After swallowing the New Testament myth about Lazarus, and how he was brought back to life by a geezer called Jesus, an Ethiopian family agreed to dig up a relative and allow a ‘prophet’ to revive the corpse.

It went badly.

Despite being told repeatedly to “get up” by “prophet” Getayawkal Ayele, who lay on top of the corpse of Belay Biftu and yelled at him, the dead man proved singularly uncooperative – and some family got so angry they attacked the wannabe messiah. Others just fainted.

Ayele was saved from serious harm when police arrived at the scene – although it did not mean he was out of trouble.

Abusing dead bodies is a crime under Ethiopian law and a local police commander told the BBC that the man, whose real job is as a health worker, is now in custody.

The incident was filmed and has since gone viral on social media.

Residents in the small western town of Galilee, in the Oromia region, said Ayele first went to the bereaved family and spun them the yarn about Lazarus, which they stupidly believed.