News/20070322

edit 22.MAR.2007

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (IBAP) — A hundred residents of a Russian village have flatly refused to comply with the newly declared passport laws of Russia. Unlike other groups, this is not done in defiance of the current regime, but rather the belief that the documents' bar codes are filled with satanic symbols, the state news network reported.

"We believe these new passports are sinful," Valentina Yepifanova, an elderly resident of the village Bogolyubovo, said as she clutched an old, tattered passport she said she wanted to keep. "Our patron saint, Sankt-Porfiri warned us of the evils that would come...this is one of them, and I will not allow the devil into my home. They have these bar codes and people say they contain three sixes. We are against that."

Some residents of Bogolyubovo, which means "God-loving" in Russian, have also stopped collecting their pensions at the local post office because the payment slips also have bar codes that might contain the mark of the devil. Bogolyubovo became a focus of interest during the reign of former premier Porfiri Bogolyubov, and has since been a site for pilgrimages, as it is rumored that his bones are buried within the city limits.  Read More...

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