World Trade Center’s Saint Nicholas Church has recently reopened after years following its destruction during the 9/11 terrorist attack. When the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed due to the attack, the Greek Orthodox church was also destroyed with it. After it re-opened, the first liturgy service took place on December 6 and involved celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas. The church now aims to receive visitors belonging to different faiths, who want to honor and remember the victims of the terrorist attack.
Fox News reports:
Lower Manhattan’s Saint Nicholas Church has reopened for the first time since 9/11.
The Greek Orthodox church located at the World Trade Center was destroyed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The collapse of the South Tower took the church down with it, according to the website of St. Nicholas.
After more than two decades, the new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine reopened its doors to the public this week.
The first liturgy service on Dec. 6, 2022, celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas, the Associated Press reported.
The church is now preparing to welcome visitors of all faiths who want to remember and honor the victims of 9/11.
“Today is a joyous day for America and for New York,” Michael Psaros, chair of Friends of St. Nicholas, told the AP.
“We invite all of America to please come visit, to come to the cenotaph that was created and built in memory of 3,000 people who were martyred and murdered on Sept. 11.”
Icons depicting heroes of 9/11 and the saints watched over the ceremony that was largely conducted in New Testament Greek.
Vice president of the parish council and a third-generation member of the St. Nicholas community, Olga Pavlakos, called it the “resurrection of St. Nicholas Church.”
St. Nicholas Church was established in 1916 inside a small row house that served as a tavern. New Yorkers belonging to different generations remember coming to the church, that stood firmly throughout decades in Lower Manhattan.
The original St. Nicholas Church was founded in 1916 in a small row house that was used as a tavern, according to the church’s website.
This would become one of the first stops for many Greeks immigrants after their disposition from Ellis Island.
The historic church witnessed decades of growth in Lower Manhattan’s financial district — and stood its ground during the construction of the World Trade Center in the 1960s.
Generations of New Yorkers remember stopping by to say a prayer, light a candle, or enjoy a moment of silence, according to the church.
Read the full article here.
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