The Archbishop of York has condemned vandalism at St James Church in Leyland, Lancashire, as a "desecration."
On Good Friday, the church and nearly 40 gravestones were defaced with explicit graffiti, including the phrase "God is a lie."
In a letter to the congregation, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell expressed his shock, stating: "For this precious holy ground to be so appallingly desecrated is deeply shocking."
Despite the incident, Vicar Marc Wolverson has been overwhelmed by the reaction of the local community.
He told Premier Christian News: "Within a very short space of time we had loads of residents and councillors coming to us saying 'is there anything we can do? This is not right!'".
Rev Marc also expressed how he feels sympathy for the perpetrators and made sure to publicly pray for them at their Good Friday service.
He said: "Whatever pain they're experiencing must be awful if they feel they have to be so negative and hurtful towards the community".
Lancashire Police have labelled the act as a hate crime, though no arrests have been made as investigations continue.