N 96°12′E. It has some four thousand inhabitants, following ecological principles. The central settlement, also called The Town and The Mountain, has a three-tiered structure: the Town itself (Abode of Dawn), the Heavenly Abode, and the Temple Peak. The churches and houses are built from wood by hand, most of the energy used originating from windmills or solar panels.[9]

Since 1992, biographer Vadim Redkin has published an annual volume detailing Vissarion's activities. Vissarion has attracted followers from Germany's esoteric subculture, and seven volumes of Vadim's account have been translated into German.^[15]

In May 2012, the Vice YouTube channel released "Cult Leader Thinks He's Jesus (Documentary Exclusive)", containing a report by Rocco Castoro, a reporter for Vice in Petropavlovka, and his interview with Vissarion.[16] This was the first time Vissarion had granted an interview in three years.

In 2018, the Japanese show Hyper Hardboiled Gourmet Report^[17] visited the City of the Sun, but did not interview the founder (Vissarion). They were able to interview multiple adherents, including children and a sub-founder.

On 22 September 2020, Russian authorities arrested Vissarion on charges of running an illegal religious organisation, possible physical harm to others, and extortion. He was apprehended by the FSB and Russian police, and taken to Novosibirsk central district court, along with two aides, Vadim Redkin and Vladimir Vedernikov.^[10][2]

Vissarion has a younger half-sister, Irina. Though he has a biological mother named Nadyezhda, Vissarion considers Mary, mother of Jesus, as his own mother.[19]

/جیمی ویلز/

جیمی دُنال وِیلْز (به انگلیسی: Jimmy Donal Wales)(‎/ˈdʒɪmi ˈdoʊnəl ˈweɪlz/‎; زادهٔ ۷ اوت ۱۹۶۶^[۲]) بنیان‌گذار و رئیس بنیاد ویکی‌مدیا، شرکتی غیرانتفاعی است که مجری پروژهٔ ویکی‌پدیا و شماری دیگر از پروژه‌های ویکی است. او همچنین بنیان‌گذار شرکت انتفاعی ویکیا نیز هست. (این شرکت از لحاظ قانونی ارتباطی با ویکی‌مدیا ندارد). پیش از تأسیس ویکی‌پدیا، در سال ۱۹۹۶ همراه با دو نفر دیگر «بومیس» را بنیان نهاد

که یک پایگاه اینترنتی تفریحی و دارای محتوای اروتیک برای مردان بود، و بعدها سرمایهٔ اولیهٔ دائرةالمعارف آزاد نیوپدیا (سال ۲۰۰۰ تا ۲۰۰۳) و جانشین آن، ویکی‌پدیا را توسط آن تأمین کرد. ملیت جیمی ویلز آمریکایی-بریتانیایی است.^[۳] او یک خداناباور است و در مصاحبه‌ای در سال ۲۰۰۷ اظهار داشت که فلسفهٔ شخصی‌اش به شدت ریشه در عقل دارد و گفت: «من یک کافر تمام‌عیارم.»^[۱]

جیمی ویلز در هانتسویل آلاباما به دنیا آمد. پدرش، که هم‌اکنون بازنشسته است، در سنین نوجوانیِ او مدیر یک خواربارفروشی بود.

مادرش دوریس، و مادربزرگش اِرما، یک مدرسهٔ خصوصی با سنّت مدارس یک‌اتاقه را اداره می‌کردند^[۴] که جیمی هم در همان مدرسه تحصیل کرد. ۴ نفر دیگر در مقطع تحصیلی او بودند.^[۴][۵]

ویلز بعد از ۸ کلاس درس خواندن، به مدرسهٔ پیش‌دانشگاهی راندولف که یکی از نخستین پذیرنده‌های آزمایشگاه‌های رایانه‌ای و فناوری‌های دیگر برای استفادهٔ مستقیم دانش‌آموزان بود، رفت. ویلز می‌گوید: «هزینهٔ این مدرسهٔ پیش‌دانشگاهی برای خانواده‌ام زیاد بود، ولی از آنجا که خانواده‌ام اعتقاد زیادی به اهمیت تحصیل داشتند، هزینه را تأمین می‌کردند.»

او مدرک کارشناسی خود را از دانشگاه اوبرن و کارشناسی ارشد خود را از دانشگاه آلاباما گرفت. بعدها او به مطالعهٔ درس‌هایی در زمینهٔ دکترای امور مالی در دانشگاه آلاباما و ایندیانا پرداخت.

در سال ۲۰۰۴، از ویلز نقل شده‌است که در حدود ۵۰۰ هزار دلار برای ایجاد و گرداندن پروژه‌های ویکی‌اش هزینه کرده‌است. در انتهای افزایش سرمایهٔ بنیاد تا فوریهٔ ۲۰۰۵، بنیاد ویکی‌مدیا به‌طور کامل با کمک‌های مالی بدون عوض گردانده می‌شد. ویلز با گذشت زمان هرچه بیشتر درگیر فعالیت‌های تبلیغاتی و صحبت در مورد پروژه‌های بنیاد می‌شد. او برای این هدف سفرهای زیادی برای سمینارهای مختلف و کارهای ویکی‌مدیا (مانند ویکی‌دیدارها و ویکی‌مانیا) با بودجهٔ سفرهای بنیاد (۲۵٬۰۰۰ دلار در سال ۲۰۰۵) انجام داد. او به‌طور مستمر به‌عنوان سخنران در برنامه‌های مختلف حضور داشته‌است.

بعد از شهرت یافتن از طریق ویکی‌پدیا، ویلز پروژهٔ جدیدی را تحت عنوان ویکیا شروع کرد.