Members of the doomsday cult that was holed up in the cave in Penza oblast
Moscow, 16 May 2008 (Interfax):
Sources in the Moscow Patriarchate hope that the Penza hermits, who on Friday left their cave and returned to the outside world, shall think over what happened and, as a result, return to the bosom of Orthodoxy. “Surely, we are glad that those who voluntarily closed themselves up in a cave now return to normal human life. One would hope that this experience would prove to them that salvation is only found in the inner podvigi (an almost-untranslatable Russian word, the closest is “struggles” or “exploits”: editor’s note) that we perform in the place where the Lord has placed us”, Fr Georgy Ryabykh, secretary of press affairs of the MP Department for External Church Relations, said to Interfax-Religion on Friday.
In the view of Fr Georgy, the whole story of the Penza hermits reminds everyone in Russian society about the requirement of having “a serious approach to the spiritual life”, and of the necessity “to turn to those time-tested models of spirituality found in the traditions of the Orthodox Church. The example of the Penza hermits shows that the neglect of these traditions may lead to very tragic consequences both in regards to one’s ordinary life and in respect to spirituality, as well”. He expressed the hope that “with God’s help, these people may obtain both bodily and spiritual healing, and that He shall give them the strength to return to the standards of Christian life preserved in the Orthodox Church”.
Rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the police had completed their search for the bodies of two hermits who had allegedly passed away during the say in the cave in Penza oblast. “A second corpse was discovered in the cave in close proximity to the place where the hermits hid themselves, and examinations showed that there was a real possibility that there was a threat of ptomaine poisoning. We proposed to the hermits that they leave the cave voluntarily, and the people in the cave agreed. Early in the morning on Friday, they came to the surface”, said Vladimir Provotorov, the chief official of Bekovsk raion.
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24487 (in Russian)
Editor’s Note:
“Going to a Penza cave” has passed into modern Russian as a proverbial saying concerning those who try to flee the real world. We have such in contemporary Orthodoxy in the West. One such example was the sad story from Paris I posted today. Another case is the people in America who put their hope in a dead theologian rather than the Orthodoxy of the ages.
One cannot rail at such sorts, for they are not evil, but, they are, indeed, deluded. The only thing that grounded Orthodox Christians can do is to pray that such people receive light, so that they can return to ordinary Orthodoxy and live. God willing, such shall happen.
