麻豆社

Bishop Matthew Heyd

Good morning. I鈥檓 Matthew Heyd, the Bishop of New York. This morning鈥檚 Sunday Worship comes from two churches either side of Ground Zero 鈥� where the Twin Towers used to stand 鈥� St Paul鈥檚 Chapel and St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

We are marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks on September 11th 2001.听 Across faiths, the world came together in prayer in the days after September 11, and we gather in prayer and solidarity again this morning.

Trinity Choir will sing Abide with me, and we will then join the Reverend Kristin Miles and Fr Patrick Williams in St Paul鈥檚 Chapel鈥�

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MUSIC Abide with me (Moses Hogan) Trinity Choir

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Fr Patrick Williams

Let us pray.

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. 听Amen.

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Mo. Kristin

To speak of St. Paul鈥檚 Chapel in the aftermath of the collapsed World Trade Center towers is to point to an ineffable force of recovery and care.

St. Paul鈥檚 Chapel is just steps from where the towers stood, a place that was called the pile.

The Chapel doors were continually open to those working on the pile, brave and determined people toiling on an assembly line to lift buckets of rubble, seeking to find whomever could be found.

Clergy went out from its doors to bless bodies.

Medics went out attending to workers.

Dazed and ash covered helpers came in. They ate and slept in our pews.

Volunteers of all kinds 鈥� chefs, massage therapists, musicians, medical personnel, good Samaritans- fed them, gave them water and clean socks, listened and ministered to them.

Miraculously, St. Paul鈥檚 Chapel could hold all this under its roof, undamaged.

In the churchyard, right outside its doors, a Sycamore tree, hundreds of years old, took the brunt of the impact of debris from the falling towers.

This Chapel, the sycamore tree, and courageous people were a refuge amidst destruction.

We recall these strongholds now in the poem The Sycamore, by Wendell Berry:

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ANTHEM 鈥� Elaine Hagenberg - When we love 鈥� Trinity Choir

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Bible Reading 听Isaiah 2 1-4 鈥楾he Future House of God鈥� 鈥� Fr Patrick

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REFLECTION 鈥� Mo. Kristin

The vast collection of people whose lives were lost on 9/11were from all over the world.

Many were seeking to accomplish their dream in one place.

Isaiah鈥檚 reading speaks to a metaphorical gathering, a vision and dream for all of us.

鈥淐ome, let us go up the mountain.鈥�

Let us see more clearly.

To learn the ways of God, and walk in God鈥檚 path, is to move beyond reverence for what is only like ourselves.

We are to learn to bear fear and difficult emotions rather than seeking to transfer them by dominating and controlling others.

Isaiah reminds us that we can learn how to tolerate the restlessness of the human condition without lashing out.

We have this capacity.

We are to learn this, rather than war.

Isaiah calls all to come out of the valleys of self-righteousness.

This is the path to peace, to wise judgment 鈥� it starts in our homes, our villages, in our offices, and on our city streets.

We are many peoples.

On this day, let us take our place to honour of those whose lives were cut short.

Let us stream to this mountain, wherever we are, and from all the places our ancestors have been.

Our anthem 鈥榃e shall walk through the valley in peace鈥� by Undine Smith Moore, reminds us that along the way we do not walk alone.

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MUSIC We shall walk through the valley (Undine Smith Moore) - Trinity Choir

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Bishop Matthew Heyd

After it all crashed down, we walked home. September 11, 2001 was a beautiful blue sky morning in New York City. I worked for a group supporting students helping their communities. Our offices were completely ordinary 鈥� except for an extraordinary view of the twin towers downtown. So on that bright, blue-sky terrible morning, we had a picture perfect view of the world completely coming apart. 9/11 is everyone鈥檚 story, wherever you lived. We all remember where we were, what we were doing. Most of us can still feel the pit in our stomach when we remember. The world changed for all of us. In New York that day we walked home because we didn鈥檛 trust the subways. We didn鈥檛 know what would happen next. We were so afraid that another attack was coming, and soon. And on that long walk home, the brief verse from St. Paul鈥檚 epistle to the Romans kept running through my mind: 鈥淔or I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.鈥� That鈥檚 our Christian faith every day.

Nothing鈥� not terror attacks, not forever wars, not financial crisis, not political mayhem, not a pandemic鈥� can separate us from God. We are beloved and nothing can change that. But what was at stake on that day, now long ago, and has felt at stake every day since, is whether we can be separated from each other. Our faith affirms that because God loves us, we love each other. We can only be human together. But the events of this century have made that connection ever more difficult. 9/11 is morally overwhelming. In the years since, we have used security as the excuse to build walls and separate us further, to cast out. Yet, the immediate response to the attacks was kindness and prayer globally and courage in recovery here at Ground Zero. It was a moment of solidarity that passed too quickly. Do we have enemies everywhere? Or do we share a common humanity across diversity and difference? What happens next? What happened next for me after that September day is that I finally answered a call to ordained ministry. I had the privilege of serving as a priest at Trinity Church, here in downtown Manhattan, and for a decade I watched the trade centre rebuilt from my new office window. My call is to serve a God of love and to build communities of safety, belonging and freedom. I know even the most awful catastrophes aren鈥檛 the end of the story. The world can be rebuilt. 9/11 is everyone鈥檚 story. We all still get to decide what happens next. On our long walk home, through a scared and crowded New York, we didn鈥檛 check for political agreement or religious background. We just walked together and made room for each other. That can be our observance now. Day by day, in each of our neighbourhoods: make room. We are beloved. We are inseparable from God. And we do not walk home alone.

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St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church & National Shrine听

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Fr. Andreas Vithoulkas

I鈥檓 Father Andreas Vithoulkas. Just three blocks from St. Paul's Chapel stands St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine.听

Originally built in 1916 by Greek immigrants, it was a small neighbourhood church where office workers,听local residents, first responders, and visitors from around the world would stop to light a candle and offer a prayer.听

On September 11, 2001, St. Nicholas became the only house of worship destroyed in the terrorist attacks. When the South Tower collapsed, the little church disappeared beneath the steel and concrete of the collapsing South Tower.鈥澨�

For many, it symbolized another heartbreaking loss.听

But for us, that was never the end of the story.听

After years of prayer, perseverance, and extraordinary generosity from people throughout the world, St. Nicholas was rebuilt and reopened in 2022 as the National Shrine of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.听

Today it stands not only beside the 9/11 Memorial, but as a witness that faith can rise after tragedy and that hope can be rebuilt, one life at a time.听

Our patron, St. Nicholas, was a fourth-century bishop known for his compassion, generosity, and courage. He cared for the poor, defended the听innocent, and became the patron saint of sailors because he guided people safely through life's storms.听

There could be no more fitting听patron听for a church standing beside Ground Zero.听

We now hear the Apolytikion of St. Nicholas, first in English and then in the original Greek鈥攁 reminder that holiness transcends every language and every generation.听

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MUSIC 鈥� ST. NICHOLAS APOLYTIKION听鈥� Dimitrios 听( in English and in Ancient Greek)

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Fr Andreas

The story of September 11 is听ultimately not听about buildings.听

It is about people.听

One of our beloved parishioners, Anthoula听Katsimatides, lost her brother John in the attacks.听

Today she shares not only her family's story of loss, but also the faith and hope that have sustained them over these twenty-five years.听

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Anthoula Katsimatides

My brother John, and thousands of other innocent people were killed so senselessly 25 years ago on September 11, 2001. This is where their souls left their bodies. In this entire area. The entire 16 acre footprint, that included St. Nicholas, and that is what makes it sacred ground.

I believe that St. Nicholas interceded for these souls, which is why this icon above me is one of my favourites. St Nicholas here is depicted twice, as a guide and as a rescuer. The top part shows him rescuing seafarers during a storm, as if guiding the 9/11 survivors to safety on that tragic day. The bottom portion we see the turbulent waves become clouds of smoke, above the remains of the Twin Towers, shifting to the 9/11 victims. The young man being rescued becomes a soul saved from the ashes for eternal life in God. With this in mind, I believe in my heart, that John is safe. They all are.

St Nicholas isn鈥檛 just a pretty place made of marble. It isn鈥檛 a typical house of worship. And it isn鈥檛 just for Greek Orthodox Christians. That鈥檚 what makes this holy shrine so special. It welcomes all people as an everlasting tribute to the 9/11 victims. And for that I am so grateful and so proud.

The rebuilding, or the resurrection, of St. Nicholas has served as a bridge from tragedy to hope.

I should mention that John used to go to the original church, on the way to work, or after, or on his lunch hour and he would light candles, say a prayer, attend a liturgy, maybe go to look for pretty girls.

Johnny Bodacious, as he was known to many, had a very wild side, an incredible sense of humour, a flair for the outrageous, BUT he was a man of tremendous faith. And honestly, the more time that has passed without him, the more I鈥檝e realized that his powerful light that shined so bright was a gift from God. I was so fortunate to be on the receiving end of my brother鈥檚 light for 31 years. I miss him with all my heart, every single day, but I continue to feel him and his light not just here at St. Nicholas and at the memorial but everywhere.

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Chant 鈥� Dimitrios

螝慰谓蟿峤蔽何刮课�. 峒�蠂慰蟼 蟺位. 伪痛.

With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul(s) of Your servant(s) where there is no pain, no sorrow, no sighing, but life everlasting.

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Fr Andreas

One of the first things visitors see as they approach St. Nicholas is an inscription carved into the exterior of the Shrine. Those words are not simply part of听the architecture.听 They are the theology of this church.听 听

We鈥檒l hear them now from the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John.鈥�

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Gospel Reading 听- John 15 13-17

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Fr Andreas

Today's Gospel听contains听some of the most beautiful words ever spoken by Christ:听

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."听

Those words are no longer simply a passage of Scripture for us.听

They became a living reality on September 11.听

We remember the firefighters who climbed upward while others were coming down.听

The police officers who ran toward danger.听

The emergency medical personnel.听

The chaplains.听

The ordinary men and women who risked everything to save people they had never met.听

They remind us that love is never merely a feeling.听

Love is sacrifice.听

Love is听service.听

Love always gives itself听for听another.听

That is how Christ loved the world.听

It is also听how so听many people loved one another on that day.听

September 11 was one of humanity's darkest days.听

Yet darkness never has the final word.听

The light of Christ continues to shine鈥攏ot because suffering is ignored, but because God's love is greater than tragedy, greater than hatred, and even greater than death itself.听

Every day听thousands of people walk beneath those words as they enter the Shrine.听

Some are remembering someone they lost on September 11.听

Others come carrying听very different听burdens鈥攁 loved one who has died, an illness, loneliness, uncertainty, or questions they cannot yet answer.听

Many come from different faith traditions.听

Some have no faith at all.听

Yet听almost everyone听says the same thing when they leave:听

"I found peace."听

That is why St. Nicholas was rebuilt.听

Not simply听to replace听a church.听

Not merely to preserve history.听

But to offer hope.听

To remind every visitor that no matter how dark the night may seem, God's light still shines.听

As we mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, we remember with gratitude the lives that were lost and the extraordinary courage of those who served others.听

But remembrance alone is not enough.听

The Gospel calls us to become people who live differently because we remember.听

To choose compassion over indifference.听

Forgiveness over hatred.听

Peace over violence.听

Love over fear.听

People sometimes ask me if St. Nicholas is a memorial church.听

I gently tell them,听

"No.听

It is a living church beside a memorial."听

We honour the past.听

But our mission is to bring hope to those who are living today.听

Because the听final chapter听of September 11 is not destruction.听

It is Resurrection.听

Not simply the resurrection of a building.听

But the resurrection of hope.听

The resurrection of faith.听

The resurrection of a community.听

And the quiet confidence that the Light of Christ still shines in the darkness鈥攁nd the darkness will never overcome it.听

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Peace of the world and the Litany of Completion by fr. Andreas and Dimitrios

(Peace of the World)听

Let us pray.听

For the peace of the听whole world...听

For this city听of听New York...听

For every nation represented here today...听

For first responders, members of the armed forces, police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and all who continue to place themselves in harm's way for the sake of others...听

Lord, have mercy.听

Grant this, O Lord.听

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For the victims of September 11, that their memory may be eternal...听

For their families and all who continue to grieve...听

For those whose wounds are visible, and those whose wounds听remain听hidden...听

Lord, have mercy.听

Grant this, O Lord.听

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For reconciliation among peoples and nations...听

That听swords may truly become ploughshares...听

That hatred may give way to forgiveness...听

That fear may听yield to听hope...听

And that we ourselves may become instruments of Christ's peace.听

Lord, have mercy.听

Grant this, O Lord.听

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Fr Andreas

As we conclude this service from St. Paul's Chapel and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, may we carry with us the witness of these two sacred places.听

One became a refuge听in the midst of听disaster.听

The other rose again from the ashes of destruction.听

Together they proclaim the same truth:听

Hope is stronger than despair.听

Love is stronger than hatred.听

Light is stronger than darkness.听

May the memory of all who lost their lives be eternal.听

And may Almighty God bless you, keep you, and fill your hearts with His peace.听

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.听

Amen.听

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MUSIC Anthem 鈥� Amy Beach-Peace I leave with you - 听Trinity Choir