Porfiry Korneyevich Ivanov (Ukrainian: Порфірій Корнійович Іванов) (February 20, 1898 – April 10, 1983) was a Russian mystic whose beliefs have attained a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

status, with followers estimated in the tens of thousands. He was a self-proclaimed

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

, although he had no formal certification. The

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

has considered his teachings to be heretical, and calls the cult " Ivanovites". Ivanov was imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital. Porfiri Ivanov's sect has its own hymn, written by Ivanov himself. The rhythm of the hymn was adopted from the French national anthem ''

La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. It was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by the First French Republic against Austria, and was originally titled "". The French Na ...

''. Ivanov promoted ''Detka'' (literally - "baby", his usual addressing to the followers), a health system that included

dousing Dousing is the practice of making something or someone wet by throwing liquid over them, e.g., by pouring water, generally cold, over oneself. A related practice is ice swimming. Some consider cold water dousing to be a form of asceticism. Col ...

. He based this system on the belief that it was healthy to remove one's clothing while outdoors in cold weather, in order to become closer to nature. Ivanov also advocated swimming in icy water, a belief that has been applied to the practice of

ice swimming Winter swimming is the activity of human swimming, swimming during the winter season, typically in outdoor locations (open water swimming) or in unheated pools or Lido (swimming pool), lidos. In colder countries, it may be synonymous with ice ...

. In his thirties he supposedly cured himself of cancer through spiritual cleansing and exposure to extreme cold weather

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*
Writings of Porphyry Ivanov

Porfiri Ivanov: Russia's Naturalist Healer
A biography by Daniel H. Shubin. Slavic neopaganism 20th-century mystics Ukrainian religious leaders 1898 births 1983 deaths Ukrainian modern pagans Modern pagan religious leaders People from Luhansk Oblast {{Ukraine-reli-bio-stub

See also

References

External links