Sorry, Armageddon's off —again

[Patrick Degan]

Linky

Members of Russian cult trickle out of cave
21 of original 35 people waiting for the end of the world have given up

MOSCOW - Fourteen more members of a Russian cult that has been holed up in a cave for months awaiting the end of the world emerged Tuesday after melting snows caused more of their hillside cave to collapse, officials said.

The group, which included two children aged 8 and 14, were in satisfactory condition, regional emergency spokesman Dmitry Yeskin told The Associated Press. They were moved to a nearby house where the group's leader, self-declared prophet Pyotr Kuznetsov, has been living.

Yeskin said negotiators were trying to persuade the remaining 14 to come out of the underground hillside shelter, which was built in the Penza region, about 400 miles southeast of Moscow, last fall.

Vice Governor Oleg Melnichenko said more of the cave had collapsed around dawn Tuesday, and cult members told emergency officials that they had had a divine vision overnight that instructed them to leave.

On Friday, seven other cult members emerged as melting spring snows caused part of the shelter to cave in, sparking fears that the entire structure could collapse.

The group will remain in a so-called prayer house in the nearby village of Nikolskoye until Orthodox Easter, which is April 27, Melnichenko said.

Waiting for the end of the world?
A total of 35 people entered the cave in early November to await the end of the world, which they said would happen in May. They told authorities that they would detonate gas canisters if police tried to remove them by force.

Yeskin said the group that came out Tuesday handed over three rifles.

Authorities have repeatedly enlisted the help of priests from the Orthodox Church in an effort to persuade the group to leave, communicating mainly through a small chimney pipe that poked up through the snowy hillside.

Some of the cultists had indicated last week they might leave the cave on Orthodox Easter.

Kuznetsov has been charged with setting up a religious organization associated with violence and officials later said they had seized literature that included what appeared to be extremist rhetoric. He had been confined to a psychiatric hospital since last November, but was brought Nikolskoye late last month to help in negotiations.

An engineer from a devout family, Kuznetsov, who goes by the title of Father Pyotr, declared himself a prophet several years ago. He left his family and established the True Russian Orthodox Church and recruited followers in Russia and Belarus.

His followers were not allowed to watch television, listen to the radio or handle money, Russian media have reported.


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Posted without comment.

[Admiral Valdemar]

They should wait a couple of years.

[K. A. Pital]

Yeah, those assholes were national comedy on TV for a week or so.

I say prison sentences for them would be just fine, just as for the head of their church.

I'm glad no one died -they spend a lot of time in a cave without basic sanitation or medicines and communal services...

[cosmicalstorm]

I once read a book about failed doomsday predictions, there was some funny shit in there, in Germany back in the 1500's (or something, im not sure about the exact time) some crazy preacher managed to convince pretty much everyone that the great flood was due any week, countless people sold or gave away everything they owned and spent their days praying for salvation. On the day that the great flood was scheduled to take place massive rainclouds actually appeared in the sky, people ran until they fell down dead, many were killed in fights over the best spots on the highest roofs and in the tallest trees. Of course no great flood ever arrived and I imagine the next day must have been pretty embarresing

[White Haven]

So...if the world is ending...umm...what's a cave got to do with it now? I can see thinking the world's going to end. I don't, but what the heck. What's the deal, do they think the world is going to end in such a fashion that people in nuclear bunkers die but people in small caves packed with explosives will survive? I'm not making the connection here.

[K. A. Pital]

What's the deal, do they think the world is going to end in such a fashion that people in nuclear bunkers die but people in small caves packed with explosives will survive?

They thought that only true believers isolated from the "rotten cilvization" will survive.

[Sidewinder]

If you're going to wait out the end of the world, shouldn't you loosen your wallet and build a fallout shelter packed with food, medicines, ammo, and anything else you'd need in a doomsday scenario? It's not like being broke is going to be a problem if the world does end.

Vice Governor Oleg Melnichenko said more of the cave had collapsed around dawn Tuesday, and cult members told emergency officials that they had had a divine vision overnight that instructed them to leave.

Wow, God says, "Duh!" to his followers. Now if only those jackass Republicans would have a divine vision overnight that instructed them to withdraw US forces from motherfucking Iraq.

What's the deal, do they think the world is going to end in such a fashion that people in nuclear bunkers die but people in small caves packed with explosives will survive?

They thought that only true believers isolated from the "rotten cilvization" will survive.

So... no modern medicines, no refrigerator for preserving food or other modern technology, no proper fallout shelter or other modern architecture. These people are just begging to win a Darwin Award, aren't they?

[Oskuro]

If there isn't any, they probably want to start a new group category within the Darwin Awards.

[Zixinus]

The fact that there were children dragged along the whole affair makes it sad. This must be quite fucked up for them.

[K. A. Pital]

The fanatically religious usually have no qualms about doing shit to children. That's the sad part indeed.