PALM HARBOR, FL – As the Greek-American community of Northern Pinellas County prepared to celebrate Night in the Islands on August 20 – a monthly ritual most of the year of eating, drinking, and dancing to live Greek music along Dodecanese Boulevard on Tarpon Springs’ famed Sponge Docks, a fundraiser to rebuild the church of Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene which was critically damaged in a fire two year ago took place in Palm Harbor, just south of Tarpon, and parishioners told The National Herald “this is our island.”
They referred to a makeshift church established in the aftermath of the September 23, 2014 fire that ravaged the original location, the temporary facility housed in a commercial strip mall on Highway 19, the road that connects Western Florida cities such as Tarpon Springs, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, and Clearwater Beach, all of which have sizeable Greek-American populations.
As TNH previously reported (“Fire Damages Palm Harbor Church, but Remains of 3 Saints are Saved,” Oct. 4, 2014), the church was established in the late 1990s. On the morning of the fire, “Carol Dyer was proceeding through her route, delivering the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, when she saw the smoke emerging from the Church…Dyer called the fire department immediately, and the firefighters were able to extinguish the
flames before they engulfed the entire structure, saving among other things the critical ancient remnants of the three saints for which the Church is named – which were given to the Church, brought there from Greece.
“Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene were Christian martyrs from the village of Thermi on the island of Lesbos..who were fatally tortured by the Ottoman Empire in 1463, began appearing to Thermi villagers in dreams and visions in 1959, revealing their cruel torture and providing clues that led to important excavations. They were
canonized as saints on September 11, 1970.”
No foul play was suspected; investigations confirmed it was an electrical fire.
Community President George Koulianos and his wife, Irene, whose family originates from Lesbos, told TNH of plans for the church’s rebuilding, including builders and material to come from Greece, and architectural plans for a Byzantine-style structure.
She described that because of the church’s homage to its three patron saints, actual relics of all three – which are prominently displayed – are housed there.
“This is a wonderful community that has stuck together” throughout this period of transition,” local AHEPA chapter vice president Michael Pantel told TNH. “This is really wonderful what they are doing,” he said, and marveled at the community’s enthusiasm and solidarity.
Foundations for the new church are expected to begin in November, and the actual church should be completed approximately fourteen months later.