Greek television channels said Wednesday the controversial fresco at the St. Mary's church in the town of Axioupoli, in Thessaloniki, depicts Vladimir Lenin trimming a canonized Russian archbishop's beard in a metaphor apparently symbolizing Bolshevik persecution of Christianity and other religious faiths.
The archbishop represented in the fresco, Luke Voino-Yasenetsky (1877-1961), spent more than a decade in prison and exile during the Soviet era. He is one of the most revered saints in modern-day Greece.
Another fresco at St. Mary's church depicts participants in the 1900 Boxer Rebellion slaying Christians in China.
Thessaloniki Prefect Panayotis Psomiadis harshly criticized both paintings, describing them as a sacrilege.
Metropolitan Spirydon, overseeing St. Mary's parish, threatened to bring to justice those who had allowed the frescos to appear at the church.
But the painter, Costas Vafiadis, maintained that such representations are perfectly acceptable in a church setting, as long as they are part of scenes depicting the sufferings of saint martyrs for their faith.
The priest of the Axioupoli church, Father Dorotheus, agreed: "The Church does not prohibit self-expression."
