Orthodox Church Still Waits to Rebuild after Sept. 11 Attack

c. 2005 Religion & Ethics Newsweekly NEW YORK _ When terrorists slammed their hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, they also destroyed historic St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, as debris from the south tower pancaked the tiny church nestled at its foot. “It was _ well, let’s face it _ […]

c. 2005 Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

NEW YORK _ When terrorists slammed their hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, they also destroyed historic St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, as debris from the south tower pancaked the tiny church nestled at its foot.

“It was _ well, let’s face it _ it was the loss of life that really was the unbearable part,” says John Pitsikalis, president of the congregation’s board. “But losing that (church) … you know, you always need your faith in hard times.


“And here, when I want to go to church, my church is gone.”

Four years later, parishioners are still waiting to rebuild the church, a congregation of about 70 families but with a much wider ministry in New York’s Wall Street financial district.

Greek immigrants acquired the 19th century property in the early 1920s and turned it into a home for their fledgling congregation. Pitsikalis says some of his earliest childhood memories are of attending Holy Week services at the church with his grandfather, one of the founders of the congregation.

“We would open our church every Wednesday from 11 o’clock to 3 o’clock,” he says. “And people would come in who were not necessarily Greek Orthodox, but just wanted a place of solitude and maybe contemplate for a little bit. And the church was actually quite crowded every Wednesday.”

Another parishioner, John Couloucoundis says his family, which is in the shipping business, got involved in the church because St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors.

“There was a lot of history in that church,” he says, noting that “a lot of people had brought icons and contributed to make it really a little gem.

“But the thing you sensed more in St. Nicholas was this close-knit community, these people who had been involved with the church for generations and supported it.”

That, of course, all changed on Sept. 11.

“That day was a nightmare.” Pitsikalis says.

“The destruction was so complete,” adds Couloucoundis, “it was amazing that we found anything at all.”


A few remnants were dug out of the rubble: two torn icons, a charred Bible, three wax candles fused together from the heat, a twisted candelabra.

But precious relics _ including bone fragments of St. Nicholas himself _ were never recovered.

Parishioners say the congregation was in shock but the determination to rebuild was immediate.

“Within about two weeks of the destruction of the church, the parish had already organized, was having meetings and was trying to figure out how to go forward,” Couloucoundis says.

“We weren’t going to leave that part of New York. We never for one moment thought of relocating our church to another location. We were going to stay where we were founded,” Pitsikalis adds.

But four years later there is still no church, its future irrevocably tied to the future of Ground Zero.

The church cannot rebuild, or even draw up design plans, until all the complex ownership, security and architectural issues surrounding the World Trade Center site are sorted out.


“The assurances that we have from the state, the federal level, the city level, is that the church will be rebuilt,” Couloucoundis says. “I think that one of the problems is the logistics of doing that amidst all the other demands and constraints of the Ground Zero area.”

Couloucoundis, the head of the parish fundraising committee, says the rebuilt St. Nicholas will also include an interdenominational center that will focus on the spiritual side of Sept. 11 along with being a traditional parish church.

“We’re not a big parish, but we’ll have hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world wanting to stop by and spend some time and reflect,” he says.

“It’s a place where we can all come together and think about what happened and maybe spend a little bit of time thinking about how to avoid such a thing in the future.”

In the meantime, the congregation is worshipping at a Greek Orthodox church in Brooklyn _ patient but anxious to move ahead.

“We do have a lot of older members, and they’re getting frustrated,” Pitsikalis says. “You know, they want to be alive to see that church built.”


MO/JL/DEA END LAWTON

(A version of this story appeared on the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.” This article may be reprinted by RNS clients. Please use the Religion & Ethics Newsweekly byline.)

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