Penza sect members guided from abroad - Russian bishop

11 April 2008, 10:47

Penza, April 11, Interfax - A senior Russian Orthodox bishop expressed confidence that the self-isolation of religious fanatics in a cave in a Russian village where they have been awaiting the end of the world for months had been part of a foreign-orchestrated conspiracy against Russia and its Church.

Thirty-five followers of a sect locked themselves up in a cave in Nikolskoye village, Penza region, in November 2007.

Seven of them came out voluntarily on March 28 after talks with the authorities. Another 14 left the cave on April 1 after the ceilings in two of the underground rooms caved in, and three more resurfaced on April 2.

There remain 11 people in the cave.

One of the men who have come out said two women have died inside the cave but his statement has not been confirmed officially.

"They are misled people, and the main reason for their conduct is overall post-Soviet religious illiteracy. I can sense and I believe that it is a planned action not only against the Russian Orthodox Church but also against the country," Filaret, archbishop of Penza and Kuznetsk, told Interfax.

Asked whom he suspected of hatching the supposed plot, Filaret said: "It may be some foreign organizations. After all, they now take the appearance of nongovernmental organizations, nonprofit organizations, philanthropic societies - they may be masterminding it. I don't believe that [Pyotr] Kuznetsov [leader of the recluses] could have written those books by himself."

"Work is in progress to undermine Orthodox life from within," the bishop said. "What pseudo-religious organizations are bringing into Russia these days is worse than drugs because it deforms people from within."

"On the basis of reports from clergy, I wouldn't call them followers of a sect," Filaret said.

And "conspiracy is not my term" either, he said. "Rather it is a test that the country has been put to."

A source in law enforcement services told Interfax that detectives were checking a report that, before the 35 sect followers shut themselves off in their cave, tens of thousands of dollars was transferred from abroad to a bank account owned by a relative of Kuznetsov who lives in the same locality.

Interfax has been unable to obtain official confirmation of the source's claims.

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