LAST UPDATE: THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 11:12
On August 3, 2021, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America made a site visit to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine where he was fully briefed on the continuing construction.
It is reminded that recent vigorous donation activity has brought the total of the fundraising on behalf of the Shrine to $95 million.
Funding has accelerated over the past year, with $55 million raised since January 2020 and $8.5 million in the past two months alone. Twenty-five of those recent donors each contributed $100,000.
Responding to this extraordinary news, the Archbishop had said:
“As a community, we can be very proud of the generosity and commitment of the benefactors and supporters of Saint Nicholas. Even in the midst of the pandemic, Greek Orthodox leaders came together from across America to resurrect the Shrine.
Now the finish line is within our grasp as we approach two poignant and important milestones. This September 11, 2021, marks the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, and we are preparing to welcome the Ecumenical Patriarch for the dedicatory Thyranoixia on November 2, 2021, the 30th Anniversary of the Enthronement of His All Holiness.”
In the video below, Louis Katsos, who advises “Friends of St. Nicholas” on construction matters, explains the construction of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church & National Shrine, that he and many others are involved with.
“Many people both Greeks and others have questions relating to St. Nicholas, the only religious building destroyed on 9/11, and its construction and current progress.
Construction had started and stopped for various reasons which I was not a part of but I had been asked at the highest levels to help with the process when construction restarted and to lend my expertise to help complete it.
Among many other things I am associated with I have a long term significant background in the development, design and construction industry. I gladly agreed to help on a pro Bono basis and I hope this recent video which I was asked to be apart of explains some aspects of this very significant religious structure.
The video was put together by a very talented group put together by Eva Plakas for her historic “Sail to Freedom” Hellenic Revolution Bicentennial event and included well known Hellenic Director Costa Kimoulis. They were visiting the St. Nicholas construction site and asked me to join them. While there they asked me to say a few things about the construction and made this very nice video from that discussion”.
