Leader Vows to Rebuild Church at Ground Zero
NEW YORK--Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians, visited ground zero this week and vowed to rebuild an Orthodox church destroyed in the terrorist attacks.
“We have come to this place of martyrdom, which endured unprecedented and atrocious acts perpetrated by men on that unforgettable and woeful day of Sept. 11,” the 62-year-old prelate said as he presided over a memorial service.
Bartholomew, who is based in Istanbul, Turkey, was joined at the site by Archbishop Demetrios, the spiritual leader of the 2 million Greek Orthodox faithful in the United States.
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