Mitsero, Cyprus, October 12, 2020
Parishioners of Panagia Lampadiotissa Church in Mitsero, Cyprus were horrified on Sunday when they arrived to find their church seriously vandalized.
The Panagia Lampadiotissa Church was built in 1966, next to the ruins of an ancient Byzantine church on Mt. Koroni. A cobbled path leads from the church to a holy spring to which locals attribute healing properties, mainly related to skin diseases.
As can be seen in pictures from the incident, vandals covered the doors, walls, and icons of the church in the Nicosia District with spray-painted upside-down crosses and pentacle stars.
According to Mayor Andreas Kyriakou, police were called to the scene, reports SigmaLive.
“They spray-painted all the icons. I don’t know what led them to such an act,” he said.
Mayor Kyriakou believes the vandals are probably not locals, and the incident could be related to a fire that was recently set in the same church.