Summary: We read Revelation 13:11-18 in light of current interpretation (even among Orthodox readers), the fathers, and LXX Daniel “Bel and the Dragon,” 12b: 1-42. This chapter is not significant for identifying in our day the figure numbered 666 nor the mark of the beast. Instead, it prepares us for faithfulness, the possibility of exclusion or even martyrdom, and sober worship of the God of all.
