Greek Orthodox Church Destroyed On 9/11 Restarts Construction
Archbishop Elpidophoros officiates and blesses the restart of construction on Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, joined by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Photo by Jillian Cheney.
NEW YORK — The Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine was completely destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001. After a three-year hiatus, the community resumed reconstruction on Aug. 3 of a new church on the property in New York City’s Financial District.
Archbishop Elpidophros of America was joined by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, leadership of the Friends of St. Nicholas and leadership of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to commemorate the restart and bless the church. The church dome’s first skylight was installed Monday.
St. Nicholas was the only church completely destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. No one died in the building at the time, but it was completely leveled and many of the relics were destroyed.
A PBS report from 2005 said that “A few remnants were dug out of the rubble: two torn icons, a charred Bible, three wax candles intact but fused together from the heat. Church officials also found some liturgical items, including a twisted candelabra. But precious relics, including bone fragments of Saint Nicholas himself, were never recovered.”
The loss of this building sent many of the previous congregants to a Downtown Brooklyn church, the SS. Constantine and Helen Cathedral.
Others, according to Archbishop Elpidophoros, were employed at offices in the vicinity of St. Nicholas and would come “light a candle and say a prayer” before going to work. They have relocated to other parishes in the area.
St. Nicholas has been working to rebuild since the attacks, but construction has been halted since December 2017, as a result of financial issues and project mismanagement.
The election of Archbishop Elpidophoros in May 2019 stimulated the project once more.
“Over a year ago, I said it is our duty and our responsibility as Orthodox Christians but also our obligation to God and His people to complete and open the doors of St. Nicholas and the National Shrine,” Elpidophoros said.
The church will be rebuilt in a partnership between New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Greek Orthodox Church and Friends of St. Nicholas, a new 13-member non-profit.
Elpidophoros is joined by leadership from the Port Authority and Friends of St. Nicholas to share the church’s rebuilding plan. Photo by Jillian Cheney.
“Friends” was created in January of this year and is chaired by Dennis Mehiel, former Chairman of the Battery Park City Authority and Chairman of US Corrugated, which he founded.
The project has a two-year target to complete construction. Its initial goal was to reopen on Sept. 11, 2021—the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks—but due to COVID-19 and supply delays, the church won’t officially open until a few months later. The outside of the church is planned to be complete for public viewing by Sept. 2021.
“The Lord works in strange ways,” Cuomo said. “And that this should be happening now is so powerful and so symbolic. We do have issues and challenges in this country. Yes, we went through 9/11, but we rise from the ashes and we arise stronger than ever before. That’s what this St. Nicholas will stand for.”
Both Elpidophoros and Cuomo shared sentiments that the rebuilding and reopening of the church is of the utmost importance to New Yorkers and Orthodox Christians.
Archbishop Elpidophoros blesses the construction of St. Nicholas. Photo by Jillian Cheney.
Elpidophoros emphasized the importance of St. Nicholas particularly after the news that the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul—built as a Byzantine church in 537—would become a mosque again. He lamented that in this decision, the Hagia Sophia “fell to the status of a pawn” in a move, made by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, criticized as a political strategy to win approval from Islamist nationalists.
When the church is reopened, it will serve again as an open faith space for New Yorkers and global visitors, with the addition of a Non-denominational Bereavement Center on the second floor to memorialize those whose lives were lost in the 9/11 attacks.
“We are going to open St. Nicholas Church and National Shrine as a sign of love, not hate,” Elpidophoros said. “A sign of reconciliation, not of prejudice. And a sign of the ideals that exist in this great American nation which religious liberty and freedom of conscience never excludes but only embraces.”
Jillian Cheney is a Poynter-Koch fellow for Religion Unplugged who loves consuming good culture and writing about it. She also reports on American Protestantism and Evangelical Christianity. You can find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.