Thirteen
years ago, a small Greek Orthodox church with a ringing rooftop bell
offered a reprieve from the city’s furious financial nerve center, until
it was crushed when the World Trade Center’s south tower collapsed on
Sept. 11. On Saturday, church officials blessed the ground where the new St. Nicholas church would rise.
The
original four-story building, its whitewashed sides surrounded by a
parking lot, was home to a congregation of some 70 families. It was the
only religious building destroyed during the attacks. New York officials
and church leaders vowed to rebuild, but the process has been marred by
disputes and prolonged negotiations.
The
ceremony on Saturday, conducted by high-ranking members of the Greek
Orthodox Church, was muted but hopeful. Under overcast skies that
occasionally gave glimpses of the sun, Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New
York and former officials including Mayor David N. Dinkins and Gov.
George E. Pataki were among the large crowd.
The
event, held on an undecorated concrete pavilion surrounded by dozens of
steel foundation beams, mirrored a traditional service. Altar boys
walked through the hushed audience, a choir sang hymns and church
leaders talked of hope and resilience. After the ground was blessed, Mr.
Pataki, who left office at the end of 2006, took the stage amid the
bishops and deacons and spoke of the initial promise to rebuild and the
bumpy road that followed.
Mr. Pataki said:
"Today my name is Georgios Patakis."
"Today my name is Georgios Patakis."
“It was easy to say,” he said. “It was harder to do.”
The
ceremony, he said, represented more than the resurrection of a small
and vanquished city church. “We were attacked not because of what we do
wrong, but because of what we do right,” Mr. Pataki said. Democracy, he
said, “came from Greece.” He concluded by adding: “Today my name is
Georgios Patakis.”
The
new structure, to be called the St. Nicholas National Shrine, will be
at Liberty Street, directly across from the National September 11
Memorial waterfalls, and will sit more than 20 feet above ground level.
Officials said they hoped construction would be finished by 2017.
During
the ceremony, Archbishop Demetrios, the spiritual leader of Greek
Orthodox Christians of America, recounted how after the attacks “the
church was not there. Instead we saw a hole, with a depth of 7 to 10
feet.” The scene, he said, was merely the remnants of a “one-time
charming little church.”
He
applauded the shrine’s architect, Santiago Calatrava. The Rev. Evagoras
Constantinides, a church spokesman, explained that once completed, the
Byzantine-inspired structure will “glow from the inside,” through the
combination of light marble fused with glass and backlit with LEDs.
Mr. Schumer’s speech further conveyed a story of triumph through the church’s odyssey.
“Like
a phoenix rising from the ashes,” he said, “this church will show the
resilience and fortitude of St. Nicholas and of all New Yorkers.”
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