Free Republic

A cult leader who bills himself as the reincarnation of Jesus has reportedly been arrested in Russia. Sergei Torop, 59, will face charges for organizing an illegal religion and extorting money from his cult’s members, whom he allegedly emotionally abused, The Guardian reported Tuesday. Russia’s federal security forces conducted a special operation involving helicopters and armed officers to storm the cult in Siberia and arrest Torop, a former traffic cop known to his thousands of followers as Vissarion, and two of his aides.

The man they call Jesus of Siberia came to Britain looking for disciples to follow him up a mountainside. Candida Crewe was intrigued A 41-year-old man dressed in a coarse, red velvet robe with scratchy gold braid takes his seat on a fine purple banquette in the Groucho Club. He wears thick socks under his sandals and carefully combs his long flowing hair before sitting down. He smiles beatifically and speaks very slowly and quietly, in Russian. Even by the Groucho's standards, he looks unusual. Asked how he would like to be addressed, he insists, calmly, that he doesn't mind....