On 19-20 February at the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra within the walls of the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy a session of the expanded plenum of the synodal Theological Commission was held under the chairmanship of the patriarchal exarch of Belarus, Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk. At the session a concluding document was adopted, the text of which follows in full.
CONCLUDING DOCUMENT
7th Plenum of the synodal Theological Commission of Russian Orthodox church, Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy, 19-20 February 2001
With the blessing of the His Holiness Alexis II, patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus, in connection with the discussions within ecclesiastical and public circles regarding the problem of the introduction of individual taxpayer numbers (INN), on 19-20 February 2001 at the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra, within the walls of the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy, an expanded session of the synodal Theological Commission was held with the participation of bishops, representing the Orthodox churches of four countries--Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova--superiors and confessors of stauropigial monasteries, representatives of governmental offices, consultants, and experts.
In the course of the work of the commission there was a mutually respectful and fruitful dialogue among representatives of the church and state offices--the State Duma and the Ministry of Taxes and Duties. In the process of the dialogue questions associated with the procedures for taxation of citizens were clarified.
The plenum reviewed problems provoking concern and confusion among a portion of the church public and questions which were raised in numerous appeals from believers and in the publications of the mass media.
1. Is the apocalyptic number 666 contained in INN and electronic documents of personal identification?
2. Is INN the seal of antichrist?
3. Does accepting INN deprive Christians of their own name?
4. Do the processes of globalization pose a spiritual threat?
5. To what extent are actions of individual clergy in connection with the problem of INN proper?
After a thorough discussion of these topics, the plenum came to the following conclusions.
1. According to expert opinion, INN is a product of twelve Arabic numerals, of which the first two designate the area code, the following two, the number of the local tax office, the next six, the number of the tax account of the taxpayer, and the last two, the so-called "control numbers" for checking the accuracy of the entry. The presence of three sixes in this collection of numbers can only be coincidental. To speak of the deliberate inclusion of the number 666 in INN is without any basis. In some publications there is the claim that in the electronic documents using the electronic accounting entry the number 666 is encoded. According to expert opinion received by our commission, there is no basis for this claim.
The suggestion of the covert inclusion of 666 can be considered to have some basis only if the issue is the coding of information by means of the bar code used in accordance with the EAN-13/UPC standard, which has been adopted for marking commodities (at the same time it is necessary to note that strictly speaking the computer does not read the three pairs of extended divisional lines as sixes; however their graphic image is similar to the graphic image of the number six in the very same coding standard). If one is talking about the entry of some other systems of which we know, different from EAN-13/UP (bar codes on commodities), in particular, on electronic bars present in electronic documents, experts do not find the number 666 present in this type of entry of information.
2. The notion that is being spread among some Orthodox Christians to the effect that "antichrist has not yet appeared but his seal is already being imposed" or that there exists some "foreseal" contradicts the church's teaching about the appearance of antichrist at the "end time" of human history. As was already said in the declaration of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox church of 7 March 2000 titled "Respect believers' feelings. Maintain Christian sober thinking," "we remind those who are trying to link identification numbers with the 'seal of antichrist' that in the holy patristic tradition such a seal was understood as a sign that confirmed conscious apostasy from Christ . . . . Despite this tradition it sometimes is claimed that there could be some kind of technological effect causing a change in the inner recesses of the human soul, leading to an abandonment of Christ. Such superstition diverges from the Orthodox interpretation of the Revelation of St. John the Divine, according to whom the 'seal of the beast' will be placed upon those who consciously believe in him 'purely because of his false wonders' (St. John Chrysostom). No external sign whatsoever can destroy the spiritual health of a person if it is not the result of a conscious betrayal of Christ and desecration of the faith."
A similar statement had been made earlier in an open letter of the Holy Synod of the Greek church, no. 2641 of 9 February 1998: "The 'seal' will be either the name of antichrist or the number of his name, and the moment of its application will entail denunciation of Christ and adherence to antichrist, which will be voluntarily embraced by a person. The voluntary acceptance of the 'seal' associated with a clear rejection of Christ deprives one of divine grace in so far as the person, by personal choice, ceases to cooperate with this grace and strives to reject it without any remorse."
3. To the question of whether a Christian forfeits his personal name in accepting INN, we can answer with the words of Archimandrite Ioann Krestiankin: "My beloved, how can we surrender to the panic of losing our own Christian name and replacing it with a number? But could this really happen in the eyes of God? Can someone really forget himself and his heavenly protector who was given at the moment of baptism? Cannot we recall all those priests and Christian laity who over a long period in their lives were supposed to forget their own names and family names and replace them with a number, and the many who passed into eternity with a number. But God received them into his kingdom as holy martyrs and confessors, and their white robes covered their convicts' jackets. They had no name but God was with them and his power led the believing prisoners through the shadow of death every day. The Lord has no notion of a person as a number; a number is required only by contemporary calculation technology; for the Lord there is nothing dearer than the living human soul, for whose sake he sent his only begotten Son, Christ the Savior."
In addition, considering the confusion among the church public in connection with the assignment of INN, the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox church, on the suggestion of the spiritual counselor of the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra, Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov, conducted a dialogue with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Taxes and Duties. In the course of the dialogue the ministry declared its readiness to place before the State Duma of the Russian federation a legislative initiative for changes in the Tax Code of the Russian federation, specifically the introduction of a document, a "personal account of the taxpayer--a physical person," and the concept of a "number of a personal account of the taxpayer--a physical person." If this resolution were adopted the concern of some people regarding the "replacement of the Christian name with a number" would lose all basis (in as much as in this case the number is applied to a document and not a person).
4. The processes of globalization which have given rise to growing interdependence of states and nations can be used by an evil will for enslaving people and human societies. Thus it is impossible to deny the danger of the use of various technologies for establishing a system of totalitarian control, for violating the privacy of personal life, and for exerting pressure upon the religious and worldview choice of the individual.
Participants in the session of the Theological Commission expressed the opinion that it would be useful to create a church-public council which, in association with state offices, would conduct a study of the aforesaid processes and tendencies and analyze the development of the pertinent standards of international as well as legislative initiatives and actions of executive authority that pose a danger to the freedom of the individual and the preservation of the cultural and religious distinctives of nations that are historically associated with Orthodoxy. In connection with this it would be useful to send to the president of RF and the Federal Assembly of RF a corresponding letter in the name of the most holy patriarch or Holy Synod.
In many countries there exist mechanisms of legal protection from attempts to introduce a single universal identification system of the individual or the creation of a single interagency data base.
Special attention should be given to the question of the introduction of electronic passports and other modern methods of identification that will be used for conducting audits and receiving social and medical services.
At the same time that the very technology of production and implementation of such identification systems cannot be considered prejudicial, it is necessary to add guarantees for protecting the privacy of personal life and providing access for a person to all information gathered about him while simultaneously preventing such access for anyone else other than specially authorized state offices who operate on the basis of appropriate laws.
Recognizing the objective and ambiguous character of processes of globalization, plenum participants consider it their duty to recall that the Creator and Ruler of the world is God. In its two-thousand-year history the church of Christ has survived many state institutions which have sought to destroy the church and spiritually enslave Christian nations, but they all were shattered on the rock of Christ's promise: "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it" (Mt 16.18)
5. In the "Bases of the social doctrine of the Russian Orthodox church" (III.5) it is stated that in cases where the state requires the citizen to commit sin the church can appeal for civil disobedience. However these words from the acts of the jubilee bishops' council of 2000 are speaking of the church and not of individual priests or laity who presume to speak in the name of the church.
Special concern is provoked by the fact that many clergy have presumed to act without the blessing of the hierarchy and sometimes in direct contradiction with the position which was openly and unambiguously stated by ruling bishops and the supreme church authority in the person of the bishops' council, Holy Synod, and most holy patriarch. Instances of the distribution by clergy and monastics of their own appeals to the mass media and state offices, which immediately assume the character of overt pressure on the hierarchy, are completely unacceptable. We remind such persons of the eleventh rule of the council of Sardik: "If any bishop or elder or any one of the clergy in general without permission and rescript from the bishop of the region and especially from a metropolitan bishop presumes to approach the emperor, such a one will be removed and deprived not only of communion but also of the office which he held. . . . If urgent need forces someone to go to the emperor, let such a one do so with the review and permission of the metropolitan bishop and the other bishops of the region and with rescripts from them."
It is necessary to remind the contemporary "zealots without knowledge" that the Lord bestowed upon bishops a special mission: to be builders of the mysteries of Christ and preservers of the infallible teachings of tradition. Apostasy from the legal hierarchy is apostasy from the Holy Spirit and from Christ himself. As the holy martyr Ignaty the God-holder said, "everyone must follow the bishop as Jesus Christ followed the Father, and the eldership like the apostles. Honor deacons like God's commandment. No one should do anything pertaining to the church without the bishop. . . . Wherever there is a bishop, the people should be there, just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church (St. Ignaty of Antioch). The Orthodox church confesses that "without a bishop the church is not the church nor can a Christian either be or even be called a Christian. For the bishop, as apostolic successor, has received by laying on of hands and the calling of the Holy Spirit supreme authority given by God to decide and bind" (Epistle of the eastern patriarchs).
CONCLUSIONS
1. Acceptance or nonacceptance of individual numbers in no measure is a matter of confession of faith or a sinful deed. It is a matter of personal choice and it has no religious significance.
2. The confusion that has arisen in church circles in the course of the discussion about INN signifies the need for strengthening the teaching ministry of the church hierarchy and correction of shortcomings that exist in spiritual nurturing.
In connection with this we most respectfully ask His Holiness the patriarch to address a pastoral letter to the plenitude of the Russian Orthodox church.
3. Without reproach of people who refuse to accept INN, it is necessary to express alarm over the spiritual condition of those among them who exalt themselves for their refusal and condemn those who do not follow their example.
4. It is completely impermissible for pastors to impose church discipline for either accepting or not accepting tax numbers.
5. Unfortunately, it is necessary to take into account the fact that believing people who refuse INN often have faced discrimination on the part of employers. According to official statements of the leadership of the Russian federation's Ministry on Taxes and Duties, such actions are illegal. In such cases it is necessary to appeal to higher tax offices.
6. Participants in the plenum came to the conclusion that the Russian Orthodox church needs serious improvement in its publishing and informational-analytical activity in the study and elucidation of ecclesiastical and social problems.
7. The church has its own means of resisting the increase of sin in the world: these are not demonstrations and placards, but the use of the divine commandments, prayer, and repentance. Resistance to the evil multiplying in the world becomes a genuinely Christian task not only when Christians stir up one another with baseless fears but also when we live by specific acts directed to the strengthening of our faith and help to our neighbor. "Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father" (Mt 5.16) (tr. by PDS, posted 23 February 2001)
The end of the world is not nigh and believers can sign up for Russia's new tax codes without compromising their faith or committing a sin, Orthodox theologians have ruled.
Fundamentalists arguing that the individual codes are the "marks of Satan" and herald the coming of the antiChrist contradict Church teaching, the theologians and clerics concluded in a statement yesterday.
The decision to sign up for the tax codes was a personal matter with no religious significance, it said.
The row over the codes, which radicals fear fulfil one of the prophecies in the Book of Revelation, has escalated to new heights in recent weeks and threatened to split the world's largest Orthodox Church.
Thousands of believers have refused to accept the codes for fear that they hide "the number of the beast" or represent the mark to be engraved on right hands or foreheads mentioned in Revelation. (posted 22 February 2001)
MOSCOW TRIAL DECISION EXPECTED TOMORROW
from Jehovah's
Witnesses Public Affairs Office, 22 February 2001
A decision in the trial aimed at banning Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow is expected tomorrow in the Golovinsky Intermunicipal District Court. The prosecutor seeks to deny the registered religious organization all rights set out in the 1997 law on freedom of conscience and religion, through a prohibition on meetings for Bible education; services for prayer, songs and worship; distribution and use of religious literature; and public expression and teaching of religious beliefs.
Testimony from several witnesses and lengthy legal procedures occupied the court's time during the past few days. Today the court is in recess because the lawyer for the prosecution, Tatyana Kondratyeva, requested time to prepare her final submission in view of the "complex issues" involved with this case.
In a dramatic move this morning Tatyana Kondratyeva asked for Judge Yelena Prokhoricheva to be removed from the case claiming that the judge had displayed an 'hysterical' attitude toward her.
Defence lawyer, Galina Krylova, declared: "There is no legal basis for this inappropriate request which shows disrespect for the court." Artur Leontyev, also for the defence, accused the prosecutor of a cynical attempt to halt proceedings at this late stage, "because of an absence of evidence". The motion was rejected.
In their final submission lawyers for the defence will argue that the prosecutor has not presented any evidence of specific acts by any member of the community to support the allegations. Instead the prosecution's case relies on private or an expert's personal interpretation of religious doctrine and literature. In short, the prosecution's case is based upon disagreement with the religious beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses. It is contrary to the Russian Constitution and European Convention to liquidate and ban an entire religious community. Lawyers for Jehovah's Witnesses will therefore call for the prosecutor's application to be rejected and vigorously condemned. (posted 22 February 2001)
GOVERNMENT OF PENZA PREVENTS PROTESTANTS HELPING PRISONERS
NTV, 21 February
2001
The "Living Faith" [Zhivaia Vera] protestant church, which is a member of the Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (ROSKhVE) has reported that its philanthropic and evangelistic activity among convicts was forbidden by the Penza authorities, the news agency "Kovcheg" reports.
According to information from the church's press secretary, Deacon Sergei Strokov, the leadership of one of the local prison colonies refused to grant future possibilities of visiting prisoners, citing an order from the deputy director of the penal administration of Penza province, Yury Semenov. Semenov himself, to whom the leadership of the church turned for an explanation, called its activity illegal and refused to rescind his order.
Although there exists an official agreement on cooperation between ROSKhVE and the state penal administration, Yury Semenov said that he received an order to cease any cooperative activity with "Living Faith" from the office of the Penza governor.
"Living Faith" church is officially registered and its work among convicts
has not violated existing legislation. According to reports of the church's
press service, money, many clothes, and thousands of copies of Christian
publications have been distributed to the colonies and prisons. According
to statistics from the press service, virtually every prisoner in Penza
province has receive help of one kind or another. (tr. by PDS, posted 22
February 2001)
YEREVAN TO HOST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
by Tigran Liloyan
TASS, 21 February 2001
An international conference with the theme "Church, State, Society and Crisis of Liberal Doctrine of World Reconstruction" will open in Yerevan on Wednesday on initiative of the European Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy.
The assembly is made up of members of 13 parliaments, among them the parliaments of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine.
The conference will be chaired by assembly leader Viktor Zorkaltsev, who also heads the State Duma's committee for public and religious organizations. (Copyright 2001 ITAR-TASS News Agency, posted 22 February 2001)
PATRIARCH AND PRESIDENT MEET IN KREMLIN
RIA-Novosti/Sobornost,
21 February 2001
Today in the Kremlin Vladimir Putin conducted the first session of the trustees' council of the National Fund for Support of Service Personnel who have been casualties in "hot spots" and their families. The president took the initiative in creating the fund at the end of last year. The chairman of the trustees' council is Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus. Members of the council include representatives of the Russian public and businessmen.
On 24 January, during a meeting in the Kremlin with businessmen, Vladimir Putin thanked them for their active support in creating the fund. The president also reported that, according to his information, in the current year representatives of local business will contributed to the fund the sum of 1.5 billion rubles and approximately the same amount will come from other sources.
The president noted that the trustees' council of the fund headed by Patriarch Alexis II will be a "worthy, representative agency," and will be able to determine that all monies that come in will be distributed for beneficial goals. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 February 2001)
PATRIARCH CELEBRATES 72ND BIRTHDAY
by Dmitry Safonov
strana.ru,
22 February 2001
This evening in the Hall of Church Councils of the church of Christ the Savior a concert was held in honor of the name day and birthday of Patriarch Alexis II, which will be on 23 February. The patriarch is seventy-two years old. Religious and classical music was performed and a short film about the patriarch's ministry in recent years was shown. Present in the hall were representatives of the hierarchy, clergy, and state authorities. Among those present were Defense Minister Igor Sergeev, General Staff Commander Anatoly Kvashnin, representatives of the presidential administration, and cultural leaders. After the concert the patriarch addressed the audience:
"I heartily thank my brother archpastors, representatives of the traditional religions and the governments of Moscow and the Russian federation, and all our esteemed guests who today have honored this concert with their presence. I am thankful for the wishes for a long life, but how many years the Lord grants is known only to him and I want to assure you that however much time the Lord grants for living, I will perform my ministry for the good of the church of Christ, the good of our earthly fatherland, whose sons and daughters we are, and the good of our nation that has suffered much. This evening on the eve of the holiday of the Defender of the Fatherland, I want to greet everyone on our common holiday, because each of us to the extent of our energies and opportunities defends our fatherland. Happy holiday to all of you!"
Afterwards a reception in the patriarchal chambers began to which Russian President Vladimir Putin came. ITAR-TASS reports that President Putin warmly greeted [the patriarch] for his name day and birthday. Raising a goblet the head of state said that he joined his voice with the greetings addressed to one of the most respected people in Russia. The president wished the primate long years, health, and success "in the improvement of Russia, including spiritual improvement." "You and I often repeat the same thought," the president said. "The Russian Orthdox church has always been with its people, in days of triumph and days of difficult trials. Today the voice of the church, and your voice, Your Holiness," the head of state stressed, "is very much heeded not only in the country but also abroad."
Vladimir Putin said that the church has taken a most active part in
peacemaking work, philanthropy, and solution of social problems. "At the
change of the centuries before the state and the church, especially in
the past decade, these relations have begun to develop harmoniously," the
president emphasized. "We have new possibilities for joint efforts to perform
the tasks which face our nation, both social and spiritual ones."
(tr. by PDS, posted 22 February 2001)
The secretary of the synodal Theological Commission, Fr Vladimir Shmaly, told strana.ru that on 19 February, with the blessing of the patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus, the synodal Theological Commission began its work at the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra in the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy with the question of the INN problem on the agenda.
In addition to members of the commission, which is headed by Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk, a rather broad circle of consultants and experts will participate in the session, most of whom are theologians proper. These include teachers of the Moscow and St. Petersburg ecclesiastical academies, specifically Archimandrite Makary Veretennikov and Archimandrite Matfey Mormyl and theological consultants Fr Andrei Kuraev and perhaps some others. This meeting is unusual in that with the blessing of his Holiness it will include the participation of elders of the Sergeev Trinity lavra, particularly Fr Kirill Pavlov and Fr Naum. Also invited are superiors of stauropigial monasteries with their confessors as well as representatives of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties and apparently other state institutions, and perhaps even secular experts will be involved. The opinions of both supporters and opponents of accepting INN will be represented.
As Fr Vladimir said, in the near future the opinion of Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov will be received. Fr Kirill, the father confessor of the lavra, as is known, occupied a very cautious position. He says that INN is a sign of the approaching end, and although he permits acceptance of INN in cases of dire necessity, he emphasizes that it is better, if it is possible, to refuse now, since in the future there may be harsher laws and circumstances. Fr Kirill recalls that tribulations await us all and that we should not rest at ease, whether or not one accepts an INN. Fr Kirill says that the pressure will continue and intensify, but it can be delayed a bit by our efforts. However Fr Kirill warns against condemning the hierarchy and going into schism. Opponents of INN say that Fr Kirill explicitly forbids accepting INN.
However in any case, most likely the most respected elder of the Russian church will be able to participate in the commission's session due to the choice of venue, the Trinity lavra, where he is a resident, and he will be able to express his opinion directly before the members of the commission. According to Fr Vladimir Shmaly, the patriarch has specifically discussed the question of Fr Kirill's participation with the chairman of the commission, Metropolitan Filaret, and he has blessed Fr Kirill's participation.
The opinion of another celebrated elder, Fr Ioann Krestiankin, who cannot attend the session, was specially recorded by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov for the commission and yesterday was made public on the television program "Russkii dom." Fr Ioann said that INN does not pose a danger for a person's soul and he appealed for obedience to the hierarchy on this matter.
At the session will be discussed those agreements which were reached in the course of a closed meeting of the patriarch with the minister of taxes and duties, Gennady Bukaev, which was held 31 January. The patriarch and minister agreed to propose to the parliament the adoption of the notion of a "personal account of the taxpayer, a physical person." That is, it will be the number of a personal account and nothing more. Thus the number will be applied not to a person but to a document. Fr Vladimir stressed that "there should be a clear, calm discussion and everyone, we hope, should discuss together the problem from all sides; since it is a theological commission, attention will be focused primarily on the theological aspect of the question. What form the commission's decision will take is still unknown."
The question of receiving or rejecting the individual taxpayer number (INN) is extremely acute in the church at the present time. In fact, for the first time since the 1930s the church faces the threat of a serious schism. At that time believers were divided between those who accepted and those who did not accept the caretaker of the pariarchate, Metropolitan Sergius Stragorodsky. The "noncommemorators," as those who left ecclesiastical communion with Metropolitan Sergius because of his infamous "Declaration" of 1927 were called, avoided attending "Sergian" churches and they communed with a "Sergian" priest only in the event of impending death. However time has brought reconciliation. Thus, among the saints canonized at the bishops' council of 2000 there are some "noncommemorators," such as, for example, Bishop Afanasy Sakharov and Metropolitan Kirill Smirnov, who conducted a sharp dispute with Metropolitan Sergius. The issue that divided believers at the time came down, in essence, to the question whether to accept or not to accept the "authority of antichrist," that is, the soviet state. Now the issue is the "seal of antichrist," which supposedly the INN contains. Both then and now clergy and believers were divided, some parishes led by their spiritual counselors went into the catacombs, existed outside the law, conducted divine services secretly at home, and were hounded and persecuted. Among the new martyrs and confessors were many "noncommemorators" who openly declared that they did not view the soviet regime as "antichrist." This position that they took did not constitute basis for calling them schismatics or apostates from the church. And the Russian Orthodox church itself has testified to its respect for their position and has canonized many of the "noncommemorators," and surely many others still will be canonized.
The question of acceptance or nonacceptance of the soviet regime, just like INN, is not a matter of faith or doctrine, on which Orthodox must have a single opinion. However, historical experience testifies that those who set themselves against the church on one or another matter that seems important to them inevitably give rise to a sect. Thus, after the election of Patriarch Alexis Simansky in 1945 the majority of "noncommemorators" acknowledged him and reestablished fellowship with the Moscow patriarchate, while those who continued the policy of nonrecognition in the end became essentially sectarian groups, which called themselves the "True Orthodox church," which soon ceased to exist entirely. This experience again emphasizes the holy patristic notion that apostasy from the plenitude of the church, for whatever reason, is fatal for those who commit it. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 February 2001)
TAX NUMBERS SPARK DEVIL OF A ROW IN CHURCH
by Marcus Warren in Moscow
Electronic Telegraph, 20 February
2001
Senior clerics and theologians of the Orthodox Church met in extraordinary conclave yesterday to decide whether changes to Russia's tax system heralded the coming of the Antichrist.
Held in one of Russia's most venerated monasteries, the conference sought to allay fears of an imminent apocalypse and prevent a schism over how to respond to the tax reforms. A row over the introduction of an individual number for each taxpayer has raged with such passion that thousands of believers have boycotted the codes and some dioceses have been paralysed by panic over the changes.
The enemies of the reforms denounce the code as the mark of Satan and "a humiliation of man's dignity incompatible with the holy design of man in God's image and form". They cite the passage in the Book of Revelation before the verse identifying the number of the beast as 666: "He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads."
In the Russian provinces, many seem to believe that their individual tax number (INN) really will be engraved on their hand or on their face. Others have been ordered by their priests to resign their jobs and even move house to avoid having to sign up for an INN. The zealots, many of them senior monks or holy men from Russia's monasteries, have also appealed for a boycott of credit cards and smart cards of any sort programmed with individual codes.
"It is a matter of conscience for Orthodox believers to create a powerful movement of resistance to this lawlessness and force the authorities to reject these anti-constitutional and anti-Orthodox actions," one of their appeals demanded. Patriarch Aleksiy, the head the Church, has pleaded with believers to co-operate with the taxman. "One might almost think that people just don't want to pay their taxes," he said recently.
But the Patriarch's authority has not been enough to resolve the crisis, hence yesterday's session of the Synod's Theological Commission at the Sergeyev Posad monastery near Moscow. Liberal figures in the Church have deplored the campaign against the tax codes as a sinister symbol of the growing power of fundamentalists. One jokingly called on Russia's parliament to ban all numbers containing the digit 6. (posted 21 February 2001)
ANTICHRIST FEARS PUT CHURCH IN CRISIS
by Andrei Zolotov Jr.
Moscow Times, 21 February 2001
The lights in the hall of the Moscow Theological Academy went off and a frail 90-year-old starets, one of the Russian Orthodox Church's most authoritative spiritual leaders, appeared on a giant video screen. Speaking from his monastery cell in northwestern Russia, he tried to help bishops, monks and theology professors decide how to handle an unlikely problem plaguing the church: a mass refusal by church members to accept the government-issued tax identification numbers, or INN, because they see them as the sign of the Antichrist.
Archimadrite Ioann Krestyankin said it was threatening to undermine the church: "Through the effort of God's enemy, through the false rumors about the introduction of three sixes into the tax identification number, the state's problem of INN has assumed the great power of strife in the spiritual world and has become for us a test, which has demonstrated the absence of faith in God and trust to the mother church among the believers." As sad as it was to many participants, Krestyankin was not exaggerating the problem.
Speakers at the session of the Theological Comission, which is an advisory body to the church's Synod, said the Moscow Patriarchate, Tax Ministry, State Duma and the presidential administration are flooded with petitions protesting the issue of tax IDs. They warn that Patriarch Alexy II and the Holy Synod will be deemed traitors of Orthodoxy if they give their blessing to Russians to accept the "number of the beast." A volume containing 9,000 signatures gathered in the Ivanovo region alone was presented at the conference Monday.
Some churches don't buy wine with a bar code on it on the presumption that it cannot be used for the eucharist. Some priests who accept the INN are ostracized by their parishioners, and there have been cases when people who refused to sign petitions opposing the tax ID numbers were thrown out of churches.
The opposition to INN is well funded. Ironically it spreads its ideas about the threat of "totalitarian global control," which comes with computerization, through several Internet sites. It also prints leaflets and brochures, some of which were being handed out outside the gates of the Moscow Theological Academy as the session was in progress. The opposition movement has been particularly successful in monasteries, where apocalyptic fears are traditionally high.
Even at the Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Monastery - Russia's largest, on whose grounds the Theological Academy is located - a significant number of monks have threatened to leave the monastery if the church leadership accepts INN. "The Holy Scriptures are the highest authority for us," a monk who refused to give his name said Monday. "We have a full right and obligation to disobey the hierarchy if it detracts from Orthodoxy." The problem was "imported" to Russia about two years ago, when the government began to introduce the tax IDs and a bar code was placed on the application form. Under an international system known as UEA/UPC, every bar code has three pairs of thin parallel stripes in the beginning, middle and end of the code, which uses combinations of strips and spaces to signify numbers easily readable by a scanner.
These three pairs of stripes, which bear no meaning and separate the parts of the code, look similar to the combinations of stripes used to mark the number six. Thus this gives grounds for fears, shared by arch-conservative Christian groups worldwide, that all computerized accounting is based on the number 666, which is cited in Revelations 13, 17-18 as the "name of the beast," without which "no man might buy or sell." The theory runs as follows: Antichrist will come in the form of global computerized control of individuals, who will have computer chips implanted in their hands. Tax IDs, which "replace" the name given at baptism with a number, are the first step toward such a satanic goal.
Such fears, which previously caused mass protests against European-standard passports with magnetic strips in predominantly Orthodox Greece and Cyprus, found fertile ground in the Russian Orthodox Church where apocalyptic expectations are high and conspiracy theories about the desire of a Western "global government" to destroy Russia abound.
"People are not speaking against the tax number," one of the anti-INN movement leaders, Konstantin Gordeyev, said Monday at the conference. "They are simply afraid that having made one step (accepting INN), they will be gradually involved in this global information mechanism, and they will not be able to stop." The hierarchy has found itself completely unable to deal with the problem. "It has spread so fast, we were taken off guard by it," one prominent bishop, who has strong opposition to INN in his diocese, said in a private conversation at the conference Monday.
The hierarchy attempted to calm the waters in March of last year, when the Synod issued a statement titled "To Respect the Feelings of Believers and Maintain Christian Sober-mindedness." It called on Christians not to see too much in the numbers and on the government to come up with an alternative system of monitoring taxpayers..
But the statement had no effect. The opposition movement has only broadened, and the Tax Ministry's decision, after negotiations with the Patriarchate, to change the application form made no difference to the INN-refuseniks.
Valentina Kazakova, head of the Tax Ministry's sub-department tracking taxpayers, said Monday that about 1 percent of Russians have so far refused to accept the number. That may seem small, but given that the number of regular churchgoers is estimated to be between 2 percent and 4 percent, it could constitute a sizeable portion of practicing Orthodox Christians.
Some members of the Theological Commission had hoped that this week's conference could lead to a tougher decision and the church would come out against superstitions, even at the cost of a schism.
But the final decision adopted Tuesday fell short of these expectations and followed the Moscow Patriarchate's policy of the past decade: to see the prevention of a schism as its highest priority.
"The church does not condemn people who refuse to accept INN, but expresses
concern about the spiritual health of those who are proud of their refusal,"
the ruling said. (Copyright 2001 Independent Press, posted 22 February
2001)
Delegations of RPTs and the Constantinople patriarchate met in Berlin in order to discuss questions pertaining to the church situation in Estonia and Ukraine, according to a report from the Communications Service of OVTsS MP. Participants from the RPTs included Metropolitan Kirill, chairman of OVTsS MP and Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, acting secretary of OVTsS for inter-Orthodox relations and foreign institutions of RPTs. The Constantinople patriarchate was represented by Metropolitan Ioann of Pergamon and Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, the general secretary of the Holy Synod of KPTs.
The participants in the negotiations appealed to bishops of the two Orthodox jurisdictions in Estonia to reach an agreement for ceasing property disputes according to which each of the church structures will get rights to ownership of church property that is actually being used by them at the present.
The delegates approved the text of an agreement and agreed to present it for review by the holy synods of both patriarchates.
The sides agrees to continue consultations on the question of the church situation in Ukraine and discussed the possibility of joint action to achieve unity of Orthodox believers and overcoming of the existing schisms. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 February 2001)
AMERICAN HELSINKI COMMISSION DEMANDS RELEASE OF TURKMEN CHRISTIAN
NTV, 20 Febraury
2001
Congressman Christopher Smith, vice chairman of the USA Helsinki Commission demanded the immediate release from a Turkmen prison of the Baptist pastor Shagildy Atakov, reports the "Blagovest-info" news agency.
"It is very painful for me to hear of the persecutions of Atakov, who, I am convinced, has been imprisoned and subjected to torture for his faith," Smith declared in a letter addressed to the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The Baptist leader Shagildy Atakov was arrested on 18 December 1998 in his home in the city of Turkmenbashi. He was accused of fraud. In March 1999 he was fined 12,000 dollars and sentenced to two years in prison. According to information from Turkmenistan, representatives of the government often demanded that Atakov and members of his family renounce their faith, which confirms the absurdity of the accusations made against the pastor.
Rights organizations also received information that in prison Atakov has often been subjected to beatings. During one recent visit with his wife the pastor said that he did not expect to survive under such conditions.
According to information from Smith and Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell,
chairman of the Helsinki Commission of USA, in recent years the regime
of Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov, which is considered the most repressive
in the entire postsoviet region, has intensified persecution on the basis
of religious affiliation. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 February 2001)
The leader of the fraction of the Liberal Democratic party of Russia (LDPR) in the State Duma of RF, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, declared Orthodoxy the "purest religion" on 16 Febraury, at the end of his visit with Metropolitan Kirill Gundiaev at the Department of External Church Relations of Moscow patriarchate (OVTsS MP). In the opinion of the politician, Islam is connected with "war and drug traffic," and "Catholic churches stand empty." Vladimir Zhivinovsky emphasized that in the whole world "there are few true believers," and of all world religions "only Orthodoxy has remained," for which there is "regeneration, prosperity, and a future."
The leader of LDPR considers that "today we all must work together" so that the youth will become Orthodox. "The state must try by all means possible to help the Russian Orthodox church compensate for that damage that it sustained under the soviet regime," Vladimir Zhirinovsky reported.
He declared his readiness to take part in one of the pilgrimages organized jointly with RPTs, since he himself is Orthodox. "We will encourage deputies, teachers, and journalists to participate in the journeys so that it will be come the foundation of our spiritual brotherhood," the leader of LDPR appealed. He stated that an Orthodox church was restored in one of the settlements of Rostov province by the efforts of the LDPR fraction in the State Duma. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 February 2001)
ZHIRINOVSKY APPEALS FOR DEFENSE OF ORTHODOXY IN UKRAINE
NTV, 16 February
2001
The deputy speaker of the State Duma, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, maintains that the oppression of RPTs in Ukraine is continuing, whose parishioners constitute the majority of the believers of the country, "Echo of Moscow" reports, citing the Interfax agency.
The leader of LDPR stated to reporters that the West has again adopted a double standard, maintaining silence about the situation in Ukraine while criticizing Russia for the adoption of the 1997 law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations." In his opinion, this law actually "to some degree even infringes the rights of RPTs." The leading confession of the country should be "given more property, but our principles of democracy to a certain degree make the rights of confessions equal," Zhirinovsky thinks.
The leader of LDPR declared that at the beginning of the 1990s in western Ukraine Greek Catholics destroyed three Orthodox dioceses, seizing hundreds of church, beating hundreds of people, while for these incidents not one single criminal case was conducted. The absence of criticism against Uniates and the Ukrainian authorities Zhirinovsky explained by the desire of the West "to tear Ukraine away from Russia." "We are linked economically; you cannot stop trade, but through religious forces, including aid to Uniates and sects, western countries are trying to break the ties between our peoples and to do what is necessary to get citizens of Ukraine to stop feeling themselves Orthodox, the leader of LDPR thinks.
He considers such tactics as a "means of ideological diversion and a continuation of the 'cold war.'" In order to oppose such tendencies in Ukraine in particular, Zhirinovsky proposed a whole series of initiatives at a meeting on Friday with Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. Among them are trips of Orthodox campaign trains to Ukraine, festivals of Orthodoxy, and Orthodox telebridges. Support for Orthodox believers of Ukraine should be organized by Russian state offices, the deputy speaker thinks. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 February 2001)
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