CRIPPLED GREEK GIRL AND MOTHER SEEK MIRACLE IN BETHLEHEM CHURCH, 1997-08-28 (photo)

Julia Anthrapulo lays her crippled 5-year-old daughter Helena on the marble slab which tradition says is the site of the Manger where Jesus Christ was born in the Church of the Nativity August 28. Anthrapulo, who lives in the northern Greek region of Macedonia, says the family is on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land seeking divine intervention for her daughter who was born with a debilitating bone disease which left her handicapped from birth and that they waited for two days to enter Bethlehem before Israel lifted its month-long closure on the biblical city. Shortly after Helena was laid down on the holy site, as her relatives chanted prayers, her mother said Helena took her first ever steps with her assistance. The family is calling is calling it a miracle. MIDEAST CHRISTIANS