After the end of World War II, many Muscovites experienced a religious revival. Deprivation and grief pushed people towards faith, and a significant role in this was played by the well-known Orthodox saint Matrona of Moscow. Despite her severe illness, she continued to receive numerous visitors.

According to a little-known urban legend, one day Matrona asked her assistant to go to Vvedenskoe Cemetery and collect water from the hands of the Christ sculpture located near the family tomb of the calico manufacturer Ludwig Knop. The woman was surprised, as it was extremely hot outside, but she decided to fulfill the request. As soon as she arrived at the cemetery, a heavy rain began, she collected the water and brought it to Matrona, after which the old woman felt better.

Upon learning of the miracle, people began to visit Vvedenskoe Cemetery in droves. Since it did not rain every day, some poured water on the hands of the sculpture, while others placed containers underneath. The line to the statue soon became longer than that to the mausoleum, as rumors spread about the healing power of the water. The Soviet authorities, actively fighting against Christianity, could not allow this. Soon the tomb and the statue were surrounded by a high fence, but people began to pour water over the fence and collect it with rags. Upon learning of this, Stalin ordered the sculpture to be removed. The faithful searched for it for a long time and found it in the storerooms of the Shchusev Museum, but they could not buy it back.

Only in 1976 was the sculpture transferred to the museum of the Moscow Spiritual Academy, and for ten years it was kept in a boarded-up box in the Smolensk Church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. It was only in 1986, thanks to perestroika and a change in attitude towards religion, that it was moved to the museum, where it remains today.