Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

The DaVinci Code Meets 9-11
Monday, March 19, 2007

A goldmine for wannabe Dan Browns. The search for remains at Ground Zero have moved on to a destroyed church, where relics of three saints have been missing for decades.

Last week, two bones were recovered in the place where St. Nicholas' Greek Orthodox Church used to be, and where digging has begun for remains, said an official who knows about the search but is not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Debris from both towers collapsed onto the church and its parking lot on Sept. 11, 2001. The site was paved over to be used a staging area for reconstruction at the site, making it a likely place to find long-buried debris and remains, those involved in the initial cleanup say.

In the months after the attacks, some relics were returned to the St. Nicholas congregants, including a small bell and cross, several Bibles and even wax candles that had not melted from the heat of the attacks, said Peter Drakoulias, a church board member.

But its most precious relic is still missing: a 600-pound, 2-foot-by-2-foot safe that contains church documents and a small enamel box containing three bone fragments less than a half-inch long, said Drakoulias. The bones are believed to be those of St. Nicholas — the church's founding saint — St. Sava, and St. Katherine, he said.

Labels: Religion in America

Posted by B Feiler at 8:03 AM
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