Athens, Greece - As Greek churchgoers prepare for Orthodox Easter this weekend, a simple monk who died 15 years ago but has not decomposed is stealing the show from the usual solemn ritual.
The discovery that Vissarionas Korkoliakos remains largely preserved -- along with his monastic robes and book of Gospels -- is being hailed as a "sign", in a country strong on religious tradition that loves miracles.
"Even (his) soft parts are intact," exclaimed the region's senior cleric, Bishop Nicholas of Fthiotis, as the Greek Orthodox Church officially deemed the event a "celestial sign, a message for our people and our time."
As word got out, thousands have flocked to the monastery near the central town of Lamia, where the body was put on display in a special glass case last month.
"We just witnessed a miracle," one woman told the Eleftherotypia daily. "This man is a saint."
"After all these years, you can still make out his Adam's apple and the veins in his feet," added a man.
Given the fervor, the church decided to keep the corpse on public view, drawing criticism from some clerics who fear the monk's exposure will lead to commercial exploitation and have called for his reburial.
It all started when the body was exhumed "uncorrupted" -- in church parlance -- during repairs to the brick wall of his crypt at Agathonos Monastery, where he died in 1991 at age 83.
Medical experts attribute his state to low humidity conditions in the above-ground tomb.
"If the body were to be reburied, the process of decomposition would presumably continue," Athens coroner Nikos Karakoukis told Net state television. "If it did not, then the phenomenon would be inexplicable."
But the heated debate between rational vs. religious has fallen on deaf ears for many in a country with no shortage of churches, monasteries, and supposedly miracle-working relics.
"All this shows a need to believe in something, to have hope against the fear of death," said Nikos Fakelas, a sociologist at the Greek National Centre for Social Research (EKKE).
Just as in Sweden people might seek support in the social welfare system, Greeks place their faith in the church, he said.
He suggested the Vissarionas craze might be "a sign of a poor education level...and also indicates a population that is easily influenced."
Other researchers are less dismissive.
"Miracles are a personal matter for each individual," said one Greek anthropologist who declined to be named. "These are very sensitive matters."
"Many Orthodox believers say that the bones of a holy person have a sweet fragrance," she said. "Yet Greek folk culture also maintains that a body can fail to decompose because of a curse."
Many Greek pilgrimage sites blend folklore and religion, including the country's most famous, the Church of the Virgin Mary on the Cycladic island of Tinos.
There icons of saints are covered in small tin plaques in the shape of arms, legs, eyes and even entire human bodies -- offerings left in supplication by people eager to restore health to ailing relatives.
Pilgrims to the cathedral have included high-profile figures like the late prime minister Andreas Papandreou, who made an annual visit throughout the 1990s to give thanks after recovering from triple bypass heart surgery.
While Tinos is considered an all-purpose salvation site, other churches have a specialized focus -- such as the church of Virgin Mary Tsambika on the island of Rhodes, which is said to cure barren couples.
"I remember a German couple who came here after seeking help from doctors and getting nowhere," said the church guardian. "When they returned a few years later they had a little boy, whom they had named Tsambiko in honour of the church."
Fakelas said the craze over the late monk can also be interpreted as a popular backlash against a spate of sex and corruption scandals that recently rocked the Church of Greece, tarnishing its image.
"I'm told that as a monk, Vissarionas would leave the monastery and seek to help the needy," he said.
Today "the popular perception surrounding bishops, on the other hand, is that they are chauffeured around in limousines."