Quote: Russian Doomsday cult leave cave
The last nine surviving members of a Russian doomsday cult have abandoned the cave they had been living in since October, the regional prosecutor's office said.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted regional official Vladimir Provotorov as saying Friday's departure was preceded by the removal of two decomposing female corpses during the night.
Provotorov said: "The cult members themselves say that one of the women died from 'severe Lenten fasting', while the other died of an illness. This will all need to be sorted out."
The 35 members of a devout splinter group of the Russian Orthodox Church had holed themselves up in the cave in the Penza region of central Russia last year to await the end of the world.
Pavel Kuznetsov, their leader, predicted the apocalypse for April or May this year, but would not join them underground, saying God had different tasks for him.
He reportedly told followers that in the afterlife, they would be judging whether others deserved heaven or hell.
Followers were not allowed to watch television, listen to the radio or handle money, Russian media reported.
The elaborate structure included sleeping rooms, a makeshift kitchen and religious altars.
In March, 24 members left the cave after rainwater began to erode the earth in and around the gully where the sect followers had settled, forcing most of them to leave the hideout.
On hearing of their departure Kuznetsov attempted suicide and was later hospitalised.
Russian authorities had kept watch over the dugout since November, turning the nearby village of Nikolskoe into an operations centre.
Kuznetsov has been charged with setting up a religious organisation associated with violence.
| http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/19E21FF4-375A-4F69-8C0D-A388FBF12A64.htm
Jim Jones, Heaven's Gate and now these whackos. After a while you'd think these religious cults would get tired of being wrong...and dead. But we have to give them credit for perseverance. |