Religious icons shot on Thasos island
Church authorities on the northern Aegean island of Thasos have ordered locks to be placed on two chapels after a man opened fire on their icons, depicting Jesus and the Virgin Mary, with an air gun.
The vandalism was discovered on the Epiphany holiday last Monday by shocked worshippers who visited the chapels of Agia Marina and Agios Vasileios outside the island capital of Limena.
The perpetrator, reportedly a young man with mental problems, was arrested by police on Wednesday.
In a statement, the local church authority said the vandalism was not due to any manifestation of hatred against Christianity and its sanctuaries, but was rather a “dishonest and inappropriate” act by “a person in need of psychological and medical support and treatment.”
