Burglar takes offerings worth tens of thousands from renowned cathedral on Paros

A burglary of one of the most renowned Orthodox Churches in the Cyclades, the famed Panaghia Ekatontapiliani cathedral on the eponymous island of Paros, netted the suspect offerings worth… tens of thousands of euros, police said.

Nevertheless, the euphoria from the sacrilegious break-in on Tuesday was short-lived for the alleged suspect, as authorities him — in possession of the ecclesiastical “loot” — a day later.

The man was identified as a 31-year-old repatriated ethnic Greek from Kazakhstan.

Church faithful in Greece often leave votive offerings (known as “tamata”) in Orthodox churches. The objects are usually small metal plaques, which may be of base or precious metal, usually with an embossed image symbolizing the subject of prayer for which the plaque is offered. The more well known a church, the more precious and numerous the offerings.