At least 150,000 Orthodox Russians have queued to kiss the relic of the right hand of St John, which has been revered in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow for the past week.

RIA Novosti reported that many in the queue had to wait from 13 to 14 hours before they could venerate the relic.

The relic, in its box, has now left Moscow on its way to Nijni Novgorod.

Contrary to accepted stereotypes, the crowd of worshippers was not composed of old women, the famed babushkas, but mostly of young people, families and groups of friends.

It is believed that this relic could be the one venerated for years by the Order of St John in Malta and then thought lost.

In 1799, Russian Emperor Paul I, at that time the protector of the Order of Malta, was given custody of the relic and transferred it to Russia.

After the 1917 troubles and the revolution, the relic was taken out of Russia and thought lost. It was only found in 1993 in Montenegro.

After Moscow and Nijni Novgorod, the relic will be taken to Tcheboksary, Ekaterinburg, Tcheliabinsk, Saratov, Vladikavkaz, Rostow on the Don, Minsk in Bielorussia, Saint Petersburg and Kiev in Ukraine. After five days in Kiev, the relic will be taken back to Montenegro on 16 July.