Moscow, Russia - John the Baptist's right hand has had many adventures since it was cut from the rest of his body two millennia ago.
Legend has it that it saved the people of Antioch, in modern day Turkey, from a dragon, which choked to death when a man from the city threw a finger from the hand into its throat. The hand, which normally resides in Montenegro, is working wonders again as it visits Russia for the first time since it was smuggled out of the country after the 1917 revolution.
Vladimir Mastukov, a pensioner who lost the use of his legs after a stroke five years ago, bent down to kiss a display case housing the hand. Moments later he cast aside his crutches and skipped out of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow.
"I felt such lightness in all my body," he was quoted as saying. "Thank you, God."
Since it arrived aboard a charter flight in a bullet-proof shrine, the relic has stirred religious fervour. Queues several miles long stretch past the cathedral. The faithful wait for up to 11 hours to kiss the relic.
"My soul drew me here," said Vadim Marushenko from the Siberian city of Omsk.
"I can't formulate in words the elation of having seen it. I just knew as I touched it that the lives of those closest to me will be slightly easier."