The «God’s Family» church: a case of local messianism

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate the role and features of a local religious prophecy in the Kama region of Russia. This prophecy initiated a new religious community «God’s Family» that is characterised by the following important features. There is a prophet, Vladimir Beloded, who had a revelation and subsequently concentrated the spiritual life of his followers and their families around himself. He was announced as Spiritual Father and latterly as Heavenly Father. Messianic idea determined the content of sacred books and the structure of the community. Religious activity was centred around a special education that included rituals, meditation and seminars. The church «God’s Family» consisted of a combination of two types of religious community. This church had a religious hierarchy and strong ritual system, much as the traditional Christian church does, at the same time recognising reincarnation, meditation and vision. Half of the believers’ activities were connected with rituals (baptism, marriage, communion) while the other half was based on automatic writing, self-contemplation and transformation of the soul, in a way similar to traditional mystical groups. This church is not popular in the Kama region and has no offshoots in other parts of Russia, and the author proposes three reasons for this. The evolution of religious doctrine inspired the creation of a mythological consciousness and the appearance of narrow-minded believers.