Only church destroyed on 9-11 is determined to rebuild

naplesnews.com ^ | Saturday, September 6, 2003 | TERRY MATTINGLY

[Destro]

Only church destroyed on 9-11 is determined to rebuild

Saturday, September 6, 2003

By TERRY MATTINGLY, Scripps Howard News Service

The first thing police found at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was a piece of a wing and landing gear from American Flight 11.

Then the World Trade Center's north tower fell on the humble, white-washed walls of the tiny sanctuary across the street. It took time for work crews to find much of anything after that.

Eventually they found a paper icon of St. Dionysios of Zakynthos, but never found its frame or silver cover. They found an embroidered velvet cloth, but not the Bible it covered. They found a bell clapper, but not the bell. They found a silver hand in prayer, a wooden icon of a healing fountain, fragments of the marble altar, a twisted piece of a candelabrum and beeswax candles that survived the hellfire from above.

Church officials recovered part of a ceremonial book of New Testament epistles, with the smell of smoke in every page.

But the faithful have yet to recover the 700-pound fireproof steel safe from the office, the one containing the golden ossuary with its fragments of the bones of three saints, including their patron. St. Nicholas of Myra is the 4th century saint who in Western lands has evolved into St. Nick. The Rev. John Romas explained all of this to workers at the New Jersey landfill as they sifted through mountains of rubble from ground zero.

"I told them about the relics of St. Nicholas and St. Katherine and St. Sava," said Romas, priest at St. Nicholas for almost two decades and a chanter for years before that. "I told them about the safe on the top floor. I described everything in detail. But our little church was gone. There were no windows, no doors, no walls — nothing."

The priest paused, trying to find English words for his emotions.

"What can we say? Someone may have picked up a gold box thinking there would be money in it and then they threw everything else away. Who knows? Who knows? Who knows? But this we do know — we will rebuild our church."

The parish's 80 families have every reason to be hopeful, said Romas, as they wait for city, state and regional officials to solve what the New York Times calls an "urban-planning Rubik's Cube." The goal? Build 10 million square feet of commercial space and rebuild lower Manhattan's infrastructure, while creating a towering architectural masterpiece that honors those lost on a day that changed the city, the nation and the world.

Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Church in America has received assurances from New York Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg that the sanctuary can be rebuilt next to the World Trade Center site. Architect Daniel Libeskind's winning design for the site and memorial also includes St. Nicholas, the only church that was destroyed.

And the parish (www.stnicholasnyc.org) does control its site at 155 Cedar Street. But the old building was only 22 feet wide, 56 feet long and 35 feet high. Church leaders hope to raise funds to buy additional property to build a slightly larger church, in anticipation of new families and visitors to the Sept. 11 memorial.

The building that became St. Nicholas was built in 1832 as a private residence and even spent several years as a tavern. Greek immigrants bought it in 1916 and it was dedicated as a church the next year. Part of the church's charm was its size — a Byzantine haven dwarfed by steel, glass, concrete and stress.

Every Wednesday, St. Nicholas invited workers and executives to spend the lunch hour in prayer.

In the future, Wednesdays will not be enough.

"Downtown New York City is crazy. It's another world. Yet when you stepped inside St. Nicholas you were taken someplace totally different," said John Pitsikalis, the parish council president. "You literally had the hubbub of the whole world of commerce only a few steps away and yet here was this small zone of peace and quiet and beauty.

"You would come in and the air would be still, the candles would be lit, there would be soft liturgical music and you would be surrounded by the icons. ... People needed that place of sanctuary and that is what we have to have again."

Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) teaches at Palm Beach Atlantic University and is senior fellow for journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

[Destro]

Good Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas, known in the West as Santa Claus, is the patron saint of sailors, bankers, and bakers. He is revered for feeding the hungry and clothing needy children. Born in 270 A.D. in Asia Minor, his parents died at an early age and left him with considerable wealth which he began to give away. After becoming a priest, he was later promoted to Bishop of Myra and took part in the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. In 1087 his remains were transported by the Crusaders to their current home in Bari, Italy. Located in what is today New York City’s financial district, Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church traces its roots back to 1916, when it was founded by Greek immigrants. Serving the spiritual needs of the early immigrant community, the church also achieved prominence as a religious and cultural center for Greek shipping magnates passing through New York. Services began at the current site in 1922, though the building was constructed in the early nineteenth century. Measuring 22ft. wide, 56ft. long and 35ft. tall.

Donations to the Saint Nicholas Building Fund can be sent to:

Saint Nicholas Building Fund
c/o Atlantic Bank
80-10 Fifth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11209
718.748.6400

[Lion in Winter]

Wonderful post. Thank you for posting this.

[NativeNewYorker]

It is impossible to express the anguish I *still* feel, looking at those oh-so-familiar images.

I worked across the street from that church.

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

For the first time in the history of Free Republic, Destro, you and I are completely on the same page. My mother-in-law was baptized in that church. Agreed. Rebuild.

[LibKill]

By all means restore the church!

I only wish they would do the same with the towers.

[BraveHeart72]

I feel the same way you do too. I also worked across the street from the Church right there at 130 Cedar Street.

[eleni121]

A mega "efharisto" (thanks) for posting this. The evil ideology of islam has destroyed thousands of churches since it appeared 1300 years ago, but St. Nick's in lower Manhattan will be rebuilt and that brings hope to many Christians.

[Old Sarge]

I agree with you all - rebuild this humble place of God.

As for the Towers - build them higher and grander, and move the UN into the top 50 stories.

[spookycc]

By all means restore the church!

I only wish they would do the same with the towers.

There were many stickers on the poles around ground zero in the summer of 2002 that had "We want them back!" on them.

One of the finalists for ground zero memorial had twin towers that were not office buildings but rather memorial structures. I wish that plan would have won...

[Destro]

That was the finest one, IMHO.

[Poohbah]

I preferred the five-tower configuration with the middle tower higher than the others, oriented toward Mecca :o)

I also would, if I were one of the people who died, want to have a memorial to what was DONE every business day in those towers; I'd want that memorial to be a working office building, with people doing business there. Calvin Coolidge said that "The business of America is business." Offering goods for sale, making an honest dollar from free and voluntary exchange of goods and services...it is what we do; it is the complete antithesis of what the Islamists want, where everything--what we wear, what we do, what we eat, what we think--would be dictated by what they think the Koran says.

Give the terrorists the finger. Make an honest buck today.

[Lion in Winter]

BTTT

[Tokhtamish]

Did you work at Bankers Trust ? I used to.

[Ann Archy]

As for the Towers - build them higher and grander, and move the UN into the top 50 stories.

BEST idea of this CENTURY!!!!