After losing his job as a traffic officer in 1990, Sergei Torop, 64, claimed to have been reborn as Vissarion and went on to ...

Sergei Torop, a Russian sect leader claiming to be Jesus reincarnated, received a 12-year prison sentence for harming followers' health and finances. Known as 'Vissarion,' he founded a religious sect ...

Sergei Torop, a former traffic policeman known to his followers as 'Vissarion', set up the Church of the Last Testament in a ...

Sergei Torop, a former traffic officer who calls himself “Vissarion,” founded the Church of the Last Testament in 1991 after what he described as a divine revelation. He attracted thousands of ...

Russian authorities arrested cult leader Vissarion, who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and two of his aides, on accusations of "causing grievous bodily harm to two or more persons ...

Vissarion came to prominence in 1990 after the fall of the Soviet Union and established a community in Tiberkul, which has been likened to a cult. He apparently has two wives, and six children ...

Vissarion and his followers believe the end of the world is coming and their Siberian community is the ark of salvation. Such sects have proliferated in Russia’s wilderness.

Vissarion, who normally dons a long white cloak and sports long hair and a beard, lives with his followers in Petropavlovka, or what he calls his “Siberian utopia,” The Guardian reported.

Vissarion's followers are strict vegetarians and they don't smoke or drink. The houses and churches are built from wood by hand and most of the energy comes from windmills and solar panels.

"Vissarion the Teacher," or "Jesus of Siberia," Russian ex-traffic cop Sergei Torop meets followers in the remote village of Petropavlovka, in Russia's Siberia region, August 18, 2009.