"There is documentary proof of exorbitant sums spent to help such cults as they are penetrating Russia, and promote whatever home-grown cults who aim to undermine Eastern Christianity as spiritual pillar of the Russian nation," Dr. Kondratyev said to a news conference. It gathered in Moscow today to discuss rehabilitating exotic cult victims.
Geopolitical reasons are the strongest for a current advance of religious sectarianism in Russia, as the expert sees it. "We clearly see the appearance of those cults in Russia as part and parcel of geopolitical efforts our alleged friends are making."
There are more than a thousand of new cults in Russia now. Some of them are especially dangerous for psychological pressure they use on converts. This pressure is hard enough to cause mental disorders, warned the psychiatrist.
"Harsh psychological indoctrination is on to warp the human mind, so that converts develop complete dependence on their sect, and feel utterly helpless outside the community," pointed out Dr. Kondratyev.
Father Oleg Stenyaev, parish priest of the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, also addressed the conference as head of a Moscow-based Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Non-Established Religions.
"Characteristically, as far as I know, the West supports only such religious movements non-established in Russia as have an established status in America and are on the World Council of Churches-as, let say, Baptists. The West would not be funding Jehova's Witnesses or Krishnaites," remarked Father Oleg.
No religion can compete Oriental syncretic cults for their impact on the personality, he emphasised.
The state, the Church and science ought to join hands for help to the victims of exotic cults, occult movements, magic pursuits and mass hypnotic sessions, called the priest.
Sectarian rehabilitation ought not to be limited to the Church and the welfare-it must involve medical and legal assistance. A press outlet is necessary to keep the public informed about everything that pertains to the new-fangled religious cults in Russia.
"Public interest in such cults is subsiding in this country, so we no longer need to prevent them spreading. Now is high time to cure their victims," said Father Oleg.
Jews and Muslims have joined Christians on the cause, he added.
"Totalitarian religious cults certainly traumatise the human psyche," stressed Alexei Skrypnikov, founding director of a psychological criminological board for detecting grave crimes at the All-Russia Research Institute under the federal Interior Ministry. He insistently called all social forces for cemented efforts to rehabilitate cult victims.
