In Russia, a religious group called the Cossacks of Saint Petersburg tore down this excellent century-old bas relief of Mephistopheles, claiming it promoted the “open worship of Satan.”
Hundreds have been protesting this stupidity at the site while police attempt to identify the vandals. The Russian Orthodox Church didn’t particularly condemn the act.
“Mephistopheles embodies evil in this world and this person decided to act, most likely, to kill Evil,” Church spokesman Roman Bagdasarov told pro-Kremlin daily Izvestia.
