'John the Baptist's hand' a crowd-pleaser among Russian faithful
MOSCOW (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Russians got a once-in-a-lifetime chance this week to touch a hand that may have touched Jesus, a relic described as having belonged to John the Baptist which is on loan to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Massive crowds, testifying to the country's popular religious revival, waited hours in snaking lines outside Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral to touch the relic, considered by believers to be the right hand with which John touched Jesus's head while baptizing him.
The relic, which once belonged to Russia's tsarist dynasty, was taken to Denmark following the 1917 Communist revolution, then found its way to a safe haven in an Orthodox monastery in Montenegro.
Now missing two fingers, it is endowed by believers with special powers including the ability to heal the sick and help students on their exams....