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TIME: Almanac 1995
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TIME Almanac 1995.iso
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1994-03-25
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<text id=92TT0060>
<title>
Jan. 13, 1992: American Notes:Icons
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
Jan. 13, 1992 The Recession:How Bad Is It?
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
NATION, Page 21
American Notes
ICONS
No Euphoria in Astoria
</hdr><body>
<p> St. Irene may be the patron saint of peace, but last week her
image provoked an unseemly squabble. Two days before Christmas,
thieves stole a small jewel-encrusted painting of the saint from
St. Irene Greek Orthodox Cathedral, which is located in Astoria,
a predominantly Greek neighborhood in New York City. The icon,
which congregationers say began to shed tears at the prospect
of the Persian Gulf war, is valued by the church at $800,000.
Church leaders went on television to plead for the icon's
return. New York Mayor David Dinkins--and the Mafia--joined
the appeal. On Dec. 28 the icon showed up in the mail, without
the jewels and gold.
</p>
<p> Then a representative of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of
North and South America suggested not only that the icon had
never wept, but also that the purported theft had been an inside
job. St. Irene's bishop, Vikentios of Avlon, who belongs to a
breakaway branch of the church, retorted that he would file a
$50 million defamation suit against the archdiocese. The police
say they have no evidence of fraud. If St. Irene was not crying
before, she may be now.
</p>
</body></article>
</text>