WHITESTONE, NY— The Divine Liturgy on the Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross was led by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church of Whitestone. Every year, the Archbishop honors the parish with a visit as close as possible to the feast day of the church since his attendance is required at the Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline, MA. This year, Sunday was also September 11. Along with the names of those commemorated in the memorial services of the church, the names of those Greek Orthodox Christians who perished in the attacks of 9/11 were also read out. The Greek Orthodox victims and all those innocent victims who died that day were remembered as well as the first responders and those who died as a result of their efforts at Ground Zero. Presiding priest of Holy Cross the Reverend Father Dionysios Anagnostopoulos, Rev. Chrysostomos Panos, Deacon Eleftherios Constantine, and Deacon Panagiotis Papazafiropoulos also participated in the service.
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios spoke movingly about that fateful day when he happened to be in Boston, watching the attacks unfolding, recalling that at first we did not know what was happening but when the second plane hit, he noted, we knew it was an act of terrorism. The Archbishop then described the day after, arriving at the scene, seeing the terrible destruction, the air thick with smoke and toxic fumes, the mound of rubble that buried the victims, and saying the prayers for the dead, meeting a group of recovery workers who asked for a blessing to continue their grim work and after blessing them, encountering a group of reporters who asked him if what he saw at Ground Zero had shaken his faith. The Archbishop said, “I have seen this before, I lived through four years of occupation by the Nazis during the war, and I have seen people killed in the street. What we witnessed was from evil and hate, but I also saw people rushing to help those in need out of love for their fellow human beings.” People had crucified our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are capable of terrible acts of violence against each other, but also tremendous acts of kindness as well. His Eminence observed that he had never seen so many police and fire fighters with tears in their eyes for the fallen, and went on to describe when then-President George W. Bush went to Ground Zero for the first time and gave his speech to honor the memory of those who had perished, to thank the first responders, and then reiterate the assertion that we would rebuild. After the solemn event, the Archbishop asked an official that bulldozers not be used to excavate the site where St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church once stood because it is sacred ground and there are artifacts and sacred objects that might be underneath. The official stepped away and then returned saying the site would be excavated as archeological sites are excavated by hand without the use of large machinery, the man in charge is one of yours he said, a Greek Orthodox Christian. Sadly, there was not much left of St. Nicholas Church that was not pulverized under the collapse of the World Trade Center. The only items that survived were two icons, one of St. Dionysios of Zakynthos and the other of the Zoodochos Pege, along with a few liturgical items, a book, and some candles, the Archbishop observed. St. Nicholas, he said would not be rebuilt, but resurrected, because what we had witnessed was a Crucifixion and like Jesus Christ, St. Nicholas Church would be resurrected and fifteen years later, it is resurrected in its new location across the street from the September 11th Memorial and Museum and soon will be open to visitors from around the world.
The parishioners were moved by the Archbishop’s words, deriving strength and hope from our Orthodox Christian faith. The events of September 11th showed us the worst and the best of humanity and fifteen years later, we remember and honor those we lost. May their memory be eternal.
