Posted on 05/16/2008 8:01:17 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The last members of a Russian doomsday cult yesterday left the underground cave where they had spent the past six months after the stench of two dead colleagues became too much to stand.
Nine disciples of Pyotr Kuznetzov, a self-styled prophet who predicted the world would come to an end this month, emerged from their manmade cavern in the Penza region, bringing an end to a protracted standoff between the cult and the police.
According to regional officials, one female adherent of the cult died from “severe Lenten fasting” last month, while the other succumbed to cancer. As the corpses began to rot, the smell became so overpowering that the surviving members feared it was toxic and could kill them.
“We could smell the stench through the ventilation shafts,” Vladimir Provotarov, a regional official, was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency Interfax (Pls keep attribution). “As we pulled out the dead bodies, we suggested that the others leave. They agreed.” Last month 21 other disciples left the cave after melting snow caused a partial collapse of its roof.
Mr Kuznetzov, a former engineer, had not joined his followers underground.
He has been committed to a psychiatric hospital and reportedly attempted suicide last month by hitting himself on the head with a log after the first of his adherents emerged above ground. According to other reports, he was attacked by female cult members who hit him with a log.
Mr Kuznetzov had instructed his disciples to hid underground because a wave of cannibalism and a desire to have frequent sex was going to engulf mankind in the last few months before the apocalypse.
At least 35 followers built the underground cave under a tree and took half a tonne of honey to sustain them while they waited.
Police who tried to evict them were greeted with gunshots and threats from cult members that they would blow themselves up with explosives.
Did Hale-Bopp come by again?
If only the Democrats could be convinced. Change we can believe in.
Russian doomsday cult emerge from underground cave.
It's not the end of the month yet. Get back in there!
I think there is a prophesy about raccoons walking on 2 legs...its not a good sign
This is actually someone’s photo of a raccoon entering their home.
But I did have a friend who freaked out when seeing it. :)
when I was a kid I had 2 raccoons as pets....They are wonderful until they get old and mean (like most of us)
LOLOL!! It's amazing we made it through Catholic school!
You are funny!
I also liked this answer:
Why are humans the only mammals to walk on two legs?
Assumptions: Those who could see farther were more likely to acquire food, thus, standing up increased the human’s range of hunting and gathering - to which we are the undisputed world champions of hunting/gathering.
Also, by standing up, in increases the body size, making for a more dominating pose. This behavior also reveals the genetalia, so mating may have been a factor in our erectness.
Also, being a naturally warlike species, we may have actively exterminated any other species which we considered a threat that also walked on two legs, such as Neanderthals.
Our early ancestors may have hunted from the protection of a forest, requiring frequent vertical reaching.
And there are many mammals that can stand or walk on two legs - bears, mice, gophers, raccoons, squirrels, dogs . . .
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/17318
Raccoon pic would be funny if someone photo shopped a knife in its hand. Ha!
Actually, even when you were in school, you Westerners were wusses when it came to fasting. In the East, we lay off anything from any creature with a back bone, not only not meat, no fish, no eggs, no dairy products, and no (olive) oil, wine or strong drink either (except on weekends). We look forward to fish on Annunciation Day and Palm Sunday. The strictly observant eat only one meal per day on weekdays.
But no one ever died of observing even the strictest vesion of the canonical rule. (Including no oil, period, on weekdays.)
Insisting on a stricter discipline than what the Church provides has always been viewed as a warning of heresy, or at least of a spiritually unhealthy self-will.
Someone should light a candle for the poor woman.
(To be fair, a long, long time ago, the West was stricter than the East about fasting: you had the same Lenten rule and lightened it only on Sundays, not Saturdays and Sundays as we always have in the East. I’m not sure whether it was shortly before or shortly after the schism that you put fish, milk and eggs back on the Lenten menu.)
I agree. I never suffered a bit. The idea of fasting for American Catholics during Lent was (is) giving up a favorite food or treat (McDonald's in the 1970's, Margaritas in 2008.)
Hardly the definition of "fasting."
“Russian doomsday cult emerge from underground cave”
After learning that John McCain was the Republican nominee, all of of them crawled back in.
truemiester - raccoon with a knife - great imagination and wit - still laughing
Its hard to find a single paragraph in this article that stands out as the most absurd one. Everything in here is off the charts.
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