Many of these new Jesus figures would often start a sect, enjoy a large followership, and after a while, fizzle away. However, one such individual has been convincing in the past few decades. Could he be that Christ?

Interestingly, the same Messiah of Christianity that promised a second advent to Earth equally forewarned his disciples. In another portion of the Bible, he warned them of false prophets and deceivers who would come in his name. 

However, in the cold frontiers of Siberia, a Russian man has successfully convinced his thousands of followers that he is Jesus. His influence in that circle is so strong that the entire sect started a commune of their own.

The name ‘Vissarion’ is common in Russia and of Greek origin, meaning “wooded valley.” However, Torop’s official website states that the name Vissarion means ‘he who gives new life.’

He, however, claimed to have had an otherworldly experience that marked his rebirth as Christ. Though born in January 1961, Torop didn’t have his awakening until August 1990. It was after this period that he became inspired to start a fellowship of like-minds called The Church of the Last Testament.

So, since Vissarion had been acclaimed to be Jesus, journalists have seized every opportunity for an interview to ask him if he really is that same Jesus. Torop, unlike the Biblical Jesus, states that he is the ‘Word of God’ sent by the supreme being, but not God himself.

To give substance to his ministry, Torop started a church in 1991 and made Krasnoyarsk the headquarters. In the over 30 years of its existence, the ‘Community of Unified Faith’ or ‘Church of the Last Testament’ has enjoyed a followership of over 4,000 in Siberia alone.

In fact, the teachings of Vissarion borrow from Buddhism, Orthodox Christianity, and a fair share of Stoicism. Ever since Vissarion’s church gained traction, there has been a compilation of his talks and sermons. It has been published in a volume called The Last Testament.

So, when the Siberian Jesus laid down certain rules of conduct for his followers, they obediently followed. For example, members of the sect are not permitted to dorn expensive wear, they are to steer clear of alcohol and debauchery, and they maintain a strictly vegetarian diet.

How the provisions are sourced and allotted, how the commonwealth is used, and other details about the running of the commune were shrouded in secrecy. Vissarion had a team of right-hand men who assisted him in the sect’s administration.

For example, Vissarion scrapped Christmas and replaced it with the anniversary of his first sermon (August 18). The sect also created a new calendar that started on Vissarion’s birth anniversary in 1961.

In a 2017 interview granted by Vissarion, he called this band of young girls under his tutelage ‘noble maidens.’ In effect, women of the sect are expected to act shamefacedly and depend on the men.

Going by the taught virtues of the ‘noble women,’ female members of the sect are not allowed to exert themselves in laborious or tasking activities. Consequently, their needs are catered for by the men.

A while after Vissarion’s spiritual epiphany, he put away his first wife. As a follow-up, he married a 19-year-old girl, who happened to have been a noble maiden in his sect since age 7.

It turned out that allegations had been earlier filed against Torop, and the Vissarion was arrested in September 2020. Elite members of the Russian armed forces dropped into the remote town of Minusinsk and arrested Sergei Torop in an air raid.

During the arrest, members of Vissarion’s sect were told to stay away. It was later reported in the news that two other leaders of the commune were taken in on the same day as Torop.

However, the charges laid against him involved manipulation of his followers emotionally and financially, and two individuals claimed to have experienced personal loss due to their affiliation with Vissarion’s sect.

Consequently, some medical conditions of members deteriorated so much that they ended up dying. However, the commune’s leadership always has a way of convincing members that such deaths were God’s will.

Since his arrest in September 2020, Vissarion has been unable to access any form of bail privileges. Consequently, he has been behind bars for the past three years. One would think the sect would break into fragments after their leader’s imprisonment, but no.

According to Vissarion’s followers, their leader is only experiencing similar persecution as the first Jesus did.

So, with the COVID-19 pandemic and Vissarion’s arrest and imprisonment, his followers believe that those events serve as signs of the apocalypse. Contrary to predictions that the sect would disperse after Vissarion’s arrest, a sizable population still remains, with their convictions strong as ever.

However, the website has taken on a new purpose since its leader’s absence. The remaining members of the church keep attracting traffic to the website by hosting Vissarion’s messages there.

However, in addition to those, followers of the sect interviewed by journalists have claimed that they have a daily meditative ritual. During the daily ceremony, they try to connect with Vissarion and hear from him.

It is essentially a message offering solace and encouragement to members of the Church of the Last Testament around the world. They are obviously in earnest anticipation of Vissarion’s release and hope his name will be cleared soon.

Journalists, tourists, and visitors have been paying more visits to the sect’s commune in the remote region of Minusinsk, Siberia. They have found them in abiding resolve to wait for Vissarion’s return.