A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 27 - Tuesday, July 6th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Believers averse to new Russian passportsSOME CITIZENS IN VOLGA REGION REFUSE TO EXCHANGE PASSPORTS FOR RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS Portal-credo.ru, 3 July 2004 - In a number of districts of the Volga region some citizens have refused to exchange their soviet-type passports for new documents, citing religious convictions for their decision, JesusChrist.ru reports. The office of the Directorate of the Passport and Visa Service of Perm province reported that thirty Orthodox residents of the city of Dobrianka, Perm province, sent a letter to law enforcement agencies requesting to be permitted to use the old passports, since they detect in the new documents "schemes of the devil." By "schemes of the devil" the authors of the appeal mean the personal citizen's code, a space for which has been designated on the second page of the passport. In addition, the authors of the letter found the sign "666" among the elements of protective design of the passport. According to information from the Directorate of Passport and Visa Service, at the present time there remain in the district about 1,000 citizens who have not exchanged their passport. As the spokesperson of the agency explained, some of those who still have not managed to receive a passport of the new type have been absent from the territory of the district for a long time. In Penza province, as of 1 July 519 persons had not exchanged the old-type passport for a Russian one, the deputy director of the passport and visa service of the regional Department of Internal Affairs, Nikolai Lukichev, reported. He said that among persons who had not exchanged their passports, 48 persons stated their refusal on the basis of religious notions, 180 persons are registered in the provincial territory but at present their whereabouts are unknown, and 291 persons are retirees. According to information from REGNUM, recently a large group of believers, in the main elderly persons, held a public demonstration in Penza refusing passports with "the devil's marks." Nikolai Lukichev noted that the passport and visa service of the district worked jointly with the provincial department of the Pensioners' Fund of the Russian federation to conduct extensive explanatory work among retired persons regarding the necessity of preparing the new documents. "From February until June we managed to persuade 3,000 pensioners, mainly in rural areas, to exchange their passports," he said. (tr. by PDS) 1000'S IN KIROV PROVINCE REFUSE TO EXCHANGE SOVIET PASSPORTS
And this is despite the frequent warnings from
workers of the Department of Internal Affairs that
after 1 July the old passports will be considered
invalid. The number of those who have not received
a passport is approximately 0.01 percent of the
adult population of Kirov province. Workers at
passport offices maintain that the basic reason
for refusal to get a new passport is a religious
one. The press secretary of the Viatsk diocese of
RPTsMP, Alexander Baliberdin, explained that
"preachers from all kinds of sects" persuade their
followers that there are satanic signs on the form
of the new passport. (tr. by PDS) |
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