Weirton native part of project to build new shrine in N.Y.

WEIRTON -- The reconstruction of the only house of worship destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks has a connection to the Ohio Valley.

The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine is under construction within the area of the World Trade Center.

According to its website, the original St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was founded in 1916 in a small row house that had been used as a tavern. Greek immigrants in lower Manhattan purchased the Cedar Street building in 1892 for use as a community home, making it among the first stops of Greeks arriving in America.

It remained in the same location for 85 years, through the growth of the city's financial centers and the development of the original World Trade Center complex in the 1960s.

The church was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, with the collapse of Tower 2, with only a few relics recovered.

Eventually, the decision was made to rebuild on property on nearby Liberty Street.

Michael Psaros, a native of Weirton who lives in New York, has been part of the project for the last several years.

"The initial effort ran out of money in 2017," Psaros explained during a recent trip to Weirton as part of the Apostolic Visit of His All-Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch.

Psaros is vice president of the Friends of St. Nicholas, a private entity established in December 2019 to work in cooperation with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America as part of continuing efforts to raise the funds needed for the construction of the church and shrine.

Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the new church, Psaros explained, will have a resemblance to St. Sophia, also known as Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul. He said the shrine will be an "American Parthenon," as the most visible symbol of the Greek Orthodox faith in the United States.

As it will be located within the World Trade Center complex, St. Nicholas is planned as a place for visitors to the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum to pray, reflect and seek solace, within the church and in a nondenominational bereavement center.

"We'll be the most visited church in New York," Psaros said.

With a large, domed roof, the church's design includes tributes to rescue workers lost on Sept. 11.

Psaros was among those on hand Nov. 2 as Ecuminical Patriarch Bartholomew led the official door-opening ceremony for the church.

The service included the blessing of a contorted bell and a torn icon honoring the Virgin Mary, both found in the rubble of the original church, according to The Associated Press.

"We stand here today on this hallowed ground at the World Trade Center, where the world changed in a cruel and terrible moment 20 years ago," Bartholomew said, according to a report by the Associated Press. "This sacred ground of the American experience is where the Orthodox Christian faith will take the lead in manifesting to the world that good is mightier than evil, that there is life beyond death and that love will always triumph over hate."

In addition to the door-opening ceremony, church officials in September held a ceremonial inaugural lighting of the building, with interior lights designed to illuminate thin panels of marble, which are said to have been mined from the same vein in Greece used in the construction of the original Parthenon in Athens.

The church and shrine are expected to be completed in time for Easter, Psaros said.

More information on the church and shrine can be found online at https://stnicholaswtc.org/

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com, and followed via Twitter @CHowellWDT.)