c. 1996 Religion News Service
PLAINVILLE, Conn. _ Julius Schacknow, a leader of a Connecticut religious sect who parlayed his claims to divinity into a multimillion-dollar real estate empire that crumbled in the late 1980s, is dead at the age of 71.
Schacknow, who was known as Brother Julius, attained national attention in the 1970s as an inspiration for spiritually hungry baby boomers who rejected traditional religion to follow charismatic leaders.
The death of the reclusive Schacknow July 28 was announced to his disciples at their regular Sunday service here in a rented hall by Paul and Joanne Sweetman of Cheshire, top leaders in what Schacknow called”The Work.” Driven by what they saw as a holy mission to advance”The Work,”Schacknow’s followers, numbering perhaps 300 at the peak, oversaw the building of an expanding, multimillion-dollar real estate and construction business.
Schacknow, whose self-description progressed from prophet to the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and finally to God almighty, had been reported to be in ill health for several years.
Cause of death was not disclosed. He is said to have died in his sleep at the home of one of seven women in central Connecticut who he said were his unofficial”wives.”He reportedly stayed with each one no more than one or two days at a time.
Joanne Sweetman, 64, had once been Schacknow’s legal wife and had three children by him. He also had two children by a first wife, Elsie Beville of Norfolk, Va., who divorced him on grounds of religious incompatibility in 1950, and two by his second wife, Mary Smith of St. Louis, Mo., who accused him of infidelity in a 1960 divorce proceeding. Joanne Sweetman has been known among Juliusites as”the holy spirit”and Paul Sweetman, 62, as the”chief apostle.” Neither the Sweetmans nor other family members could be reached for comment, and loyal followers who were contacted refused to comment.
Even people who quit the sect, telling stories of sexual and financial exploitation, declined to speak for the record. They said they did not want their new friends and co-workers to know they had been duped by the man they once placed all their faith in.”There was a sense of relief when I heard about his death. He hurt an awful lot of people and now he won’t be able to do it anymore,”said one former devotee, who asked that her name not be used.
Schacknow operated in central Connecticut for more than a quarter-century, ever since he moved from New Jersey and proclaimed at an outdoor revival in Trumbull in 1970 that he was Jesus Christ reincarnated.
Several hundred idealistic young people, hungry for spiritual direction, flocked to the guidance of the long-haired, bearded preacher who wore a white robe.
He set up a base in Meriden, Conn., where some of his followers were targets of deprogrammers who abducted several of them. In the midst of controversy in 1976, he stopped making public appearances and turned to commercial enterprise.
His disciples achieved financial success under the direction of the Sweetmans.
Schacknow himself stayed aloof from direct involvement in the businesses but exhorted his followers at Sunday services lasting as long as six hours to give their utmost.
Among the businesses was a real estate company that operated five Century 21 franchises in central Connecticut and did $100 million in sales a year in the mid-1980s, the national franchise office reported at the time.
Their contracting and home improvement businesses did major work for towns, private developers and homeowners.
The businesses all collapsed with the real estate downturn at the end of the 1980s, leaving behind a financial shambles and desertion by scores of followers.
MJP END RENNER
