Known as Prophet Maltsvet, he founded the Maltsvetians, a religious sect based in Estonia.
He worked as a farmer and a bartender before preaching and getting imprisoned in 1858.
He attracted between 200 and 300 families to his cult.
He and his families waited for the White Ship to land and take them to the promised land the early summer of 1861.
Novelist Eduard Vide wrote about the Maltsvetians in Prophet Maltsvet, a 1908 novel that blended fact with fiction.