A significant aspect of religious practices and representations is the way information is handled. If we understand religion as a form of imagination assigning human properties to nonhuman agents (and vice versa), we would expect that the rules of communication and interaction with such agents would play a special role in religious culture. The concept of “semiotic ideologies” by Webb Keane is one of the analytical tools that allow us studying the norms, expectations and rules of such communications.

The paper discusses an ambivalent interaction between Chasovennye Old Believers of Yenisei region and modern technologies. Old Believers have to rely on certain technologies and equipment for survival in severe conditions of taiga and mountains. Nevertheless, technology is strongly associated with Antichrist and signifies his imminent arrival. The paper is focused on the intensity of usage of certain technological devices by the Old Believers, and how these devices are interpreted in eschatological terms.