Alarms Save Church Icons

A daring would-be thief broke into a Greek Orthodox cathedral in Astoria early yesterday and tried to make off with two icons including one of St. Irene, believed by some to have wept real tears during the Gulf War.

Priests at St. Irene Chrysovalantou Cathedral were praising their patron saint and two alarm systems for foiling the burglary at the church at 36-02 23rd Ave.

”She really protects this church,” said the Rev. Dorotheos Tzevelekas. ”Yesterday was the feast of St. Irene, so the people will be upset to hear that someone tried this.”

A prowler gained access to the church shortly after midnight by smashing a small window roughly 30 feet above the altar. The thief cut himself in the process and triggered a silent alarm, police said.

The burglar then shimmied down a rope, leaving a trail of blood, Tzevelekas said.

The intruder apparently headed straight for an icon of the Blessed Virgin, an exact gold replica of the famed Axion Esti on Greece’s Mount Athos. Protected by glass, the Virgin is adorned with gold watches, necklaces and other gifts left by grateful worshipers.

”The people leave them to thank the Virgin,” Tzevelekas said.

When the thug smashed the glass case, a second alarm shrieked, police said.

”He probably panicked, but then he tried to get St. Irene,” Tzevelekas said. ”He couldn’t get her, so he ran out the door.”

Police have no suspects but are continuing to investigate the botched burglary, said department spokeswoman Carmen Melendez. The only damage to the weeping icon consisted of drops of blood on a frame and on festival ribbons adorning the 6-by-8-inch painting on wood.

During the Gulf War, congregants at a Chicago church, where the icon to the patron saint of peace was on loan, reported that the portrait shed actual tears.

On Dec. 23, 1991, the icon was reported stolen by armed thugs from the Astoria church’s sanctuary. Five days later, the statue was returned by mail, minus its large jewel-encrusted frame.

While parishioners may have cried tears of joy yesterday that the icons remained unscathed, St. Irene apparently did not weep.

”Since the Gulf War, we haven’t noticed anything unusual,” Tzevelekas said.

”Not a tear.”