St. Nicholas National Shrine

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was originally established in 1916. It was a small church serving Manhattan's Greek immigrant community. Tragically, the original church building was destroyed on September 11, 2001 when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. It was the only house of worship destroyed in the attacks.

The church was rebuilt on the same site, and was officially consecrated on December 6, the Feast of St. Nicholas, in 2022.

Fortunately, nobody was inside the church when it collapsed, although some of the congregation's most treasured relics were lost, including relics of St. Nicholas, St. Catherine, and St. Sava, which had been gifted to the church and to New York's Orthodox community by Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia. 

Demetrios Trakatellis, the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America at the time, observed that the mingling of the saints' relics with the remains of the attack's victims further sanctified the site.

The rebuilt church, consecrated as a national shrine, has become a powerful symbol of resilience and remembrance. The new building, designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, draws inspiration from Byzantine architecture - particularly the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul - while incorporating modern elements. The design features a white Pentelic marble façade (the same type of marble used for the Parthenon in Athens).

Besides serving as a place of worship, it’s intended to be a spiritual sanctuary for people of all faiths and a symbol of peace and resilience.

An exterior marble panel is engraved with a Biblical quote (John 15:13) and The Funeral Oration of Pericles. Interestingly, the Funeral Oration is not a Christian text but rather comes from a famous Greek speech attributed to Pericles in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. Delivered at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War, it is part of the annual public funeral for the war dead. The speech praises democracy, a fitting secular sentiment at this national shrine for peoples of all nations and faiths.

The church is open daily for visitors. I had been wanting to visit it for years, ever since I first learned of the church and its history and significance.

My mom, dad, sister, and I stepped inside the quiet building and found ourselves in a dark and somber candlelit narthex. Mom and I each lit a candle for the dead, and we all made our way into the quiet interior of the church's sanctuary.

Like many Orthodox churches, St. Nicholas features an icon of Christ Pantocrator ("ruler of all") upon its ceiling.

Orthodox churches are meant to be spiritual and transcendent. Rather than the realistic three-dimensional statuary and luminous stained glass of Western churches, Eastern churches are typically painted in two-dimensional icons.

Orthodox icons emphasize the idea that God became human in the person of Jesus Christ.  Since Christ took on a visible, physical form, it's considered appropriate to depict Him and the saints in two-dimensional images that reflect the spiritual reality rather than physical perfection (this was one of the theological differences which led to the Great Schism of 1054).

At the center of the church, rising above the sanctuary, is The Icon of the Virgin Mary Embracing New York City (also known as the Panagia of New York). What makes this icon especially unique is how it connects traditional Byzantine iconography with a modern context. While maintaining the sacred, timeless style typical of Orthodox icons, it integrates the city's contemporary skyline.

Created specifically for St. Nicholas, the icon was designed to be a powerful symbol of comfort, compassion, and healing.