THE Church has set up a special committee to look into the possible satanic implications of new ‘smart’ ID cards to be introduced by the government in June.
A Church spokesman said yesterday the Holy Synod had decided to form a committee to look into all aspects of the smart card in terms of its impact on society and the possibility that it might violate human rights. The committee is to be chaired by Bishop Neophytos of Morphou and will report back to the Synod on April 17.
The Synod is understood to be very concerned over the possibility that the number ‘666’, the mark of the Beast in the apocalyptic Book of Revelations, is secretly hidden in a bar code on the new smart cards.
A similar uproar erupted in Europe several years ago when the notion of smart identity cards was mooted.
The Synod recently sent a letter to the Interior Ministry expressing its concern and received a response from the Ministry saying the number 666 was not being used in any form.
Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou said he was in constant contact with the Church on the 666 concern and the issue of any possible violation of human rights by the introduction of the smart cards.
Phileleftheros yesterday quoted the Bishop of Paphos saying he was not worried about the number of the Beast, but did have his own reservations on the smart cards.
The idea that bar codes, which are now found on practically every product, contain a coded form of the numbers 666 is given extensive publicity on various web sites on the Internet.
One such site claims that the extended double line found at the beginning, end and middle of every bar code represents 666, based on the theory that the double line represents a six.
Bar codes checked in the Cyprus Mail, including on newspapers, soft drinks cans, books and audio cassettes, all had such ‘6’ lines at the beginning, middle and end of the code.
However, the Interior Ministry yesterday assured the Mail that the new smart identity cards would not contain bar codes.
George Theodorou said the cards had been fitted a microchip capable of storing four kilobytes of information on each individual.
Theodorou said the electronic cards would be introduced in June for all Cypriot children reaching the age of 12. For the foreseeable future it will only contain the same information as the regular identity card.
This is because government services such as hospitals and police are not yet equipped to deal with the cards.
"This project has nothing to do with violations of civil rights and has nothing to do with Europe," Theodorou said. He the cards would only be only used in Cyprus by government officials and that no one else could access the system.
"The new cards are replacing the old ones, nothing more, nothing less," said another Ministry official. "The other issues are a long way off and some of them require changes to the law".
