A 1,000-year-old manuscript looted during World War I has been returned to the Greek monastery from where it was stolen more than a century ago.The manuscript is one of the oldest handwritten gospels in the world, according to a news release from the Museum of the Bible, which acquired it in 2014.The document was written in a Greek monastery in southern Italy during the late 10th to early 11th centuries, says the Museum of the Bible. But sometime between the 14th and 15th centuries, it moved to the Kosinitza Monastery, also known as the Theotokos Eikosiphoinissa Monastery, in northern Greece.When the Bulgarian Army invaded Greece during World War I, soldiers looted the monastery, stealing over 400 precious manuscripts as well as other books, objects, and cash. Some of the manuscripts were sold in Europe -- and eventually ended up in American museums.The Eikosiphoinissa Manuscript 220 was sold by Christie's in 2011, says the museum, and then purchased by the Green Collection of Oklahoma City, which donated it to the Museum of the Bible.In 2015, the Greek Orthodox Church had asked several American institutions that held manuscripts from Kosinitza to voluntarily return them to the monastery. The museum started researching its Greek New Testament manuscripts in 2019, leading scholars to realize the document had been stolen from the Kosinitza Monastery. And in 2020 the museum reached out to Eastern Orthodox leaders to express its desire to return the manuscript.The manuscript was finally returned to the monastery in a formal ceremony on Thursday, says a joint statement from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Museum of the Bible."When the Museum of the Bible discovered that this text was illegally and rapaciously taken from the Monastery, it moved quickly, responsibly and professionally to see to its restoration and repatriation," said Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, who represented His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during the return ceremony, according to the statement."We cannot express enough our gratitude to the Green Family and the Museum for their Christian and professional service," he said. "You have set an example for others to follow, and we pray that they do."Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox church, loaned three other manuscripts to the Museum of the Bible as a "gesture of gratitude for the gospel manuscript's return," says the statement.George Tsougarakis, general counsel at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, told CNN that he hopes the return prompts other institutions to return manuscripts stolen during the Bulgarian invasion.Repatriation is "recognition of the inequities and the injustice that these areas went through back then, which led to the removal of these priceless artifacts," he said. "And it's a way of, sort of making the world right again."He noted that copies of the manuscript can allow academics to continue to study it from afar. But for the monks who venerate the manuscript, the physical document represents a powerful connection to the monks who came before them and to the religious tradition itself."There is something to say about touch," Tsougarakis said. The ability for the monks to say, "'I touched the page that my predecessor touched' -- it means something, it's a community."And the Museum of the Bible has set a compelling example for other institutions that have manuscripts stolen from Kosinitza, he added."We urge them to do the right thing," he said. "There's only one right answer here. And we hope that they follow suit."

LA VISTA, Neb. —

Many people celebrated Christmas far from home, leaning on Zoom calls and mailed gifts to get them through.

When a package didn't make it home, this family worried a tradition would be lost until a stranger stepped in to help.

Like many families across the world, the Negrete family traded Christmas celebrations with grandma and grandpa for conversations over Zoom.

"We were used to doing Christmas morning together," said Kylie Negrete. "We want them to be a part of our Christmas morning because they used to live next door to us."

Negrete asked her mother to send homemade Christmas cookies from Tennessee because that's what they ate together every holiday season.

"They mean so much to us because we weren't going to see my parents this holiday season," she said. "That's the only thing I was going to get to see are the cookies made by mom and by my stepdad."

By Christmas Eve, the cookies hadn't arrived until Negrete received a phone call by a man named Mike, who found a package addressed to her lying in the middle of the street.

Mike delivered the desserts to her home and Negrete was overwhelmed with thankfulness.

"I cried and I felt silly for crying but it was just the one thing I was going to get from my parents is that little bit of them are these cookies that they made from their heart," she said.

Although it was a smaller Christmas morning than years past, sometimes a little piece of home is just what you need.

"Even during these dark times where there's all these unknowns, a pandemic, everybody's lives have just been uprooted, it just goes to show that there's so much good in people," said Negrete.

WACO, TX — Rusty thought he was the luckiest dog in Waco.

At just 2-years-old, Rusty spent half his life at the shelter. His owners surrendered him as a puppy in February 2020 because he was hyper. Rusty was placed in a foster home for two months and then was sent to a rescue in Idaho.

Two months later, the rescue sent him back to Waco because he was not dog-friendly and they weren't able to place him in a home.

Over the next couple of months, Rusty became depressed and frustrated, which caused him to act out in his kennel and towards other dogs.

In November 2020, Rusty was adopted, but a month later he was surrendered back to the shelter for being destructive.

Through the work of staff at the Waco Animal Shelter, Rusty worked through his problems and was finally placed with adopters.

After 419 days in the shelter, Rusty was going to his forever home, or so he thought.

After one day with his new family, Rusty was returned to the Waco Animal Shelter. According to the Humane Society of Central Texas, Rusty's adopters said he was "too much work."

The adopters reached said they returned Rusty because he bit them. They said they made the decision in order to protect their family.

Now it is back to square one for the 2-year-old dog. March 31 marks Rusty's 420th day in the shelter.

This article was written by Anissa Connell and Sydney Isenberg for KXXV.