Toby Elles says he was frying some bacon after a boozy night but fell asleep with the hob on.
If it wasn’t for holy smoke filling the room, the slumbering bank worker might never have woken up.
He quickly turned the heat off and lifted the food – to find a slightly crispy Christ staring back at him, complete with distinctive flowing locks, beard and gentle gaze.
There is also a crown of thorns but we think that may have been added with a few deft strokes of a spatula.
‘My housemates and I had a few beers earlier in the evening. I thought I would snack before going to bed and, as it was cooking, I decided to take a rest on the couch,’ said Mr Elles, of Salford, Lancashire. ‘When I woke up about an hour later the room was full of smoke.’
‘If it wasn’t for the smoke of the bacon burning this onto the pan it could have been a very bad situation, perhaps someone’s looking over me,’ Mr Elles mused.
But he has vowed not to clean up the resulting Messiah, preferring to keep it as a memento.
‘It’s become quite a talking point. I have even thought I might get a glass cabinet to put it in,’ he added.