Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Hundreds Parade With Recovered Icon

Undeterred by a steady rain, hundreds paraded a “weeping” icon through the streets of New York, grateful it had been returned by robbers who stripped it of its gold frame and gems. The 72-year-old wooden portrait, in a wood and glass case, was protected from the rain by a velvet canopy. Mayor David N. Dinkins and Peter Vallone, speaker of the City Council, marched with Bishop Vikentios of Avlon, the spiritual leader and pastor of the Greek Orthodox church of St. Irene Chrysovalantou. The icon was stolen at gunpoint last Monday and returned to Vikentios by mail Saturday. Some believe the icon wept tears a year ago, at the outset of the Gulf War. Police suspected the icon was stolen for the jewels and gold frame that had given it an estimated value of about $800,000.