Nicolai Levashov
Encyclopedia
Nicolai or Nikolai Levashov is a Russia
n faith healer
who has written several books on his views on the universe, Slavic history, origin of mankind on Earth, etc. In 1991-2005 he was known in the USA due to several causes célèbres related to his patients. He is a member of several non-recognized academies. One of his books is classified as antisemitic and extreme
and banned in Russia. He is a leader of a public organisation "Renaissance. The Golden Age" which is considered a destructive cult
by the Russian Orthodox Church
.
. After his alleged graduation from the department of theoretical radiophysics, University of Kharkiv, he spent a couple of years in the Soviet Army
.
In the end of 1980s Levashov started his public activities. According to his autobiography "The mirror of my soul" (chapter 14), by the summer of 1988 he had being practising illegal healing. Being married for the second time with a psychic
Mzia, he assisted in her stage performances of mentalism
and hypnosis
. With Allan Chumak
and other healers, Levashov was trying to establish a state-run Foundation of Alternative Medicine asking the Soviet Ministry of Navy for support.
At the same time Levashov propagated his ideas in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Scott Shane, an American journalist of The Baltimore Sun
in Russia, writes that Levashov claimed he could speak with dolphins, clean polluted city air by his mental power, heal by phone, see internal organs through the skin etc. Shane met Levashov at a briefing in the Ministry which concerned the Angolan Civil War
, although "Nikolai Levashov modestly explained that he knew nothing about international relations". Scott Shane believes that the proliferation of pseudiscientists such as Chumak and Levashov was a negative underside of the relaxation of the censorship in the Soviet Union
.
In July 1990 Soviet Central Television
broadcast a film about the Levashov couple. It was based on allegations of Mzia and Nicolai and on so-called trial involved 4 journalists. The trial was carried out in the Institute of Human Brain, a legitimate scientific organization, but controversial for its interest in extrasensory perception (the institute was criticized after its approval of the Bronnikov method, rus.). Among the 4 people under test, M. Dekhta was a friend of Levashov, and Ruben Isahakyan was another healer who later founded a California
n company of alternative medicine
Altimed.
The story of Levashovs was published in a magazine Television and Radio as well.
By the time of broadcasting, Nicolai and Mzia were already divorced. In 1990—1991 Levashov performed on tour in Russian cities, practising faith healing.
for 15 years.
Nicolai started his healing practice. At first patients refused to pay him, saying that his healing did not work. Later he started private practice in the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (which consisted of 2 employees in 3 rooms). He made acquaintance with Armenian family of Soviet descent Orbelians. George Orbelian and his wife Marcia Paulsen-Orbelian supported Levashov, they spoke about him on the local TV and translated his books from Russian into English. Levashov was broadcast as well, for example, on Russian Voice Radio (San-Francisco).
Levashov is mentioned in books and articles by astrologer
Jeanne Avery, "healer" Robert Ginsburg, reichian
therapist Richard Blasband and his clinics of alternative medicine
Center For Functional Research, and "healer" Todd Telford. Barbara Koopman (M.D., Ph.D. in geriatrics
), who studies mental healing phenomenon, says that Levashov considers that understanding the anisotropy of the universe
is necessary to orchestrate the creation or dissolution of matter for healing purposes.
Scientific skeptics have written about Levashov and his healing practice. Michael Shermer
published an article in Skeptic
saying that B. Koopman trusted Levashov because he allegedly cured her friend, the famous actress Susan Strasberg
who had cancer
. Nonetheless in January 1999 Strasberg died of cancer.
Another case is that of Elisabeth Targ
's death. A well-known psychologist who believed in psychics, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme
in her 40; radiation therapy
was prescribed. Targ consulted practitioners of alternative medicine
including Levashov. As Po Bronson
writes, “her bedroom turned into a circus. Healers from everywhere showed up… There was a Lakota sun dancer who burned sage; Nicolai Levashov, a Russian psychic who waved his hands; an acupuncturist with rare Chinese herbs; an energy worker who used methods of the Miwok peoples”. Levashov claimed he cured the cancer and persuaded Targ to stop radiation therapy. She became worse, but Levashov insisted it was not the cancer but some nectoric tissues
. In 3 weeks Targ died from glioblastoma. This story was published in Wired
and was used in an article of Vic Stenger
for the Skeptical Briefs.
Yet another case, which drew a wide response, was that of 13-year-old Isabelle Prichard, who in 2007 also had glioblastoma multiforme
. After several healing sessions (some of them conducted by phone) Levashov stated he had stopped the cancer, and persuaded Prichard's parents to reject an operation, against the advice of doctors. The Oregon Department of Human Services
said that the parents had the right to refuse treatment for religious reasons and blamed by Steven Novella
. There was a temporary remission which led Barbara Koopman to write articles praising the "miraculous healing", and CBS
broadcast an episode in Unsolved Mysteries
The decision of parents was criticized in The Skeptic's Dictionary and in a book of T. Riniolo.
, TV-3, Russia 1 and others. Usually Levashov promotes his claims about his enormous abilities. One of his most common claims is that the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer
heat waves were the result of a US "Climate Change Weapon", and he said he saved Russia from that weapon. Levashov is a supporter of the HAARP conspiracy theory. He supports the authenticity of the Book of Veles
, the extraterrestrial colonization of Earth, a pseudohistorical
theory close to the New Chronology
(although Levashov does not mention Anatoly Fomenko), and the existence of the "vanished continent" of Atlantis
. Some of his statements are similar to ideas from the Slavic-Arian Vedas (a hoax book of the Slavic Neopaganism
). He opposes vaccination
and genetically modified foods
. Levashov is an atheist, and aggressively objects to Christianity
, although his views are far from materialism
.
Some television hosts and newspapers present Levashov as a professional physicist or meteorologist while others criticize him and call him a "pseudoscientist".
Levashov has written some half dozen books available in print and online; 50,000 copies have been printed. One of the books, the antisemitic "Russian History Viewed through Distorted Mirrors", was prohibited from being published or distributed in Russia by the Court of Kaluga Region due to its extremism
.
Nicolai Levashov continues healing practice and carries out public performances of parapsychology
. Well-known Russian illusionist Yuri Gorny (who is a devoted skeptic now and who was a psychic in perestroika
) blames Levashov for picking only the most suggestible people from the audience for his psychic tricks.
In May 2007 Levashov founded a public organization "Renaissance. The Golden Age" which is considered a destructive cult
by the Russian Orthodox Church
. The organization has headquarters in Moscow
, 18 branches in Russia, and four branches abroad, in Kiev
, Chişinău
, Minsk
, and Kharkiv
. It is not registered with the Ministry of Justice.
The members of "Renaissance. The Golden Age" disseminate Levashov's statements. They organize rallies supporting Levashov and opposing genetically modified foods and vaccination in many Russian cities, advertise Levashov's books on the Internet and in the press. They conduct seminars in schools and universities popularizing ideas of Levashov and other pseudoscientific theories such as telegony
. In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
they converted a schoolteacher, O. Shepetovskaya, to their organization; Levashov's ideas were then taught at her school #45.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n faith healer
Faith Healer
Faith Healer is a play by Brian Friel about the life of faith healer Francis Hardy as monologued through the shifting memories of Hardy, his wife, Grace, and stage manager, Teddy.-Synopsis:...
who has written several books on his views on the universe, Slavic history, origin of mankind on Earth, etc. In 1991-2005 he was known in the USA due to several causes célèbres related to his patients. He is a member of several non-recognized academies. One of his books is classified as antisemitic and extreme
Extremism
Extremism is any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards...
and banned in Russia. He is a leader of a public organisation "Renaissance. The Golden Age" which is considered a destructive cult
Destructive cult
A destructive cult is a religion or other group which has caused or has a high probability of causing harm to its own members or to others. Some researchers define "harm" in this case with a narrow focus, specifically groups which have deliberately physically injured or killed other individuals,...
by the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
.
USSR
Nicolai Levashov was born in 1961 in KislovodskKislovodsk
Kislovodsk is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, which lies in the North Caucasian region of the country, between the Black and Caspian Seas. The closest airport is located in the city of Mineralnye Vody. Population:...
. After his alleged graduation from the department of theoretical radiophysics, University of Kharkiv, he spent a couple of years in the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
.
In the end of 1980s Levashov started his public activities. According to his autobiography "The mirror of my soul" (chapter 14), by the summer of 1988 he had being practising illegal healing. Being married for the second time with a psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
Mzia, he assisted in her stage performances of mentalism
Mentalism
Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, memory feats and rapid...
and hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
. With Allan Chumak
Allan Chumak
Allan Chumak was a Soviet faith healer at the height of Gorbachev's Perestroika. When he appeared on television, his fans would hold jars of water next to their televisions in the hope that the water would be able to cure disease. At the height of his fame, he had a regular early morning...
and other healers, Levashov was trying to establish a state-run Foundation of Alternative Medicine asking the Soviet Ministry of Navy for support.
At the same time Levashov propagated his ideas in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Scott Shane, an American journalist of The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
in Russia, writes that Levashov claimed he could speak with dolphins, clean polluted city air by his mental power, heal by phone, see internal organs through the skin etc. Shane met Levashov at a briefing in the Ministry which concerned the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...
, although "Nikolai Levashov modestly explained that he knew nothing about international relations". Scott Shane believes that the proliferation of pseudiscientists such as Chumak and Levashov was a negative underside of the relaxation of the censorship in the Soviet Union
Censorship in the Soviet Union
Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced.Censorship was performed in two main directions:*State secrets were handled by Main Administration for Safeguarding State Secrets in the Press was in charge of censoring all publications and broadcasting for state...
.
In July 1990 Soviet Central Television
Soviet Central Television
The Central Television of the USSR , was the state television broadcaster in the Soviet Union....
broadcast a film about the Levashov couple. It was based on allegations of Mzia and Nicolai and on so-called trial involved 4 journalists. The trial was carried out in the Institute of Human Brain, a legitimate scientific organization, but controversial for its interest in extrasensory perception (the institute was criticized after its approval of the Bronnikov method, rus.). Among the 4 people under test, M. Dekhta was a friend of Levashov, and Ruben Isahakyan was another healer who later founded a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
n company of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
Altimed.
The story of Levashovs was published in a magazine Television and Radio as well.
By the time of broadcasting, Nicolai and Mzia were already divorced. In 1990—1991 Levashov performed on tour in Russian cities, practising faith healing.
USA
In 1991 Nicolai Levashov and his third wife Svetlana (née Serëgina or Žymantienė) visited the United States and settled in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for 15 years.
Nicolai started his healing practice. At first patients refused to pay him, saying that his healing did not work. Later he started private practice in the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (which consisted of 2 employees in 3 rooms). He made acquaintance with Armenian family of Soviet descent Orbelians. George Orbelian and his wife Marcia Paulsen-Orbelian supported Levashov, they spoke about him on the local TV and translated his books from Russian into English. Levashov was broadcast as well, for example, on Russian Voice Radio (San-Francisco).
Levashov is mentioned in books and articles by astrologer
Astrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
Jeanne Avery, "healer" Robert Ginsburg, reichian
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry...
therapist Richard Blasband and his clinics of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
Center For Functional Research, and "healer" Todd Telford. Barbara Koopman (M.D., Ph.D. in geriatrics
Geriatrics
Geriatrics is a sub-specialty of internal medicine and family medicine that focuses on health care of elderly people. It aims to promote health by preventing and treating diseases and disabilities in older adults. There is no set age at which patients may be under the care of a geriatrician, or...
), who studies mental healing phenomenon, says that Levashov considers that understanding the anisotropy of the universe
Shape of the Universe
The shape of the universe is a matter of debate in physical cosmology over the local and global geometry of the universe which considers both curvature and topology, though, strictly speaking, it goes beyond both...
is necessary to orchestrate the creation or dissolution of matter for healing purposes.
Scientific skeptics have written about Levashov and his healing practice. Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
published an article in Skeptic
Skeptic (U.S. magazine)
Skeptic is a quarterly science education and science advocacy magazine published internationally by The Skeptics Society, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs...
saying that B. Koopman trusted Levashov because he allegedly cured her friend, the famous actress Susan Strasberg
Susan Strasberg
Susan Elizabeth Strasberg was an American film and stage actress.-Background and career:Strasberg was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio and former actress Paula Strasberg...
who had cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. Nonetheless in January 1999 Strasberg died of cancer.
Another case is that of Elisabeth Targ
Elisabeth Targ
Elisabeth Fischer Targ was a psychiatrist specializing in psychic phenomena and the role of spirituality in health and healing...
's death. A well-known psychologist who believed in psychics, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme
Glioblastoma multiforme
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans, involving glial cells and accounting for 52% of all functional tissue brain tumor cases and 20% of all intracranial tumors. Despite being the most prevalent form of primary brain tumor, GBMs...
in her 40; radiation therapy
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...
was prescribed. Targ consulted practitioners of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
including Levashov. As Po Bronson
Po Bronson
Po Bronson is an American journalist and author who lives in San Francisco, California.-Personal history:Bronson was born in Seattle, Washington. After attending Lakeside School in Seattle, he graduated from Stanford University in 1986 and briefly worked as an assistant bond salesman in San...
writes, “her bedroom turned into a circus. Healers from everywhere showed up… There was a Lakota sun dancer who burned sage; Nicolai Levashov, a Russian psychic who waved his hands; an acupuncturist with rare Chinese herbs; an energy worker who used methods of the Miwok peoples”. Levashov claimed he cured the cancer and persuaded Targ to stop radiation therapy. She became worse, but Levashov insisted it was not the cancer but some nectoric tissues
Necrosis
Necrosis is the premature death of cells in living tissue. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, toxins, or trauma. This is in contrast to apoptosis, which is a naturally occurring cause of cellular death...
. In 3 weeks Targ died from glioblastoma. This story was published in Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
and was used in an article of Vic Stenger
Victor J. Stenger
Victor John Stenger is an American particle physicist, outspoken atheist, and author, now active in philosophy and popular religious skepticism....
for the Skeptical Briefs.
Yet another case, which drew a wide response, was that of 13-year-old Isabelle Prichard, who in 2007 also had glioblastoma multiforme
Glioblastoma multiforme
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans, involving glial cells and accounting for 52% of all functional tissue brain tumor cases and 20% of all intracranial tumors. Despite being the most prevalent form of primary brain tumor, GBMs...
. After several healing sessions (some of them conducted by phone) Levashov stated he had stopped the cancer, and persuaded Prichard's parents to reject an operation, against the advice of doctors. The Oregon Department of Human Services
Oregon Department of Human Services
The Oregon Department of Human Services is the primary health and human services agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The ODHS was established in 1971 as the Oregon Department of Human Resources but renamed in 1999...
said that the parents had the right to refuse treatment for religious reasons and blamed by Steven Novella
Steven Novella
Steven P. Novella is an American clinical neurologist, assistant professor and Director of General Neurology at Yale University School of Medicine...
. There was a temporary remission which led Barbara Koopman to write articles praising the "miraculous healing", and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
broadcast an episode in Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries is an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until 2002, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
The decision of parents was criticized in The Skeptic's Dictionary and in a book of T. Riniolo.
Russia
In 2006 Levashov returned to Russia, where he increased his public activity: he published many books and was invited on TV and radio, including federal ones: REN TV, Channel OneChannel One (Russia)
Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...
, TV-3, Russia 1 and others. Usually Levashov promotes his claims about his enormous abilities. One of his most common claims is that the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer
2010 Northern Hemisphere summer
The 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer included severe heat waves that impacted most of the United States, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, North Africa and the European continent as a whole, along with parts of Canada, Russia, Indochina, South Korea and Japan during May, June, July and August...
heat waves were the result of a US "Climate Change Weapon", and he said he saved Russia from that weapon. Levashov is a supporter of the HAARP conspiracy theory. He supports the authenticity of the Book of Veles
Book of Veles
The Book of Veles is a literary forgery claimed to be a text of ancient Slavic religion and history written on wooden planks.It contains religious passages and accounts of history interspersed with religious...
, the extraterrestrial colonization of Earth, a pseudohistorical
Pseudohistory
Pseudohistory is a pejorative term applied to a type of historical revisionism, often involving sensational claims whose acceptance would require rewriting a significant amount of commonly accepted history, and based on methods that depart from standard historiographical conventions.Cryptohistory...
theory close to the New Chronology
New Chronology (Fomenko)
The New Chronology is a fringe theory in history, which argues that the conventional chronology is fundamentally flawed, that events attributed to antiquity such as the histories of Rome, Greece and Egypt actually occurred during the Middle Ages, more than a thousand years after the time to which...
(although Levashov does not mention Anatoly Fomenko), and the existence of the "vanished continent" of Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
. Some of his statements are similar to ideas from the Slavic-Arian Vedas (a hoax book of the Slavic Neopaganism
Slavic Neopaganism
Slavic Neopaganism is a modern fakeloric, polytheistic, reconstructionistic, and Neopagan religion; its adherents call themselves Rodnovers , and consider themselves to be the legitimate continuation of pre-Christian Slavic religion.- Rebirth of Slavic spirituality :The pre-Christian religions...
). He opposes vaccination
Vaccine controversy
A vaccine controversy is a dispute over the morality, ethics, effectiveness, or safety of vaccinations. Medical and scientific evidence surrounding vaccinations generally demonstrate that the benefits of preventing suffering and death from infectious diseases outweigh rare adverse effects of...
and genetically modified foods
Genetically modified food controversies
The genetically modified foods controversy is a dispute over the relative advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified food crops and other uses of genetically-modified organisms in food production. The dispute involves biotechnology companies, governmental regulators, non-governmental...
. Levashov is an atheist, and aggressively objects to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, although his views are far from materialism
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
.
Some television hosts and newspapers present Levashov as a professional physicist or meteorologist while others criticize him and call him a "pseudoscientist".
Levashov has written some half dozen books available in print and online; 50,000 copies have been printed. One of the books, the antisemitic "Russian History Viewed through Distorted Mirrors", was prohibited from being published or distributed in Russia by the Court of Kaluga Region due to its extremism
Extremism
Extremism is any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards...
.
Nicolai Levashov continues healing practice and carries out public performances of parapsychology
Parapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
. Well-known Russian illusionist Yuri Gorny (who is a devoted skeptic now and who was a psychic in perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
) blames Levashov for picking only the most suggestible people from the audience for his psychic tricks.
In May 2007 Levashov founded a public organization "Renaissance. The Golden Age" which is considered a destructive cult
Destructive cult
A destructive cult is a religion or other group which has caused or has a high probability of causing harm to its own members or to others. Some researchers define "harm" in this case with a narrow focus, specifically groups which have deliberately physically injured or killed other individuals,...
by the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
. The organization has headquarters in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, 18 branches in Russia, and four branches abroad, in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, and Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
. It is not registered with the Ministry of Justice.
The members of "Renaissance. The Golden Age" disseminate Levashov's statements. They organize rallies supporting Levashov and opposing genetically modified foods and vaccination in many Russian cities, advertise Levashov's books on the Internet and in the press. They conduct seminars in schools and universities popularizing ideas of Levashov and other pseudoscientific theories such as telegony
Telegony (pregnancy)
Telegony is a theory in heredity, now discredited but widely believed until the late 19th century, holding that offspring can inherit the characteristics of a previous mate of the female parent; thus the child of a widowed or remarried woman might partake of traits of a previous husband...
. In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is the main city and the administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultural center of Kamchatka Krai, Russia. Population: .-History:It was founded by Danish navigator Vitus Bering, in the service of the Russian Navy...
they converted a schoolteacher, O. Shepetovskaya, to their organization; Levashov's ideas were then taught at her school #45.