Terrorist attacks on the United States

[Panayiota Orphanides]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am deeply sadden by the events which have unfolded in America. However I pray to our dear Lord to have mercy on us and forgive us for our sins as we enter this time of trial.

Bishop Basil delivered at the Citywide Candlelight Vigil delivered a very imporatnat message to all christians and non-christians after the occurance of this horrifc event. he said:


Remember that as Christians we seek justice, not revenge. "Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written,
Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19).

I hope the world heads this but this can only happen when we accept this ourselves and spend our days in pray and repentance.Beginning with me firstly.

Glod Bless you all.

[David Twell]

Panayiota, your comments, reflections on the words of bishop BASIL, are especially timely right now. There are reports of anti-Arab 'retaliations' across America: Mosques defaced, business ransacked -- all due to the intense anger in the hearts of a troubled nation.

I hope God will give us the wisdom to respond to this tragedy in love, and not in the same hatred that caused it.

[Greg James]

Has anyone heard any news about a Greek temple being destroyed in the attacks? I was in New York not very long ago, and I think I remember there being a Greek parish very near to the World Trade Center towers. Does anyone know if my memory is correct? was it destroyed?

[Janice Chadwick]

Yes, St. Nicholas Church was destroyed. They are hoping to retrieve the relics that were in the church, as well as the icons. From what I read in an article about this, the icons were a gift from Czar Nicholas II. There is probably an article about it on the Greek Orthodox site.

Katherine

[M.C. Steenberg]

You can find an article on the destruction of St Nicholas Church at:

http://www.goarch.org/september11/releases/st_nicholas-9-14.html
(Link opens new browser window)

The icons in the Church were indeed donated by Czar Nicholas II, and the parish possessed the icons of St Nicholas and St Savva, among others.

[seraphima]

Dear Ones,
This came to me today from one of another faith other than I, and this post speaks VOLUMES...

Seraphima

__________________________


Salaam everyone,

something i think we all must read. remember that of the dead, injured
and missing, there are an estimated 10-15% muslims.

masalaama,

itrath

------------

My name is Usman Farman and I graduated from Bentley with a
Finance degree last May. I am 21 years old, turning 22 in October; I am
Pakistani, and I am Muslim. Until September 10th 2001, I used to work
at the World Trade Center in building #7. I had friends and
acquaintances who worked in tower #1 right across from me. Some
made it out, and some are still unaccounted for. I survived this horrible
event.

I'd like to share with you what I went through that awful day, with the
hopes that we can all stay strong together; through this tragedy of yet
untold proportions. As I found out, regardless of who we are, and
where we come from, we only have each other.

I commute into the city every morning on the train from New Jersey.
Rather, I used to. I still can't believe what is happening. That morning I
woke up and crawled out of bed. I was thinking about flaking out on the
train and catching the late one, I remember telling myself that I just had
to get to work on time. I ended up catching the 7:48 train, which put me
in Hoboken at 8:20 am. When I got there I thought about getting
something to eat, I decided against it and took the PATH train to the
World Trade Center. I arrived at the World Trade at 8:40 in the morning.
I walked into the lobby of building 7 at 8:45, that's when the first plane
hit.

Had I taken the late train, or gotten a bite to eat, I would have been 5
minutes late and walking over the crosswalk. Had that happened, I
would have been caught under a rain of fire and debris, I wouldn't be
here talking to you. I'd be dead.

I was in the lobby, and I heard the first explosion; it didn't register. They
were doing construction outside and I thought some scaffolding had
fallen. I took the elevators up to my office on the 27th floor. When I
walked in, the whole place was empty. There were no alarms, no
sprinklers, nothing. Our offices are, or rather, were on the south side of
building seven. We were close enough to the North and South Towers,
that I could literally throw a stone from my window and hit the North
tower with it.

My phone rang and I spoke with my mother and told her that I was
leaving, at that moment I saw an explosion rip out of the second
building. I called my friend in Boston, waking her up and told her to tell
everyone I'm okay, and that I was leaving. I looked down one last time
and saw the square and fountain that I eat lunch in, was covered in
smoldering debris. Apparently, I was one of the last to leave my
building, when I was on the way up in the elevators; my co-workers
from the office were in the stairwells coming down. When I evacuated,
there was no panic. People were calm and helping each other; a
pregnant woman was being carried down the stairwell.

I'll spare the more gruesome details of what I saw, those are things that
no one should ever have to see, and beyond human decency to describe.
Those are things which will haunt me for the rest of my life, my heart
goes out to everyone who lost their lives that day, and those who
survived with the painful reminders of what once was. Acquaintences
of mine who made it out of the towers, only got out because 1000 people
formed a human chain to find their way out of the smoke. Everyone was
a hero that day.

We were evacuated to the north side of building 7. Still only 1 block
from the towers. The security people told us to go north and not to look
back. 5 city blocks later I stopped and turned around to watch. With a
thousand people staring, we saw in shock as the first tower collapsed.
No one could believe it was happening, it is still all too-surreal to
imagine. The next thing I remember is that a dark cloud of glass and
debris about 50 stories high came tumbling towards us. I turned around
and ran as fast as possible. I didn't realize until yesterday that the
reason I'm still feeling so sore was that I fell down trying to get away.
What happened next is why I came here to give this speech.

I was on my back, facing this massive cloud that was approaching, it
must have been 600 feet off, everything was already dark. I normally
wear a pendant around my neck, inscribed with an Arabic prayer for
safety; similar to the cross. A hesidic Jewish man came up to me and
held the pendant in his hand, and looked at it. He read the Arabic out
loud for a second. What he said next, I will never forget. With a deep
Brooklyn accent he said brother, if you don't mind, there is a cloud of
glass coming at us, grab my hand, lets get the hell out of here. He
helped me stand up, and we ran for what seemed like forever without
looking back. He was the last person I would ever have thought, who
would help me. If it weren't for him, I probably would have been
engulfed in shattered glass and debris.

I finally stopped about 20 blocks away, and looked in horror as tower
#2 came crashing down. Fear came over me as I realized that some
people were evacuated to the streets below the towers. Like I said before,
no one could have thought those buildings could collapse. We turned
around and in shock and disbelief and began the trek to midtown. It
took me 3 hours to get to my sisters office at 3 avenue and 47th street.
Some streets were completely deserted, completely quiet, no cars, no
nothing just the distant wail of sirens. I managed to call home and say
I was okay, and get in touch with co-workers and friends whom I feared
were lost.

We managed to get a ride to New Jersey. Looking back as I crossed the
George Washington Bridge, I could not see the towers. It had really
happened.

As the world continues to reel from this tragedy, people in the streets are
lashing out. Not far from my home, a Pakistani woman was run over on
purpose as she was crossing the parking lot to put groceries in her car.
Her only fault? That she had her head covered and was wearing the
traditional clothing of my homeland. I am afraid for my family as well
being within our community. My older sister is too scared to take the
subway into work now. My 8-year-old sister school is under
lockdown and armed watch by police. Violence only begets violence,
and by lashing out at each other in fear and hatred, we will become no
better than the faceless cowards who committed this atrocity. If it
weren't for that man who helped me get up, I would most likely be in
the hospital right now, if not dead. Help came from the least expected
place, and goes only to show, that we are all in this together
regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. Those are principles that this
country was founded on.

Please take a moment to look at the people sitting around you. Friends
or strangers, in a time of crisis, you would want the nearest person to
help you if you needed it. My help came from a man who I would never
have thought would normally even speak to me. Ask yourselves now
how you can help those people in New York and Washington. You can
donate blood, you can send clothing, food, and money. Funds have been
setup in the New York area to help the families of fallen firefighters,
policemen, and emergency personnel. The one thing that won't help, is
if we fight amongst ourselves, because it is then that we are doing
exactly what they want us to do, and I know that nobody here wants to
do that.

My name is Usman Farman and I graduated from Bentley with a
Finance degree last May. I am 21 years old, turning 22 in October; I am
Pakistani, and I am Muslim, and I too have been victimized by this
awful tragedy. The next time you feel angry about this, and perhaps
want to retaliate in your own way, please remember these words:
"Brother, if you don't mind, there is a cloud of glass coming at us, grab
my hand, lets get the hell out of here."

[M.C. Steenberg]

Seraphima, do you personally know the author of this text? I have now seen it in several locations on the internet, and have been curious of its source.

[M.C. Steenberg]

To all those who may have automatic email notification enabled for their account on the Monachos.net message boards, and who are thus receiving this note via email:

I have just added several new linked resources and updated many of those extant in the Resource Area on the Terrorist Attacks (http://www.monachos.net/news/11_september_2001/index.html) (URL: http://www.monachos.net/news/11_september_2001.

Included among the new resources is a secure page on the OCA website that allows for the making of donations online to the Emergency Relief Fund. I would encourage all who are struggling for a way to assist in the response to this tragedy, to consider this method of support.

INXC,
Matthew

[Reader Cyril Shartz]

At my church (St. George Greek Orthodox in Fresno, CA) we celebrated a forty-day memorial yesterday for the victims of terror in New York, Washingon, and Pennsylvania on September 11. The nuns from the monastery nearby made the biggest and most beautiful kolyva I have ever seen. We are doing the full series of memorials for the victims just as if they were members of our local church. Every Tuesday night, when we have Bible study and other activities, we are beginning with the Paraklesis to the Theotokos as long as the war lasts. It seems good to me. It always worked in Constantinople.

[Gregory J. Kirnie]

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) the first day of the Coptic liturgical year is September 11 (except on leap years) and is refered to as "Feast of the Martyrs". It is even a national holiday in Ethiopia.

[Yanis Fernandes]

Hello everybody,
I just got to this board. I would be interested in what do you think was the meaning of this attack, is it a special message for americans and for others. Since we share the same fate here, we all know no hear moves without the will of God. Why God let this happen ?

[Moses Anthony]

Dear Yanis,
What I'm about to say I learned when I was in Protestantism; therefore, it may not mesh with Orthodox doctrine (I'm still fairly new to the faith, even after three years).
When God created the world there were laws set in motion which operate to this day. And this is in both the spiritual and physical realms. Lucifier, created as an angel of light, distorted the will of mankind when the choice was made to disobey God and eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree. The immediate result of this was spiritual death, separation between man and God. "Adam, where are you".
As a result, when something evil/bad happens in the world, if they're in proximity it also happens to the people of God. The laws that are in effect are not negated just because of my relationship with the Almighty (There are numerous instances of this happening in the Scriptures however).
One thing that Christians especially need to be careful of doing, is trying to "read to much into the event." This does not mean that God's purpose in this is unknowable, I personally prefer not to beat myself up emotionally and spiritually agonizing over something which God amy not want me to know, but as someone has said in another venue, do what I know to be the will of God...!
The pride of this nation has taken a tremendous fall (sound familiar). "We have seen the true Light, we have found the true faith , worshipping the undivided Trinity, for He has saved us! If there's been a wakeup call to the United States as a result of 9-11, that is it.

His unworthy servant,
Moses

[Yanis Fernandes]

I am pretty much about the same opinion, such an event would be truly a wake-up call for any country and people, specially for a country that pretends to be the most powerful in the world. This was a blow in Amerca's pride, we know God fights the proud, but has the reaction been one of repentance ? And I don't mean the military and political part, finghting back and playing tough is the job of the leaders using their methods, but the general reaction of the people. I remember mayor Giuliani sending a message at about a week following the events, to people around New York : "come to New York, spend some money, help businesses recover, let's show we are not afraid" (or somth. like this). Of course, this might not be the general trend, but has any thing happened in US to the simple people, have they turned their eyes to things more important than money, sex and power ? I would like to here an answer from our orthodox brothers in US, are there significant changes in the people's spirituality that might trigger some towards God ?

[Justin]

I would like to here an answer from our orthodox brothers in US, are there significant changes in the people's spirituality that might trigger some towards God ?

I'm sure there are individual cases of people turning to God because of the 9/11 events (just like some probably had their belief in God weakened because of it), but for the most part things have turned out the way people should have expected them too: a momentary superficial "awakening" of spirituality followed by the majority of the awakened people falling back to sleep. America was not vigilant, but was prideful and arrogant, thinking herself impervious to attack. A nightmare woke her up one night; a few minutes later she was resting once again. Perhaps not as sure of herself, yet sleeping without having been (internally) changed much by the nightmare.

The "mixed multitude" wandering in the desert ended up having two make it to the promise land; I hope our own personal wake up call has created more fruit than that. (I wish it would have woken me up more than it did -- I don't exclude myself from the above judgment; but then, I was not trying to judge, only echo what happens every time God intervenes on a large scale, people repent and then after a time most return to their previous state).