By Tom Tracy
Cops are looking for the vandal who splashed beige paint on an ornate cross standing proudly outside of Three Hierarchs Church on Tuesday. As of this writing, the vandal was being sought for committing a possible bias crime against the church located near the corner of Avenue P and East 17th Street in Midwood. Workers at the Greek Orthodox house of worship told police that they spotted the damage as soon as they opened up the church Tuesday morning. The stain had to remain on the cross until members of the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force could catalogue the vandalism. The vandalized cross was just inside the front gate, standing before a banner that read “Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Church: “Knowing, Loving and Serving God’s People.” The paint covered the left side of the cross and dripped down to its base. Nothing else appeared to be damaged, according to authorities. “We are very upset,” a congregant answering phones at the church said Tuesday afternoon, just a few minutes after they were given permission to remove the paint from the cross, which they said has welcomed parishioners entering the church for over 20 years. “This wasn’t an accident, this was a hate crime.” Congregants said that this is the first time in recent memory that the church had been vandalized. Captain Vincent Stella, the commanding officer of the 61st Precinct, said that the vandalism is currently being investigated as a “possible bias crime” although no anti-religious remarks or symbols were found. “But that’s just based on the fact that this happened at a house of worship,” Stella said. “In the end, it’s the Hate Crime Task Force’s call.” “Vandalism that singles out any religious or ethnic group is especially deplorable and cannot be tolerated,” said State Senator Carl Kruger, who joined Captain Stella at Three Hierarchs Church to look over the damage. “It would be easy to push this aside as a simple act of vandalism perpetuated by a bored or ignorant individual, but that would not be the right thing to do. Our houses of worship are sacred and must be protected from acts such as this.” Cops are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to call CrimeStoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
