Latvian woman Alise Vaivare recalls childhood in Vissarion's sect in Siberia

A Latvian woman, Alise Vaivare, has shared childhood memories tied to her life in Siberia, where she ended up at just three years old. Her mother, Daiga, brought her there after deciding to join thousands of followers serving Vissarion, a man who had proclaimed himself to be the reincarnation of Christ.

Alise recalls one of her earliest vivid memories from that time — bitter cold that made her breath visible in the air, and a strand of hair that had escaped her hat, turned completely white from frost. Snow surrounded her everywhere: a narrow path flanked on both sides by walls of snow taller than a child's eye level. Along this path, the young girl followed her mother, who was going to view a house on a riverbank. That very house became the family's home for the following ten years.

The Vissarion community

Vissarion's followers numbered several thousand people from various countries, and among them were also several dozen believers who came from Latvia. The community formed in Siberia, where followers relocated to live and serve their spiritual leader.

Alise's account stands as one of the personal testimonies of how families with young children chose to leave their established lives in Latvia and travel to a remote region of Siberia to become part of a religious community centered on a self-proclaimed spiritual leader.