______________________________
John Robles:
I want to ask you some questions regarding St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at Ground Zero. What’s currently at the site?
Fr Mark Arey:
Currently, at the site where the church was utterly destroyed on 11 September 2001 is a deep pit where the Port Authority of New York is installing a vehicle inspections centre. There’s an enormous amount of infrastructure being constructed beneath Ground Zero throughout the entire site. For the last nine years, the site of St Nicholas has been freely and generously given for these purposes, inasmuch as we had negotiated a swap, an exchange of another parcel a couple of hundred feet away, a hundred metres away, and we were planning to build there. That was ended last year by the Port Authority with no explanations given, they’ve not contacted us since, and have only spoken to the press on this issue, because the issue of St Nicholas has come to public consciousness as a result of the controversy about the proposed mosque near Ground Zero.
John Robles:
It’s a shame it took that event to bring attention to this.
Fr Mark Arey:
It is indeed. But it’s one of the consequences, even though the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese didn’t seek any publicity, we’ve been contacted by people such as yourself around the world, throughout this country, and we are trying to respond in the most accurate way that we can, because we really believe in this church, which was there since 1916, and was worshiped in by all Orthodox Christians, not just Greek Orthodox, it was open to the public. I mean many people have very found memories because it was this little island of spiritual wealth in this great vast business district of New York.
John Robles:
Yes, I remember. Would you say that there is, I hate to use the word discrimination, against Orthodoxy in the United States… but… it seems a little odd that they would support building a mosque?
Fr Mark Arey:
I don’t know if I would use the word discrimination, I would say there is ignorance. I mean one of the things that we’ve done in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is to cooperate with all Orthodox Christians… our Russian Orthodox brothers and sisters, the Antiochian Church, Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian, all of the Orthodox have been working together to have a greater public consciousness of Orthodoxy. Remember that the United States has 330 million people, but there isn’t even 3 million Orthodox Christians. So, we are very small religious minority. What is ironic though, and it’s not lost on the American people, certainly, is how this proposed mosque has become, in a sense, put on the front burner as we say in America, given this priority, instead of this little church, which, I must remind your listeners… This church was there! Since the 1900s, and we just want to rebuild our church, but we encountered much bureaucratic red tape everywhere.
******
______________________________
John Robles:
So, there is, like, resistance, to your efforts?
Fr Mark Arey:
Well, also remember that should St Nicholas be rebuilt, and we firmly believe and pray that it will be, it’d be the only house of worship at Ground Zero. However, it was the only house of worship at Ground Zero to begin with, and it was the only house of worship of any religion that was destroyed on 9/11.
John Robles:
What connections are there, currently, between the Russian and Greek Orthodox Church?
Fr Mark Arey:
In the United States, the representation of the Patriarchate of Moscow is less than 20 blocks from the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States. We have the most excellent relations with his Eminence Archbishop Yustinian who is the Representative of His Holiness in the United States with his staff. We work very closely with our Russian Orthodox brothers.
John Robles:
Before we started the interview, you’d mentioned some of the things that were found, and you’d mentioned a bell. I thought that was very interesting. Maybe you could tell our listeners what you told me.
Fr Mark Arey:
Well, we found a bell clapper, which is used to ring the bell, not the actual bell. The bell, which was a distinct part of the exterior of St Nicholas, was never found. I don’t remember the exact year, it might have been 2005 or 2004, perhaps, maybe earlier, but the late blessed Patriarch Aleksei of Moscow and all the Russias was very generous to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and had a new bell cast and sent to our Archbishop here in the United States, well, we… we treasure that bell, and it’ll go into the new church, when it’s completed.
******
______________________________
John Robles:
Was the bell found?
Fr Mark Arey:
The bell was never found, nothing. When I say that the church was obliterated, it literally was. Two small icons, one of St Dionysios of Zakynthos (The Saint of Forgiveness), on the new calendar the translation of his relics is celebrated today, and also an icon of the Life-Giving Fountain of the Mother of God, which was severely damaged, were found. A few candles, believe it or not, survived those ghastly fires, and two or three destroyed Bibles.
John Robles:
What are the current plans for rebuilding? Is there anything going on, I mean behind the scenes?
Fr Mark Arey:
At the moment, things are at a complete standstill, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is a government agency under both New York and New Jersey, isn’t speaking to us, they’re speaking to some of the press, when they have to, I suppose.
John Robles:
Have they given a reason for…?
Fr Mark Arey:
No, they’ve never given a reason; they’ve intimated and insinuated that the church was looking for money, more money. And that’s absolutely false. It’s absolutely unconscionable that they would insinuate that the church was throwing up roadblocks, you know, I’ll say this, if it had been a Roman Catholic Church, or an American Baptist Evangelical Church, or even a Jewish Synagogue, that was destroyed, I don’t think there would be this resistance. I mean this is a case of… We feel like David against Goliath. We really do. We’re a small church in this country, but I’ll tell you something, the American people are becoming galvanised about this and we are getting responses from all across the country.
******
______________________________
John Robles:
And now from all over the world.
Fr Mark Arey:
We’re very grateful for your interest.
John Robles:
We’re very grateful that you took the time to speak with us today. Hopefully, we’ll be able to, in the near future, discuss the plans for the rebuilding, I hope.
Fr Mark Arey:
I hope we can, too, and I hope that, you know, anyone who wants to, in any way, send a message to American public officials that they need to honour their promises and obligations regarding this church; we hope that they’ll feel free to do so.
John Robles:
Do you have an address that our listeners could write to?
Fr Mark Arey:
On the official websites of New York State or of the State of New Jersey, you could write to the governors of both of those States. I mean even the President of the United States has weighed in on the mosque. Perhaps, the President of Russia can weigh in on St Nicholas
26 August 2010
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/08/26/17347300.html
http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/08/25/17248715.html
******
Editor’s Note:
In all the hot air released by Beck and Palin at their rally at the Lincoln Memorial, they didn’t champion the cause of St Nick’s. It was the only church destroyed on 9/11… those sanctimonious bastards whipped up hatred against a fictive “mosque”, but they refused to call loudly and emphatically for the rebuilding of a tiny church crushed by the falling towers. They called for “revival” of morals… yet refused to stand tall for what’s right. I find something wrong, horribly and obscenely WRONG in that. All Orthodox Christians who support the Tea Party stand not only in opposition to its grounded leaders such as Patriarch Kirill; they support those who won’t support us. That’s bloody brilliant! You know what the Scripture says, woe to those who call good evil and evil good.
Pass the word to all who will listen… the Tea Party won’t, they’ve proven that through their actions.
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Orthodox Church Gets “Red Light” in New York City… Red Tape for Orthodoxy, But Green Light for the Mosque? An Interview of Fr Mark Arey of the GOAA with VOR
Tags: 9/11, Christian, Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Church, GOAA, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Ground zero, History of the Eastern Orthodox Church in North America, John Robles, legal affairs, Orthodox, Orthodoxy, political commentary, politics, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Russian Orthodox Church, United States, USA
______________________________
John Robles:
I want to ask you some questions regarding St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at Ground Zero. What’s currently at the site?
Fr Mark Arey:
Currently, at the site where the church was utterly destroyed on 11 September 2001 is a deep pit where the Port Authority of New York is installing a vehicle inspections centre. There’s an enormous amount of infrastructure being constructed beneath Ground Zero throughout the entire site. For the last nine years, the site of St Nicholas has been freely and generously given for these purposes, inasmuch as we had negotiated a swap, an exchange of another parcel a couple of hundred feet away, a hundred metres away, and we were planning to build there. That was ended last year by the Port Authority with no explanations given, they’ve not contacted us since, and have only spoken to the press on this issue, because the issue of St Nicholas has come to public consciousness as a result of the controversy about the proposed mosque near Ground Zero.
John Robles:
It’s a shame it took that event to bring attention to this.
Fr Mark Arey:
It is indeed. But it’s one of the consequences, even though the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese didn’t seek any publicity, we’ve been contacted by people such as yourself around the world, throughout this country, and we are trying to respond in the most accurate way that we can, because we really believe in this church, which was there since 1916, and was worshiped in by all Orthodox Christians, not just Greek Orthodox, it was open to the public. I mean many people have very found memories because it was this little island of spiritual wealth in this great vast business district of New York.
John Robles:
Yes, I remember. Would you say that there is, I hate to use the word discrimination, against Orthodoxy in the United States… but… it seems a little odd that they would support building a mosque?
Fr Mark Arey:
I don’t know if I would use the word discrimination, I would say there is ignorance. I mean one of the things that we’ve done in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is to cooperate with all Orthodox Christians… our Russian Orthodox brothers and sisters, the Antiochian Church, Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian, all of the Orthodox have been working together to have a greater public consciousness of Orthodoxy. Remember that the United States has 330 million people, but there isn’t even 3 million Orthodox Christians. So, we are very small religious minority. What is ironic though, and it’s not lost on the American people, certainly, is how this proposed mosque has become, in a sense, put on the front burner as we say in America, given this priority, instead of this little church, which, I must remind your listeners… This church was there! Since the 1900s, and we just want to rebuild our church, but we encountered much bureaucratic red tape everywhere.
******
______________________________
John Robles:
So, there is, like, resistance, to your efforts?
Fr Mark Arey:
Well, also remember that should St Nicholas be rebuilt, and we firmly believe and pray that it will be, it’d be the only house of worship at Ground Zero. However, it was the only house of worship at Ground Zero to begin with, and it was the only house of worship of any religion that was destroyed on 9/11.
John Robles:
What connections are there, currently, between the Russian and Greek Orthodox Church?
Fr Mark Arey:
In the United States, the representation of the Patriarchate of Moscow is less than 20 blocks from the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States. We have the most excellent relations with his Eminence Archbishop Yustinian who is the Representative of His Holiness in the United States with his staff. We work very closely with our Russian Orthodox brothers.
John Robles:
Before we started the interview, you’d mentioned some of the things that were found, and you’d mentioned a bell. I thought that was very interesting. Maybe you could tell our listeners what you told me.
Fr Mark Arey:
Well, we found a bell clapper, which is used to ring the bell, not the actual bell. The bell, which was a distinct part of the exterior of St Nicholas, was never found. I don’t remember the exact year, it might have been 2005 or 2004, perhaps, maybe earlier, but the late blessed Patriarch Aleksei of Moscow and all the Russias was very generous to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and had a new bell cast and sent to our Archbishop here in the United States, well, we… we treasure that bell, and it’ll go into the new church, when it’s completed.
******
______________________________
John Robles:
Was the bell found?
Fr Mark Arey:
The bell was never found, nothing. When I say that the church was obliterated, it literally was. Two small icons, one of St Dionysios of Zakynthos (The Saint of Forgiveness), on the new calendar the translation of his relics is celebrated today, and also an icon of the Life-Giving Fountain of the Mother of God, which was severely damaged, were found. A few candles, believe it or not, survived those ghastly fires, and two or three destroyed Bibles.
John Robles:
What are the current plans for rebuilding? Is there anything going on, I mean behind the scenes?
Fr Mark Arey:
At the moment, things are at a complete standstill, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is a government agency under both New York and New Jersey, isn’t speaking to us, they’re speaking to some of the press, when they have to, I suppose.
John Robles:
Have they given a reason for…?
Fr Mark Arey:
No, they’ve never given a reason; they’ve intimated and insinuated that the church was looking for money, more money. And that’s absolutely false. It’s absolutely unconscionable that they would insinuate that the church was throwing up roadblocks, you know, I’ll say this, if it had been a Roman Catholic Church, or an American Baptist Evangelical Church, or even a Jewish Synagogue, that was destroyed, I don’t think there would be this resistance. I mean this is a case of… We feel like David against Goliath. We really do. We’re a small church in this country, but I’ll tell you something, the American people are becoming galvanised about this and we are getting responses from all across the country.
******
______________________________
John Robles:
And now from all over the world.
Fr Mark Arey:
We’re very grateful for your interest.
John Robles:
We’re very grateful that you took the time to speak with us today. Hopefully, we’ll be able to, in the near future, discuss the plans for the rebuilding, I hope.
Fr Mark Arey:
I hope we can, too, and I hope that, you know, anyone who wants to, in any way, send a message to American public officials that they need to honour their promises and obligations regarding this church; we hope that they’ll feel free to do so.
John Robles:
Do you have an address that our listeners could write to?
Fr Mark Arey:
On the official websites of New York State or of the State of New Jersey, you could write to the governors of both of those States. I mean even the President of the United States has weighed in on the mosque. Perhaps, the President of Russia can weigh in on St Nicholas
26 August 2010
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/08/26/17347300.html
http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/08/25/17248715.html
******
Editor’s Note:
In all the hot air released by Beck and Palin at their rally at the Lincoln Memorial, they didn’t champion the cause of St Nick’s. It was the only church destroyed on 9/11… those sanctimonious bastards whipped up hatred against a fictive “mosque”, but they refused to call loudly and emphatically for the rebuilding of a tiny church crushed by the falling towers. They called for “revival” of morals… yet refused to stand tall for what’s right. I find something wrong, horribly and obscenely WRONG in that. All Orthodox Christians who support the Tea Party stand not only in opposition to its grounded leaders such as Patriarch Kirill; they support those who won’t support us. That’s bloody brilliant! You know what the Scripture says, woe to those who call good evil and evil good.
Pass the word to all who will listen… the Tea Party won’t, they’ve proven that through their actions.
BMD