В & quot ; Family & quot; consists of several thousand people, but almost no one knew about its existence.
A religious community called “The Family” has existed in Paris for about 200 years. Its members believe in the end of the world, marry only among themselves and try to keep contacts with the outside world to a minimum. Due to the lifestyle of the “Family”, almost nothing was known about her, but in recent years books , articles and a documentary about this closed community have been published in France.
About this writes Meduza with reference to French editions.
How the “Family” originated
The family is rooted in Jansenism, a movement within the Catholic Church that began in the 17th century thanks to the Dutch theologian Jansen. The Jansenists believed that human nature was corrupted by original sin, and that one can only be saved by divine grace, which only a few are destined to receive. The followers of Jansenism were the French mathematician, mechanic and philosopher Blaise Pascal. Jansenism in some dogmas was close to Protestantism. He was declared heresy by the Catholic Church.
In the first half of the 18th century convulsions appeared in France. This is how the admirers of the Jansenist Francis of Paris, who was buried in one of the cemeteries of the capital of France, were called. After his death, a rumor spread that miraculous healings were taking place at his grave, and people came there to pray. At the same time, some of the worshipers developed convulsions. Over time, the number of such people went to hundreds. It was later assumed that unconscious imitation was behind the attacks of convulsions.
In the second half of the 18th century, a group of Jansenist convulsions united around the priests Claude and François Bonjour. One of their followers was a man named Jean-Pierre Thibou. In 1819, he and his friend François Ave agreed that their children would marry each other. This was the beginning of the “Family”. At first, this community was open to people from outside, but in 1892 Augustin Thiebout, who was then its elder, forbade the members of the “Family” to marry and marry someone other than each other.
They believe in the end of the world and try to isolate themselves from the outside world
“Family” is not the name of the community itself. “People heard that we congratulate each other with the words 'Hello, cousin', 'Hello, auntie', and they began to call us family,” said a member of the community named Daniel.
Now in the “Family” about three to four thousand people … They live mainly in three arrondissements in the east of Paris, trying to settle closer to the rue Montreuil. There, in 1792, the son of François Thibault, named Ely, was born. The “family” considers him to be their prophet and believes that someday he will return to take his “flock” to paradise. With his arrival the end of the world will come, and only the “Family” will be saved, the community members are sure. They try not to communicate with the outside world and treat it with distrust.
In fact, the “Family” consists of the descendants of eight families – Chibu, Ave, Sandoz, Fer, Pulen, Mater, Deshlett and Sangle. They marry among themselves and quite early – at the age of about 20 years. Marriages are not always formalized, since in some cases the grooms and brides are related by distant kinship. Contraception in marriage is prohibited, divorce is not encouraged. Families with many children; for example, a community member named Daniel, who is mentioned in the French press, has 18 children.
The children are raised by women who are often unemployed. Men prefer professions related to technology or manual labor: architect, engineer, electrician, carpenter. The profession of a lawyer and a doctor is forbidden for them: the members of the “Family” put the divine law above the human one and consider God to be the master of the human body. They do not attend church and conduct religious rituals on their own – both within each family individually and within the “Family” as a whole.
Children do not attend extra classes or go on excursions
Children from the community study in regular schools, but any activities outside the classroom are virtually prohibited for them: they rarely appear in the school cafeteria, do not attend additional classes and do not go on excursions. Friendship with classmates outside the “Family” (since children from the community live nearby, they often study in the same schools and classes) is not encouraged. For example, if parents allowed a child to go to the library with a classmate – “stranger”, it is already considered a great indulgence.
Family members have computers, internet, mobile phones and social networks. However, they, especially women and children, may not communicate with people from the outside world for years. The community has its own holidays (on the first Saturday of January, the day of the creation of the “Family” is celebrated), its own prayers (one of them, written back in 1742, is copied and carried) and even its own words (they call God “the good father”, and devil – “rototo”). Members of the “Family” do not vote in elections, are not interested in sports and what is happening in the country.
They kick out those who marry “outsiders”
French authorities who track religious sects have long known about the “Family”. However, they cannot influence the life of this community, since it does not fall under their concept of a sect – in particular, it does not have a leader and does not carry out preaching work. And marriages between distant relatives in France are not prohibited.
But the people who left the “Semya” (it was with them that the journalists who studied the structure of the community mostly spoke) do not consider it harmless. They emphasize that children born in the “Family” did not choose their own way of life and that they may have problems with adaptation if they decide to leave the “Family”.
Former Family members acknowledge that the closed community has its advantages. Its members help each other to raise children, move, look after elderly relatives. They support each other financially and spend their free time together.
They also devote a lot of time to children. “When you’re a child, you come back from school and go to the Bois de Vincennes (where the Family members often spend their free time), where 30 cousins are waiting for you. We had a wonderful childhood, we played and laughed, there were always a lot of uncles and aunts around, everyone talked, it was incredible, “said a member of the community named Matthieu.
But the shortcomings of the closed community “Family” are also inherent. Having become victims of violence by a relative, its members are not inclined to contact the police. In addition, they have diseases associated with the consanguinity of their parents.
In addition, the members of the “Family” are obliged to abide by the rules of the community, otherwise they will be expelled. Most often this happens if a person has decided to marry someone outside of the “Family”. The exiled can no longer use the help of community members and can not even communicate with them – including with his closest relatives. He finds himself face to face with a world in which he did not learn to live.
“If you leave, you will be cut off from everything. The group will unite against you. And when you move from such a collective experience to a lonely life, you you find yourself in a world whose codes you do not know. This is one of the moments that I consider the most negative in the “Family” – the inability to accept that a person can leave it “, – said the journalist Nicolas Jacquard, author of a long article about the” Family “.
A former member of the “Family” named Valentin, who had to leave the community because of a relationship with a “stranger”, said that parting with her parents was the most difficult event in her life: “They were in tears, they were afraid, they did not know that will be with me, they were in a panic when they saw that their child had chosen a path that they did not think was right. That day I had to say goodbye to them. “
” We will do everything to save the “Family”
The attention of the press, which the “Family” has faced in recent years, is unlikely to destroy the community or radically change it, says Jacquard. He notes that it has existed for two centuries. having gone through repeated changes of power and two world wars, and not only did not disintegrate, but became more numerous.
“We will do everything to save the” Family “. You cannot destroy anything so valuable, “said a community member named Patrick.” I like these rules and I want to pass them on to my children, “said Matthieu, another member of the” Family “.
