A social media account featuring religious icons drawn in an anime-style has reportedly ruffled the feathers of Orthodox believers in central Russia.
State television in the city of Ufa aired footage last week that showed a local church leader calling the authors of the icons “ignorant.”
“You need to ask them what they were crafting when they were doing this,” Dionysy Lobanov told Vesti Bashkortostan.
The offending icons were posted on the 5,000-member “Orthodox Anime Icons” group on the Vkontakte social media website beginning in mid-2014. Comments there range from innocent discussions of anime TV series to warnings that the authors are in violation of Russia’s infamous law against sharing memes.
“I’m surprised they’re portraying it as if the group appeared last night. It’s been up for four years,” wrote one user.
The last time a new entry appeared on the group's page was in January 2018.
Here is a look at some of the icons:
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