9/11 terrorist attack remembered today; Twin Towers’ collapse also demolished St. Nicholas Orthodox chapel

Today marks the 18-year anniversary of the shocking 9/11 attacks, a coordinated terrorist operation that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. Nineteen militants on a suicide mission, planned by the Islamist extremist group al Qaeda, hijacked four airplanes and slammed them into three targets in the continental United States.

Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third hit the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania.

The devastation caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers also completely destroyed the small Greek Orthodox Chapel of St. Nicholas, which was located on Liberty street, across from the south tower.

September 11 also marks another tragic event, as on that date in 2004, a Greek army helicopter carrying the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Petros, and another 17 people, crashed into the sea just moments before it was scheduled to land on the semi-autonomous monastic community of Mt. Athos, in northern Greece.

All of the crew and passengers onboard the Chinook helicopter died in the accident.

Fifteen years later, the exact cause of the crash is still not clear, with relatives of the victims continuing to press for a full disclosure over the tragedy.

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