616 =The Mark of the Beast

Alexander Cockburn: Who Beat Hitler?

The Mark of the Beast

The Reagans need not have changed their street address. It turns out the mark of Antichrist is not 666 but 616. From Great Beast to Area Code, (though this doesn't explain why the 68 Dodge Dart I once owned with a California tag of 666 nearly killed me several times before it passed into the hands of Victor of San Leandro).

Using new photographic techniques, a know-it-all team of classicists has been reviewing the manuscripts chucked onto various rubbish dumps by the citizens of Oxyrhynchus, particularly a new fragment from the Book of Revelation, written in ancient Greek and dating from the late third century.

Professor David Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham, told The Independent that 616 is the correct number, a coded reference to the Emperor Caligula, an emperor the early Christians held in low esteem.

If you're wondering 616 is an area code in south west Michigan, a region replete with militia groups who are probably wondering whether this is all a plot by the Pentagon. Pending further developments, CounterPunch will stay with 666, a number freighted with tradition.