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Russian President Vladimir Putin is used to fawning supporters but a sect in a remote village has gone further by naming him a reincarnation of Saint Paul, according to disapproving Church leaders.
The Resurrecting Russia sect, in the village of Bolshaya Elnya in the southern Volga region, has given a new twist to the sometimes fanatical support for Putin.
"The sect is using the name of the president, whom it presents as the reincarnation of Saint Paul, to recruit more members and earn money," a spokesman for the local Orthodox diocese, Igor Pchelintsev, told AFP.
The sect's leader, Svetlana Frolova, could not immediately be contacted.
On the sect's website she declares of Putin: "God the Father has made it known to me that you have what Russia currently needs: honesty, love for the fatherland and courage."
The Russian leader is due to stand down from his post next March, after which he has indicated he would be ready to hold the prime minister's post if his favoured successor, Dmitry Medvedev, takes over.
