Icon Found After Five-week Hunt

The quest to find a missing icon, famed for its healing powers and ability to fend off enemy attacks, ended over the weekend when a man admitted he had stolen the work from a hanging-cliff monastery in southern Greece.

Greek police had seen it as a "matter of honour" to reclaim the 14th-century icon, purportedly painted by Luke the Evangelist and seen as a symbol of opposition to 400 years of Ottoman rule.

During a five-week hunt for the piece, stolen from Elonas monastery in the Peloponnesian town of Leonidio, road blocks were erected, telephones tapped, helicopters scrambled and vigils held. Orthodox faithful prayed for its safe return.

The breakthrough came on Saturday when a Romanian immigrant made contact with a local bishop in a vain attempt to sell the work. Once caught, he led officials to its hiding place in a remote village. "We used all our skills, every means at our disposal to find it," the Greek police chief, Anastassios Dimoshakis, told a press conference. "We are very proud."

For many, the manner of the theft had been as shocking as its disappearance. The thief had scaled the steep mountainside on which the monastery is perched. After climbing the bell tower, he had scrambled across its roof, smashed a window and snatched the piece.

Yesterday clerics were giving thanks for the miracle that had brought the icon back. But Greek police were keeping mum about its exact location.