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9/11 and Saint Nicholas: A Greek Orthodox monument in NYC

“A wise man built his house upon a rock. The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house. And it fell not, for it was grounded upon a rock”

– Matthew: 7, 24-25

When you walk around Ground Zero at the new World Trade Center in New York City, you are overwhelmed. First by the dignified and majestic memorial and museum. Then you see the groups of firefighters gathered around: visiting, talking.

You learn the numbers: 2,977 fatalities, 25,000 injuries. 343 firefighters and 72 policemen killed.

Nineteen years have passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.

One of the buildings destroyed was the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

Rebuilding with light

No one was in St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox church that day, and a few sacred items remained intact – such as the wooden kouvouklion, an elaborately carved canopy that represents Christ’s tomb.

The process of re-building has been a long one. The Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was chosen to design the new church. His plans were influenced by the Byzantine churches of Hagia Sophia and the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, both in Istanbul.

The new church will have a glowing façade, under a 48-foot diameter dome. It will light up at night. The veneer of thin white marble, to be placed within glass panels, will allow light to shine through. The marble is from Mount Pentelicus, in Southern Greece – the same as that used for the Parthenon.

Heritage

The original building dates from around 1832. It was a private dwelling, and then a tavern.

In 1916, Greek American immigrants started the congregation of St Nicholas, using a dining room of a hotel owned by Stamatis Kalamarides. In 1919, five families raised US$25,000 to buy the tavern and converted it into a church.

Millions of dollars in donations were collected for the rebuilding of the church. The city of Bari, Italy, where the relics of Saint Nicholas were originally bestowed, donated $500,000. The Government of Greece contributed $750,000.

Stalled developments

Various disagreements ensued between the Port Authority of New York and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, delaying progress. In 2017, Skanska, the construction company rebuilding the shrine, ceased work, citing unpaid bills.

In 2018, an investigation by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers found no evidence of fraud on the St. Nicholas project. Rather, the cost overruns were due to unbudgeted Change Orders requested by the Archdiocese for new architectural design enhancements.

Benefactors

In 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo assembled a team of seven millionaire and billionaire donors committed to fund the completion of the construction. Their only condition was that the Archdiocese was not involved in the management of the project.

One of the donors is billionaire John Catsimatidis, owner of Gristedes Foods, the largest grocery chain in Manhattan. Born on the Aegean island of Nisyros, he moved to the USA with his parents when six months old. One of his grocery innovations, in 1971, was staying open late seven days a week and offering free delivery.

On August 3, 2020, Governor Cuomo and Archbishop Elpidophoros of America attended a ceremony to officially resume construction. Completion is expected in 2021.

Saint Nicholas is the patron Saint of sailors, fishermen, merchants, children, the falsely accused, repentant thieves, brewers and pharmacists.

At a cost of $80m, the new church is forecast to be one of the most visited in the world.

(Picture: Rendering of the new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Shrine at the World Trade Center, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava.)

James Neophytou


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