• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
    • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / From the World / News Global

Restoration Christian Center: Russia Discovers Another Ukrainian “Cult” Conspiracy

12/21/2022Massimo Introvigne |

A slander campaign targets the Russian branch of the International Restoration Church, whose founder Evgenyi Peresvetov was expelled from Russia in 2018.

by Massimo Introvigne

A service in the Restoration Christian Center in Moscow. From Facebook.
A service in the Restoration Christian Center in Moscow. From Facebook.

Russian anti-cultists have discovered yet another “cult” infiltrated by Ukraine into Russia for sinister purposes. In fact, their hostility against the Restoration Christian Center, the Russian branch of the International Restoration Church (IRC) headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, started long ago. Now, however, the website of Russian anticultist-in-chief Alexander Dvorkin has published an article accusing the founder of the IRC, Evgenyi Peresvetov, of having been infiltrated into Russia by the Ukrainian Secret Services. The Ukrainian branch of the church is also accused of having supported the local anti-Russian politician Viktor Yushchenko.

In fact, Peresvetov and his main co-worker Viktor Romanov are Ukrainians who came to Moscow in 2008, hoping to export there the explosive growth of new Pentecostal churches that Ukraine was experimenting at that time. They were successful, establishing churches in different Russian cities supplemented by shelters for women and children victims of domestic violence, and rehabilitation centers for drug and alcohol addicts. From Russia, the movement expanded to several other countries. 

Evgenyi Peresvetov. From Telegram. 
Evgenyi Peresvetov. From Telegram. 

Devotees believe that they attracted the attention of the FSB and the anti-cultists for the usual capital sin that causes churches to be labeled as “cults” (sekty) in Russia. They converted a certain number of Russian Orthodox believers. As a result, opposition grew. In 2017, the rehabilitation centers were raided, with the FSB claiming that drug addicts had been “kidnapped” and brought there, brainwashed, and kept in a condition of “slavery.” 

The independent newspaper “Novaya Gazeta,” whose editor was a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 and whose license was revoked in 2022 for its critical coverage of the war in Ukraine, investigated the matter . It concluded that the accusations had been fabricated as in other cases of groups accused of being “cults.” The FSB’s real aim was to harass a group the Russian Orthodox Church regarded as “stealing its sheep.”

The newspaper reported that Peresvetov had been stopped and prosecuted twice by the police for having a dirty car, with the consequence that its license plate was difficult to read. The real reason was that a foreign citizen such as Peresvetov could be legally expelled from Russia after two administrative violations. This happened in March 2018, and the FSB added to the violations concerning his car that Peresvetov represented “a threat to the defense capacity of Russia.” Peresvetov is now prevented from re-entering Russia for 25 years. In retrospect, his exile to United States and the foundation in 2020 of the church in Bellevue was a blessing in disguise for Peresvetov, as it powerfully contributed to the emergence of IRC as an international phenomenon.

Female members of the Restoration Christian Centre. From Facebook.
Female members of the Restoration Christian Centre. From Facebook.

While some believers involved in the shelter operation were arrested and prosecuted, the Restoration Christian Center continues to be active and hold services in Moscow and other Russian cities, under the leadership of Viktor Romanov and other pastors.

In the present context, the accusation of being part of a Ukrainian plot to infiltrate “cults” into Russia is, however, very dangerous, and may prepare further actions aimed at banning the IRC-affiliated churches altogether in the territory of the Russian Federation.

Tagged With: Anti-Cult, Russia, Ukraine

Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne

Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio.  From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.

www.cesnur.org/

Related articles

  • Liquidating the SOVA Center: The Official End of Religious Freedom in Russia

    Liquidating the SOVA Center: The Official End of Religious Freedom in Russia

  • Another Scandal: France’s Cultural (and Anti-Cult) Diplomacy Is Financed by the Chinese Communist Party

    Another Scandal: France’s Cultural (and Anti-Cult) Diplomacy Is Financed by the Chinese Communist Party

  • The U.S. Department of State 2023 Religious Freedom Report: Excellent on Enemies, Soft on Allies

    The U.S. Department of State 2023 Religious Freedom Report: Excellent on Enemies, Soft on Allies

  • Russia: Anti-Cultists Laughably Accuse Ukraine of Operating “Telephone Cults”

    Russia: Anti-Cultists Laughably Accuse Ukraine of Operating “Telephone Cults”

Keep Reading

  • Trial for the Dissolution of the FECRIS: The Anti-Cultists Lose the First Round
    Trial for the Dissolution of the FECRIS: The Anti-Cultists Lose the First Round

    On May 15, the Court of Marseille rejected FECRIS’s motion to dismiss, and sentenced the anti-cult organization to pay the corresponding expenses.

  • Russia: Lunatic Theory that Yellowstone Volcano Caused the War in Ukraine Gains Momentum
    Russia: Lunatic Theory that Yellowstone Volcano Caused the War in Ukraine Gains Momentum

    Security Council head Patrushev’s claim that Americans will need to resettle in Ukraine and Russia after the volcano erupts is both officially promoted—and ridiculed.

  • Detroit: Anti-Cult Pro-Russia-and-China Activist Arrested After She Assaulted a Scientology Church and a Synagogue
    Detroit: Anti-Cult Pro-Russia-and-China Activist Arrested After She Assaulted a Scientology Church and a Synagogue

    The interesting story of Randi Nord opens a window on the American and international ramifications of bigotry.

  • Anthroposophy: French State Television Censored for Its Anti-Cult Bias
    Anthroposophy: French State Television Censored for Its Anti-Cult Bias

    The French Council of Journalistic Ethic and Mediation found that France 2 relied excessively on apostate ex-members, and presented a distorted view of Steiner schools.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • There Are Christian Uyghurs, Too: New Organization Launched in London by Ruth Ingram
  • The Last Words of a Uyghur Father: A Son’s Memory by Abdurehim Gheni Uyghur
  • Xi Jinping: Beijing’ National Art Museum Is Not Socialist Enough by Hu Zimo
  • Occupied Ukraine: Anti-Cult “Experts” Target Moscow Patriarchate Dissident Priest by Massimo Introvigne
  • Chinese Agents Tried to Bribe U.S. Tax Officer in Anti-Falun-Gong Plot by Massimo Introvigne
  • Russia: Lunatic Theory that Yellowstone Volcano Caused the War in Ukraine Gains Momentum by Massimo Introvigne
  • Vandalism Against Catholic Churches on the Rise in Bavaria by PierLuigi Zoccatelli

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY