Bible swiped from German church during service

BERLIN (Reuters) - Thieves crept into a German church during a service, stole a 300-year-old Bible worth up to 5,000 euros ($7,366) and emptied a collection box, police in Berlin said on Wednesday.

After about 150 congregants at the Martin Luther Church in Berlin's working-class Neukoelln district finished a 90-minute service on Sunday, they found burglars had broken into the church office and made off with the Bible and money donated to buy food for the poor.

Pastor Dieter Spanknebel said the wood and leather-bound book, printed in 1704 with illustrations by noted Swiss engraver Matthaeus Merian, was worth as much as 5,000 euros.

"This Bible won't be easy to sell. It would be smartest just to somehow bring it back to the church," Spanknebel said in an appeal the church posted on its Web site.

(Reporting by Naomi Kresge; editing by Philippa Fletcher)