WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2021) The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in New York City seeks evidence to back testimonies that the relics of three saints, which disappeared during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, were gifts from Russian Emperor Nicholas II, Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Alex Karloutsos told Sputnik.
"The church had relics of St. Nicholas, St. Sava and St. Catherine. Unfortunately, we do not have a record and evidence, although there have been stories for years that these relics were a gift from Nicholas II," Karloutsos said. "Perhaps, there might be a connection through the [Russian] St. Nicholas cathedral in New York, which was of course built by Tsar Nicholas II."
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda (banned in Russia) terrorists crashed two hijacked commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center twin towers in New York, while another aircraft hit the Pentagon building near Washington, DC. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in the state of Pennsylvania without reaching its intended target. About 3,000 people were killed in the attacks and more than 6,000 injured.
The St. Nicholas church was completely buried after the World Trade Center south tower collapsed following the attack.
"The safe with the relics has never been recovered, we never found it after the September 11 attacks," Karloutsos said. "We do not know where are they now."
Karloutsos emphasized that if the relics were completely destroyed and mixed with soil, they are now holy and sacred.
"If that is the case, then, as many people say that means they are part of the Holy ground with the rest of the thousands of victims that were murdered," Karloutsos said.
The church, which has been turned into a national shrine and scheduled to gradually reopen in September, hopes to acquire the relics of those saints once again, he added.
