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Critics describe the bar codes on application forms for the ID numbers as a sign of the Antichrist referred to in the Book of Revelation. The problem, which has caused widespread consternation and even the threat of a church schism, has forced the church's head, Patriarch Alexei II, to address his flock in an unprecedented pastoral message, which was signed on March 4 and will be read in churches on Sunday, March 11.

The message, written after two days of discussion late last month by theologians and bishops in the church's Theological Commission, stops short of condemning the anti-INN movement as heretical, though some had hoped the patriarch would do this. The patriarch stated instead that acceptance or refusal to accept the tax number "is a citizen's free choice, but in no way is it a doctrinal matter."

But he made it clear that laymen and clergymen who urged people not to accept the INN were undermining the unity of the church.

"With all sincerity, love and pastoral care I would like to tell you: you have nothing to fear," the patriarch said in message, released by the Moscow Patriarchate on March 5. "If anyone, even the most eloquent person, continues to sow in your hearts false fears and doubts, do not believe him. Believe the church in its wisdom."

Russia's INN problem began about two years ago when the government began introducing the tax identification. The application form included a bar code which, as is required by international regulations, has three pairs of thin parallel stripes, and between the three pairs various lines and spaces which signify numbers easily read by a scanner.

These three pairs of stripes, which bear no meaning and simply separate the parts of the code, look similar to the combinations of stripes used to mark the number six in the bar code system. This has prompted some critics to adopt the view of some fundamentalist Christians abroad who claim that computerized codes are based on the number 666, referred to in the biblical Book of Revelation (13: 17-18) as the "name of the beast."

The "666" critics claim that the Antichrist described in the Book of Revelation seeks to dominate the world through the global computerized control of individuals who will have computer chips implanted in their hands.

The critics claim that the tax IDs which "replace" Russian citizens' names with a number are the first step in this "satanic" process.

In Greece, a largely Orthodox country, Christians have protested against the introduction of European passports with magnetic strips. And now in Russia, where theories about the threat of a Western "global government" abound, fears of the bar code have found fertile ground.

"People are not speaking against the tax number," one of the leading critics of INN, Konstantin Gordeyev, told the Theological Commission last month. "They are simply afraid that by taking one step [accepting INN], they will be gradually involved in this global information mechanism, and they will not be able to stop."

The church's hierarchy has been overwhelmed by the growth of opposition to INN. "It has spread so fast, we were caught off guard," a prominent bishop, who asked not to be named, told ENI.

In March last year the Russian Orthodox Church's synod issued a statement warning church members of the risk of seeing conspiracies in the numbers, but also calling on the government to find an alternative system to monitor taxpayers.

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March (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45