A man posed for a photo with a golden Jesus taken from a Vilnius shrine, then dropped it on the street

A golden figure of Jesus was pulled from a wooden cross in the courtyard of the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Vilnius, carried out onto Dominikonų Street in the Lithuanian capital’s Old Town and smashed, on the night of Wednesday 11 November, local time.

Security cameras recorded the moment. One man carries the figure towards another man sitting on a bench and holds it up while his companion appears to photograph him. The figure slips, hits the ground and breaks into pieces. Both men then leave.

On Saturday 14 November, Lithuanian police said that after investigative work they had identified a person who may have committed the offence. The suspect was questioned, served with a notice of suspicion and had their identity document seized. The case is being investigated under part 2 of article 312 of Lithuania’s Criminal Code, which covers desecrating a grave or other public place of worship, with the Vilnius district prosecutor’s office leading it.

Who were the two men?

That has not been officially confirmed. Claims that they were drunk British tourists spread quickly online and in the British press, but police have not confirmed the nationality of either man or whether they had been drinking. The men were heard speaking English in the footage, which is not proof of where they are from.

The sanctuary’s vice-rector, Fr Elijas Anatolijus Markauskas, shared the footage and asked anyone who recognised the man, particularly Old Town residents and accommodation staff, to contact police. He said the man handling the figure appeared to be intoxicated, which is his own impression rather than a police finding. Lithuanian media have also warned that a doctored image claiming to show the culprit has been circulating online.

What was destroyed?

The figure was made of gold-coloured plastic and hung on a cross fixed to the courtyard wall, which is left open to the public. Fr Markauskas said the parish bought it about eight years ago for about €1,000 and that a replacement could cost about €2,000.

The damage is more than financial. The sanctuary houses the original Divine Mercy image, painted in Vilnius in 1934 by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski under the direction of Saint Faustina Kowalska. The image was hidden for decades during the Soviet era, prayed before by Pope John Paul II in 1993 and moved to the sanctuary in 2005. Its copies hang in Catholic churches and homes worldwide, and the sanctuary is a pilgrimage site.

How has the shrine responded?

Not with outrage. In a post after the damage, the sanctuary opened with “Lord, have mercy” and quoted Christ’s words from the cross asking forgiveness for those who “do not know what they are doing”. It asked people to help lift the figure from the dust and restore what was broken.

What could the suspect face?

Lithuanian police have not said what penalty applies in this case, and no charge has yet been brought in court. A notice of suspicion in Lithuania is a formal step in a pre-trial investigation, not a finding of guilt.

VNN will update this story as more is confirmed.