John of God: Miracle worker or charlatan?

By Tim Elliott
Updated October 4 2014 - 1:18pm, first published 12:48pm
A portrait of Joao de Deus, right, as a younger man. Photo: Tim Elliot
A portrait of Joao de Deus, right, as a younger man. Photo: Tim Elliot
A pilgrim meditates in the "current room". Photo: Tim Elliot
A pilgrim meditates in the "current room". Photo: Tim Elliot
A wheelchair-bound patient waits to see Joao de Deus. Photo: Tim Elliot
A wheelchair-bound patient waits to see Joao de Deus. Photo: Tim Elliot
Blessed crystals for sale. Photo: Tim Elliot
Blessed crystals for sale. Photo: Tim Elliot
Joao de Deus operates on a woman's arm. Photo: Tim Elliot
Joao de Deus operates on a woman's arm. Photo: Tim Elliot
Group prayer at the casa. Photo: Tim Elliot
Group prayer at the casa. Photo: Tim Elliot
Healing triangles for sale. Photo: Tim Elliot
Healing triangles for sale. Photo: Tim Elliot

Jana Tsu-Jones is a meaty, robust woman, one of those no-nonsense eastern European types you see in socialist-realist posters, hurling bushels of wheat onto a horse-drawn cart. Before she moved to Sydney in 1984, she lived in Bulgaria, where she would hike for days in the mountains around Sofia.

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