The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexis II, assured his flock that new identification documents to be introduced in Russia would not contain the "sign of the antichrist" despite scare-mongering rumors to the contrary, it was reported.
According to ITAR-TASS, speaking ahead of a meeting of clerics in Moscow, he acknowledged plans to introduce new passports and other identification documents that employ new technologies including digital fingerprints and photographs of the iris of the holder's eye.
"But this is not the sign of the antichrist!" the news agency quoted the patriarch as stating. His assertion was made "convincingly," ITAR-TASS said.
The decline of communist ideology and atheism of the former Soviet regime has coincided with a growth of sects and superstitions, including a belief that Satanic ideas would be spread under the cover of administrative innovations such as new individual tax identification numbers.
Alexis II said "the number 666 is talked about a lot these days in relation to the tax number" and cautioned believers not to listen to "false prophets" suggesting that Satanic symbols were being placed in official documents.
"If we undermine the Church with such rumors and myths from the inside, nothing good can come of it," he said.
The number 666, cited in the Bible's book of Revelation of St. John, is considered "the number of the beast," or a coded reference to Lucifer.