Hope Rises From Ashes: Southampton Faith Leader Shepherds Rebuilding Of Church Destroyed On 9/11

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Despite the horror and anguish of 9/11, 25 years later, there are moments that stand as forever testament to the fact that hope can rise from the ashes — due to determination, vision, and steadfast faith.

Father Alexander Karloutsos, the longtime pastor and faith leader at the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Southampton, spoke with Patch this week about watching firsthand as the nightmare unfolded at Ground Zero on 9/11 — and the invincibility of the human spirit that continued to shine, bringing New Yorkers together in an unprecedented show of love and community.

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For years, Fr. Karloutsos said, the small but beloved St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church had stood in the shadows of the World Trade Center, and when the Towers came crashing down on that fateful day, the church was destroyed, reduced to rubble.

And after 9/11, despite years of delays and roadblocks, the St. Nicholas National Shrine was rebuilt and now stands, a symbol of hope after despair.

The church had long stood as a symbol of home for immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, filled with hopes and dreams, he said.

In the beginning, Fr. Karloutsos said, Greek immigrants had once gathered at a coffee shop down at Battery Park, when they'd first "gotten off the boats."

"As they started establishing themselves in the New York area, then they needed a place to gather together — to get married, and have families."

The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, established in 1916 on Cedar Street in Lower Manhattan, became that place, a touchstone.

Despite many offers to purchase the property as the World Trade Center was developed. Fr. Karloutsos said the faith leaders at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church remained steadfast, refusing to sell.

"They were pressured by a lot of people to sell the church," Fr. Karloutsos said. "But they refused to sell it, no matter how much money. And then on 9/11, that church, which they had held onto, was the only house of worship at Ground Zero, and totally destroyed."

On 9/11 Karloutsos, a Port Authority police chaplain, was called to New York City.

Describing that dark moment in time, Fr. Karloutsos said: "Everything was seemed devastating at Ground Zero that day, that evening."

He had been on the Long Island Expressway, coming from the Hamptons, when his secretary called with the unthinkable news: "A plane went into the North Tower.' And soon we knew, this was an attack, it was not by circumstance."

Fr. Karloutsos said he then called the Archbishop, who was in Boston. "I told him, 'Don't get on any planes,'" he said.

Fr. Karloutsos was heading to New York City, his wife Xanthi beside him. "We went to my son Michael's apartment in Astoria. And then, we saw the first Tower fall."

In the stunned silence, Fr. Karloutsos said, "My wife was crying, we all started crying and praying in that moment."

He then called the church secretary at the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Southampton, telling her to notify parishioners that there would be a prayer service, "for our country's healing and for remembering the victims and the heroes of 9/11," he said. "We had witnessed horror, evil. And when you have great evil, you need great holiness. And everyone wants to go to sacred ground. A place to go to find comfort during a time of great terror."

He'd expected that maybe 20, 40 people might attend — but, instead, hundreds turned out, filling the church and the grounds outside.

"All of the houses of worship were being filled," Fr. Karloutsos said. "They just wanted to get away from the ugliness, to a place where they could see the beauty of God's grace and the hope that comes from the resurrection. To feel the love of God because they had seen the hatred of at its worst."

The service, Fr. Karloutsos said, "was very moving. People were offering testimonies and saying how much they loved. America. And then we all sang 'God Bless America.'"

He, his mother and wife, "reflected on the pain that we experienced and the joy of people coming together, joining in prayer and believing in something greater than just simply the evil of man."

Fr. Karloutsos was next called to the Port Authority Tech Center in New Jersey, located directly outside the Holland Tunnel.

"We were called in, and I said, 'You can't get in; it's impossible. All the roads are closed.'" But Fr. Karloutsos was told to take his shield and show it to police officers en route.

"I told my wife, 'I've got to go in. I've got to be praying with the people,'" he said, adding that scores of faith leaders were summoned. "We need to feel God's presence. We're all in great need. We need to give healing."

Heading to the Tech Center, Fr. Karloutsos said "there was nobody on the roads, except my car and a few others. When I was stopped, I would show them my badge and they would allow me to proceed."

Fr. Karloutsos, who has traveled in a presidential motorcade, said security to get to Ground Zero was even more intense.

"Then we found ourselves going to the Holland Tunnel, but as we were going to the tunnel off of the FDR Drive, we looked to the right and then you saw the fire — the buildings on fire. You saw firemen, you saw the first responders, you saw policemen, you saw CIA, FBI. All these trucks, all of these people running there and putting their lives at risk."

The scene, he said, was like the a scene out of a horror movie, "a nightmare. And I thought, 'How are we going to get beyond all of this insanity?'"

Upon approaching the entrance to the tunnel, very large garbage trucks were blocking the path; the route was opened once Fr. Karloutsos showed his badge.

When he arrived at the Tech Center, Karloutsos said: "The policeman were all crying there," families were shocked, devastated.

But there were moments of pure beauty, he said — an Italian Catholic and a rabbi, an Orthodox Jew. The woman was crying, "in great grief over the loss of her husband," he said. "And he was hugging and comforting her and her children — even though Orthodox Jews do not normally touch women."

When asked what to do by the bewildered people present, Fr. Karloutsos said, "Simply pray. Just get on your knees and pray."

He and the other clergymen just sat down with those cloaked in grief, "talking with them, going through their grief, the terror they felt, the pain that they had lost their comrades. 
It was very, very difficult."

During that time, Fr. Karloutsos got a call from the Archbishop, telling him that the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church had been destroyed; Fr. Karloutsos went to pick him up.

"And as we got out, you saw you thought it was a cloud — but it wasn't. It was the remains of people and the remains of buildings. And so, the people, and the buildings, the cement, they all became one. 
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. And you're walking and your lips are actually receiving it, being touched by the remains of buildings, and the remains of human beings and other animals and living forces that were totally devastated that day."

He, his wife and the Archbishop then went to see the ruins of the church. "It was destroyed. It was unbelievable. I was in tears, the Archbishop was in tears. My wife was in tears."

But from the first, Fr. Karloutsos led with faith and an open heart, creating a program at a local church to help feed and clothe the volunteers at Ground Zero; he also worked with restaurant owners in Lower Manhattan to open up, with the church helping to raise funds to pay for the food and supplies.

Reflecting on that day, Father Karloutsos said: "It is very painful, but I look at the resurrection that occurred afterward. Just as it is painful when you lose a loved one — but then you come to a reconciliation of hope in the resurrection. "

Everyone who had ever loved and believed in the mission of St.Nicholas knew that the church had to be rebuilt. Fr. Karloutsos asked to see Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the Port Authority.

"And then we began the process of rebuilding the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, because it was the only church that had been destroyed at Ground Zero. And ultimately, that's where we built this beautiful shrine on the Hill of Hope, it's at the highest level at Ground Zero."

The new St. Nicholas National Shine, now located at 130 Liberty Street, was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, and is fully illuminated at night.

The process of rebuilding was long and arduous, marked by lawsuits, financial challenges and fundraising, the rebuilding of the Port Authority, governor changes, a global pandemic, permission processes, and infrastructure issues.

But in the end, the $95 million Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church & National Shrine was consecrated on July 4, 2022, and officially reopened for visitors and services on December 6, 2022 — a glowing beacon of hope and rare Pentelic marble, the same marble used to build the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.

The project, Fr. Karloutsos said, was privately funded — a labor of love for a man who has received a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian citation, and counseled eight United States Presidents in the Oval Office.

But while he has worked alongside world leaders in his decades of public service, Fr. Karloutsos remains a deeply humble man.

"I treat people with respect. And I am grateful for what they do, and they treat me likewise.
I believe the best way to receive respect is to give respect. The best way to receive gratitude is to give gratitude. And here, the goal was to have the best sacred presence right at Ground Zero."

Of his efforts to rebuild, rather than accept accolades, Fr, Karloutsos said simply, "I was just simply God's instrument. God used me as a vessel. I'm an instrument, not the source."

That is why, he said, why the memorials are there, the Freedom Tower, now One World Trade Center, was built and remains standing strong.

"That is the resurrection," Fr. Karloutsos said. "All of it together. Yes, we remember our dead. But we also honor our dead by building a greater future and a greater New York."

Of his work to rebuild St. Nicholas, he said: "It was a whole transfiguration. Everything was destroyed, and then everything became created anew. We lost a caterpillar, but we created butterflies. That's what you've got to do when you're looking at life. You've got to look toward the affirmation of God as creator. God is the creator of all things visible and invisible. So we try to create in His image, and we create out of love. Hate destroys. Love creates. And we cannot let those who try to destroy the American way of life to succeed. We need to love, go beyond their hatred, and create anew. That's what America is about."

There might have been problems building the St. 
Nicholas Shrine, the Freedom Tower and the other structures, he said. For a time, he added, "It was total chaos. 
But at the end of the day, people don't worry about the difficulties in building.
All they want to see is the success of the building.
They find hope in the church at Ground Zero. They find hope in the park, in the memorials. When you come back strong, bad memories fade."

Fr. Karloutsos said he personally was deeply impacted by all he witnessed on 9/11. "Life moves so quickly. For all of us who lived after the 25 years ago, lived through those moments — we must remember all of those lives that were cut short. We can never forget."

He added: "Even though the 25 years went by so quickly, those 25 years were not lived by our loved ones because they were taken away. Life is precious, we must hold on to our loved ones — we might not see them again because they'll go away one day to work and not return. We learned that lesson."

And, he said, there was another collective lesson learned that resonates today: "We cannot live in hate. We have to live in love and create. We cannot destroy. 
You cannot allow others to destroy us. We need to continue creating and build a better city and a better country, a better America and a better world. "