An interesting article about a group I never heard about before, the Orthodox Church of the Sovereign Mother of God, led by Blessed Father John.
The group is Russian, but John currently lives in Spain and his associates are trying to spread the faith internationally. The belief system of the OCSMG seems to be both eclectic and ever-changing, with John playing the role of a charismatic prophet who constantly recieves "new revelation" from various supernatural sources.
During one period, John´s group emphasized the Virgin Mary, had "Catholic" tendencies and tried to unite various fringe Catholic movements. Later, the Church became more "properly" Orthodox, claiming a kind of continuity with the True Orthodox Church, an underground organization under Soviet Communism. This seems to have happened in response to widespread criticism and opposition from Orthodox believers and Russian nationalists. When John´s rapprochement with the Russian authorities failed under Putin, he left the country and changed his message once again, now in a somewhat unexpected direction.
Currently, the OCSMG are a kind of Neo-Cathars and claim to be in contact with Cathar Masters speaking from a heavenly plane. John has apparently administered Cathar sacraments at Montségur and founded a "historical research society" which is presumably just a front for OCSMG.
Interestingly, Father John´s Church is anti-Communist and strongly pro-Yeltsin, which may explain their conflict with Putin´s new administration. That, and a general tendency of the Russian Orthodox Church to consider itself the only true religion of all the Russias...
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