St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church of Ithaca, NY

St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church of Ithaca, NY St. Catherine GOC is a nonprofit chartered member parish of the GOA of America.

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9/14: ELEVATION OF THE HOLY,VENERABLE LIFE-GIVING CROSSBy Evan C. LambrouEach year on September 14th, the Church commem...
09/14/2026

9/14: ELEVATION OF THE HOLY,
VENERABLE LIFE-GIVING CROSS

By Evan C. Lambrou

Each year on September 14th, the Church commemorates the Elevation & Exaltation of the Holy & Venerable Life-Giving Cross (Ύψωσης του Αγίου και Τιμίου και Ζωοποιού Σταυρού), an instrument of shame and cruelty that overcame death and brought salvation, light and eternal life to mankind thru the transformative power of the Resurrection...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=205&PCode=X&D=S&DT=09/14/2026

This blessed Feast, the 2nd of the Church’s 12 Major Feasts for the New Ecclesiastical Year,* celebrates the full significance of our Lord & Savior’s victory over the powers of the world, and the triumph of God’s sacred wisdom over the secular wisdom of this fallen world thru the Cross of Christ.

In 326 AD, Saint Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor (306-37 AD), sent his holy mother, Saint Helen, to Jerusalem to locate and venerate the Holy Land’s sacred sites, and to erect churches on those sites in the Lord’s Honor (e.g., the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem).

Divine zeal also moved Saint Helen to search for the True Cross.

A pagan temple dedicated to the Ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite stood on Golgotha, which was erected by the pagan Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-38 AD).

But under her son’s Imperial authority, Saint Helen had it demolished and began excavations. At some point during the archaeological dig, the Life-Giving Tomb of our Lord and the three crosses of the Crucifixion were uncovered in 326 AD.

Emotions were running high. Which of the three unearthed crosses was the Lord’s?**

Accompanied by several priests, Archbishop Makarios of Jerusalem (312-34 AD) offered a prayer and placed the third of the three crosses on a devout local woman who had been sick for a long time, and she was instantly healed, thus determining which of the three was the True Cross.***

The news spread like wildfire throughout Jerusalem, and throngs of faithful flocked to the site to touch the sacred healing wood of the Lord’s Life-Bestowing Cross.

Crowded conditions caused a number of mishaps, however, so the Cross had to be elevated to a higher point on the site for everyone to behold and venerate in more orderly fashion.

The Holy Fathers of the Church established today’s feast in 335 AD so that the faithful, too, can exalt the Life-Giving Cross within our souls as an emblem that serves, above all else, as a weapon against our adversaries and the machinations of the Enemy.

* The New Ecclesiastical Year commences annually on September 1st. The Church’s 12 Major Feasts all celebrate central events in the lives of Christ and the Theotokos (Θεοτοκος; the God-Bearer; i.e., the Virgin Mary). Eight are dedicated to the Lord, and four to the All-Holy Mother of God (a.k.a., the Panagia; Παναγία).

Bookended by two Feasts honoring the Theotokos (Her Nativity and Dormition), the 12-Feast Cycle consists of both movable and immovable dates. The dates for when the transitional feasts of Palm Sunday, the Ascension and Pentecost are set depend on the date calculated yearly for Pascha (Πάσχα; Orthodox Easter)...

www.goarch.org/-/the-major-feasts-of-the-church

Pascha (a.k.a., Easter Sunday), which celebrates the Lord’s Resurrection, actually stands apart from this list; as the singular Feast of Feasts and Highest of all high holy days, Pascha is in a class all by Itself.

** Once the True Cross was identified, ancient accounts and traditions focus entirely on Its preservation, distribution and veneration. The crosses of the two robbers crucified with Christ – Dysmas and Gestas**** – apparently contained no miraculous properties, and were thus not deemed to be of any particular religious significance, so they were apparently discarded. There is no historical trace of their preservation or legendary record of their survival.

*** Some hagiographic accounts say that the devout local woman who was healed upon contact with the True Cross of Christ was not just sick and in need of healing, but that she had actually already dead, and then immediately returned to life when Saint Makarios of Jerusalem placed the True Cross on her body.

**** Dysmas the Penitent Thief (Δυσμάς, ο Ευγνώμων Ληστής) and Gestas the impenitent thief (Γεστάς, ο αμετανόητος ληστής) were the two robbers crucified with Christ on the first Good Friday. They are unnamed in the canonical Four Gospels, but their names are recorded in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemos, the historical embellishments of which carry substantial poetic and theological value within the framework of Church tradition (e.g., the Lord’s Harrowing of Hell).

RECOVERY AND RETURN
OF THE PRECIOUS CROSS

The Synaxarion of Constantinople also assigns this day and associates it with the Recovery & Return of the Precious Cross (Επάνοδος του Τιμίου Σταυρού) in the 7th Century.

Shortly after the True Cross was rediscovered, Saint Helen had it divided into three parts, leaving the largest portion of it in Jerusalem, and had the two smaller segments delivered to Constantinople and Rome.

When the Sassian Persians conquered Jerusalem in 614 AD, they seized the True Cross and spirited it away as a supreme prize to their capital city of Ctesiphon (Κτησιφών; modern Salman Pak in present-day Iraq, a little less than 22 miles southeast of Baghdad).

Christians viewed that loss as a cosmic catastrophe, so Emperor Heraklios (Ηράκλειος; 610-41 AD) considered it his holy mission and sacred duty to retrieve it from heathen possession. His armies successfully pushed the Sassanids out of Imperial lands between 622 and 628 BC, and waged a brilliant counter-offensive deep inside Sassanian territory in the process to end the war.

The Byzantines vanquished the Sassanids at the Battle of Nineveh (the ancient Biblical city, which is today located in modern Mosul in Northern Iraq) on December 12th of 627 AD, ending centuries of Roman and pre-Islamic Persian conflict that started in 54 BC.

The Sassanids surrendered to the Byzantines in early 628 AD and sued for peace, finally handing the True Cross over to the Emperor himself at Hierapolis (Ιεράπολις; present-day Manbij in Syria, a little less than 51 miles northeast of Aleppo)* in the spring of 629 AD.

Heraklios triumphantly brought the True Cross to Constantinople and eventually returned it to Jerusalem, where he restored it to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher personally on March 21st of 630 AD.

Two small authentic wood fragments (ξύλον του σταυρού; lignum crucis) are all that remain of the True Cross in Jerusalem today, though over the centuries, countless other fragments have been dispersed and housed in reliquaries all around the globe.

* There were two Ancient Greek cities once called Hierapolis; one in Syria, which was established by the Seleucid Empire under its Macedonian Greek founder, Selefkos Nicator (Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ; 305-281 BC); the other in Asia Minor’s historic Phrygia (Φρυγία) region, which was established by the Hellenistic Kingdom of Pergamon under King Eumenes II of the Attalid Dynasty (Ευμένης Σωτήρ Β’ της Περγάμου; Δυναστεία των Ατταλιδών) circa 190 BC, now situated adjacent to present-day Pamukkale in Southwestern Turkey.

ARCHIEPISCOPAL ENCYCLICAL

https://www.goarch.org/-/archiepiscopal-encyclical-for-the-exaltation-of-the-holy-cross-september-14-2026%C2%A0-1

APOLYTIKION (1st Tone)

Σώσον Κύριε τόν λαόν σου καί ευλόγησον τήν κληρονομίαν σου, νίκας τοίς Βασιλεύσι κατά βαρβάρων δωρούμενος καί τό σόν φυλάττων διά τού Σταυρού σου πολίτευμα.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbwO42j2EIo

Save Thy people, Lord, and bless Thine Inheritance, and grant victory to our leaders over Thine enemies, and preserve Thy Commonwealth thru the power of Thy Cross.

TODAY’s READINGS

Matins: John 12.28-36...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/lectionary?type=MG&code=359&event=205

Epistle: I Corinthians 1.18-24...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/lectionary?type=E&code=75&event=205

Gospel: John 19.6-30...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/lectionary?type=G&code=364&event=205

KONTAKION (4th Tone)

Ο υψωθείς εν τώ Σταυρώ εκουσίως, τήν επωνύμω σου καινή πολιτεία, τούς οικτιρμούς σου δώρησαι, Χριστέ ο Θεός, Εύφρανον εν τή δυνάμει σου, τούς πιστούς Βασιλείς ημών, νίκας χορηγών αυτοίς, κατά τών πολεμίων, τήν συμμαχίαν έχοιεν τήν σήν, όπλον ειρήνης, αήττητον τρόπαιον.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7bdmbyE1UA

Lifted up on the Cross by Thine Own free will, O Christ our God, grant mercy to the New Commonwealth now bearing Thy Name. Gladden our faithful leaders by Thy Divine Power, granting them victories over our adversaries. May Thine alliance with them be an invincible standard and a weapon for peace.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For more information about the Elevation & Exaltation of the Venerable Life-Giving Cross, please click on the below link...

https://www.goarch.org/en/exaltat

SAINTS and FEASTS

Each year on this day, the Church also commemorates the Holy Fathers of the 6th Ecumenical Council, which was held at Constantinople in 680-81 AD. For more information about this Synod, please see our post directly below this one. Thank you.

NOTE: This article was originally posted on 9/14/2026. Mr. Lambrou, head chanter and a lifelong member of our parish, is a graduate of high distinction from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, and served as managing editor of The National Herald, the English-language weekly edition of Εθνικός Κήρυξ (the country’s oldest and largest Greek American newspaper), from 2004 to 2009, having previously served as managing editor of the NYC-based semi-monthly Hellenic Times in 1999-2004. He is also a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and an award-winning journalist with the Associated Press.

6th ECUMENICAL COUNCIL“It is noteworthy that Ecumenical Councils were extraordinary events in response to specific threa...
09/13/2026

6th ECUMENICAL COUNCIL

“It is noteworthy that Ecumenical Councils were extraordinary events in response to specific threats against the Faith, with the aim of restoring ruptured unity” – His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople & New Rome

CHURCH OF THE
ANCIENT COUNCILS

The Orthodox Church is the Church of the Ancient Councils (i.e., the Seven Ecumenical Councils), a series of early Church synods recognized by most Christian denominations, including the Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant Churches, as authoritative gatherings of Church leaders to address doctrinal and disciplinary matters. They took place in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) within the geographic boundaries of the Roman Empire between the 4th and 8th Centuries.

The Church recognizes the Holy Fathers who participated in these extraordinary synods as Divinely Inspired Heralds of the Faith, Which they inherited in an unbroken line of succession from the Holy Apostles themselves, so in Her wisdom, She has designated seven specific days (one for each Council) for annual collective commemoration of the Holy Fathers gathered at each respective synod in thanksgiving, unto the glory of God; unto their most deserving praise and honor; and unto the strengthening of the True Faith.

CONSTANTINOPLE III

The sixth of the Seven – a.k.a., Constantinople III – concluded its proceedings 1,345 years ago in Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολη; present-day Istanbul), then the capital seat of the Roman Empire, which was relocated in 330 AD from Rome to the Ancient Greek harborside settlement of Byzantium (Βυζάντιον) by Saint Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, and renamed in his honor...

https://www.goarch.org/-/the-sixth-ecumenical-council

IN ADDITION to the Elevation of the Holy Cross (please see above post, dated 9/14), the Church today also commemorates the 170 Holy Fathers who participated in the Sixth Ecumenical Council, which was held at Constantinople in 680-81 AD.

Convoked by Emperor Constantine IV (668-85 AD) – a.k.a., Saint Constantine the Younger (Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος ο Νέος), who the Church commemorates each year on September 3rd* – this Synod condemned the monothelite heresy, which falsely asserted that Christ’s Divine Will completely subsumed His human will.

* Under Constantine IV, the Byzantine State also checked nearly 50 years of uninterrupted Arab Moslem expansion, successfully defending Constantinople and Asia Minor from the Ummayad Caliphate’s aggression, thereby stabilizing the Empire after decades of war and civil strife.

SAINTS MAXIMOS AND
MARTIN THE CONFESSORS

Saint Maximos the Confessor (Άγιος Μάξιμος ο Ομολογητής), one of the greatest Greek Fathers of the Undivided Church, and Pope Martin I of Rome (Άγιος Μαρτίνος, Πάπας Ρώμης; 649-55 AD), were the leading voices against Monothelitism, which the Church determined was yet another attempt to revive earlier heresies in different form (e.g., Arianism, Monophystism), in the mid-7th Century.

The teachings and writings of Saint Maximos – an intrepid defender of the True Christian Faith, who was grievously persecuted for his Orthodox Christology – were instrumental in denouncing this heresy, which erroneously and falsely asserted that, while Christ had two natures, Divine and human, He possessed only one Divine will.

The Church held then – and still maintains today – that salvation would not have been possible for man if Christ did not also have, and act on, His human will.

The mid-7th Century was a contentious era in the Life of the Church because the Imperial Court was heavily influenced by monothelite ideology.

The Church soundly rejected Imperial interference in theological matters, but condemnation of the Monothelite position provoked a stern reaction from the Byzantine Government at the time.

Unabashed, Pope Martin energetically published the anti-monothelite decrees of the Lateran Council – held at the Lateran Basilica in Rome from October 5th to October 31st of 649 AD (Saint Maximos was also present for this synod) – in a Papal encyclical, for which Emperor Constans II (a.k.a., Constans the Bearded; Κώνστας ο Πωγωνάτος, 641-68 AD), who supported the monothelite position, ordered both saints to be placed under arrest.*

Saints Maximos and Martin were abducted together at the Lateran in 653, and forcibly transported to Constantinople for trial.

* The Pope also had himself consecrated without Imperial ratification, and attempted to independently convoke an Ecumenical Council at the Lateran – i.e., without Imperial consent – and thereby provoked the ire of the Imperial Crown for those reasons, too.

HORRIFIC ABUSE

Saint Maximos underwent horrific abuse: His tongue was uprooted and his right hand chopped off for refusing to stop speaking and writing against Monothelitism, and he died in unjust exile at over 80 years of age in Lazica (Λαζική; present-day Egrisi in Western Georgia) 18 years before the 6th Ecumenical Council convened. He is commemorated each year on January 21st, and also on August 13th (the day he reposed in 662 AD)...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=396

Saint Martin was spared from ex*****on due to Patriarch Paul II (641-53 AD) of Constantinople’s appeal on his behalf, but after suffering harsh and unjust imprisonment, as well as many public indignities – and before he could even be brought to trial – he died in Cherson (Χερσόνησος; i.e., ‘peninsular shore,’ an Ancient Greek port city by the Black Sea on the Heraclean Peninsula of Southwestern Crimea near present-day Sevastopol) on 16 September 655. He is commemorated each year on April 13th...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=17

Constantinople III posthumously upheld the theology of Saint Maximos, as well as the decrees of the Lateran Council under Pope Martin, which were initially, vigorously and heroically endorsed by both saints.

APOLYTIKION (8th Tone)

Ὑπερδεδοξασμένος εἶ, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὁ φωστῆρας ἐπὶ γῆς τοὺς Πατέρας ἡμῶν θεμελιώσας, καὶ δι’ αὐτῶν πρὸς τὴν ἀληθινὴν πίστιν, πάντας ἡμᾶς ὁδηγήσας· πολυεύσπλαγχνε, δόξα σοι.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAKxIDsRwrg

Thou art greatly glorified, O Christ our God, Who established our Fathers as luminaries on the Earth, and thru them Thou dost lead us all to the True Faith. O Most Compassionate Lord, glory to Thee.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For more information about the 6th Ecumenical Council, please click on the below link...

https://orthodoxwiki.org/Sixth_Ecumenical_Council

NOTE: This article was originally posted on 9/14/2023. Any individual, group or organization (non-profit or otherwise) that wishes to share a post already on, and originally from, this page, please clearly indicate that it was originally posted on St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in Ithaca, NY’s page in the following manner: “This article was originally posted on St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church of Ithaca, NY Facebook.”

Thank you.

SOURCES: The information posted on St. Catherine GOC of Ithaca, NY’s FB page concerning Church History, Greek Orthodox Theology and Biographies of Orthodox Christian Saints is drawn from multiple sources online, and synthesized from general information, which is meticulously cross-referenced, compiled and presented (i.e., written) in a streamlined manner by the administrator/editor, a graduate of high distinction from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston (Class of 1998), and is updated on a regular basis to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible. All the information posted here can be verified with standard general searches on the Internet, or by contacting St. Catherine GOC of Ithaca, NY directly.

ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS’STIRRING PRAYER AT YANKEESTADIUM 12 DAYS AFTER 9/11By Evan C. LambrouOur country was violently atta...
09/13/2026

ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS’
STIRRING PRAYER AT YANKEE
STADIUM 12 DAYS AFTER 9/11

By Evan C. Lambrou

Our country was violently attacked by terrorists on September 11th of 2001. The events of that day are well known and part of copiously recorded recent history.

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary remembrance of that terrible day, which is firmly embedded in our national consciousnesses.

But there’s another relevant moment, which took place less than two weeks after the tragedy, that’s particularly poignant, especially from an Orthodox Christian standpoint: then-Archbishop Demetrios of America’s stirring prayer at Yankee Stadium.*

His moving entreaty was offered during the nationally televised “Prayer for America” service on September 23, 2001. Though brief, it was easily one of the event’s finest moments, and fully demonstrated the sublime quality of Orthodox Christian spirituality to a city and nation struggling to cope with the magnitude of the 9/11 atrocity:

THANK YOU, LORD, FOR THE
OPPORTUNITY TO FILL OUR
HEARTS WITH COMPASSION

“Let us bow our heads in prayer. Almighty God; God of our salvation; Who Alone works wonders, look down upon us with Your great mercy and compassion, and out of Your enduring love, hear us and have mercy on us.

“O Lord, we have gathered on this day in Your Presence to remember those who were tragically taken from us; to comfort those who are grieving; to find strength for the tasks that are set before us; and to seek wisdom and peace during this difficult hour in the life of our city and nation.

“Again we ask, give rest to the departed souls of the innocent victims, and of those who lost their lives in their heroic attempts to save others on September 11th. May their memory be eternal. And as we have offered here today, may we continue in our prayers and service to the families who have experienced such tremendous loss and sorrow.

“As our Great Physician, bring comfort and peace to them thru Your Divine Presence and our acts of ministry.

“We give thanks unto You, O Lord, for in Your Great Mercy, You have filled our hearts with love and compassion. The sacrifice, generosity and concern of people throughout the world is a visible sign of the bonds that lead us to You.”

GRANT US STRENGTH, O LORD,
FOR THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

“Continue to grant us from Your Inexhaustible Power, O God, the strength we need to face the many challenges and hardships of the days to come.

“We give thanks to You, O King Invisible, for the enduring peace You have given to us from Above. In the assurance of Your Guiding Presence, may we seek wisdom, so that our decisions and our deeds reveal our love for justice and life; for one another; and for You.

“For You are the Help, the Victory and the Salvation of all of those who place their hope in You, and to You we give thanks, praise, honor and glory, both now and forevermore, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.”

THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE

When His Eminence finished reciting his prayer, the stadium erupted into thunderous applause. That moment and what it meant to the country were self-evident.

The prayer explicitly expresses the synergistic and holistic approach of the Greek Orthodox Church & Faith, and clearly contains core elements of Orthodox Christian theology:

e.g., God is the Great Physician of mankind, Who Alone works wonders thru His unfailing and unabated power and Divine Wisdom, so if we look to Him, He will help us make sense of chaos, restore order and bring balance back to a troubled world.

* His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America (1999-2019) joined religious leaders from throughout the NYC area representing all the world’s major faiths – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism – who had gathered with prominent public officials (e.g., former President Bill Clinton, Governor George Pataki, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer) and celebrities at Yankee Stadium 25 years ago to give the devastated families of 9/11 victims and others a chance to stand together and weep openly during an afternoon of shared solace.

In the midst of incalculable national anguish – at the stadium of America’s greatest team for America’s national sport (Baseball; a.k.a., “America’s Pastime”); in America’s largest and most cosmopolitan city – a Greek Orthodox Archbishop rose to the occasion by clearly and succinctly articulating that even in times of national tragedy and pervasive grief, all people of faith are granted an opportunity to seek God, and so must ultimately strive to look at crisis as God’s way of transforming tragedy into a time of discovery; a time to find the depth of love and compassion within each human heart, and redirect that love and compassion outwardly toward others who are suffering; a time to bring the nation and its people closer together, and draw ourselves closer to our Creator; and to understand that, as the American people were grappling with the gravity of the inestimable adversity then at-hand, the very struggle itself also presents a sober way to help strengthen our bonds with one another as brothers and sisters, as fellow Americans and fellow human beings, and thereby see before us a clear and open path toward God Himself.

NOTE: Mr. Lambrou, head chanter and a lifelong member of our parish, is a graduate of high distinction from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, and served as managing editor of The National Herald, the English-language weekly edition of Εθνικός Κήρυξ (the country’s oldest and largest Greek American newspaper), from 2004 to 2009, having previously served as managing editor of the NYC-based semi-monthly Hellenic Times in 1999-2004. He is also a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and an award-winning journalist with the Associated Press.

REMEMBERING 9/1125 YEARS LATER ATST. NICHOLAS SHRINEBy Evan C. LambrouA special memorial and interfaith prayer service w...
09/12/2026

REMEMBERING 9/11
25 YEARS LATER AT
ST. NICHOLAS SHRINE

By Evan C. Lambrou

A special memorial and interfaith prayer service was held at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church & National Shrine in Lower Manhattan this afternoon in solemn remembrance of the tragic events that leveled the original World Trade Center 25 years ago this very day.

New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani and His Excellency Ronald Hicks, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, joined His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, Primate of the Greek Orthodox in America, for the service, which was also attended family of 9/11 victims; survivors of the calamity; first responders; interfaith leaders, chaplains and clergy; and various public officials, to include the NYC Consuls-General of Greece, Cyprus and Romania...

https://orthodoxobserver.org/at-st-nicholas-shrine-9-11-memorial-service-upholds-interfaith-unity

The Mayor spoke, His Excellency read Psalm 23 (LXX, Psalm 22), and His Eminence offered closing remarks...

https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/09/transcript--mayor-mamdani-delivers-remarks-at-st--nicholas-greek

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2023&version=NKJV

https://www.goarch.org/-/archbishop-elpidophoros-closing-remarks-for-the-september-11th-memorial-service%C2%A0-saint-nicholas-greek-orthodox-church-and-national-shrine%C2%A0on-september-11-2026%C2%A0in-new-york-new-york%C2%A0

GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
IS NOW A NATIONAL SHRINE

https://www.goarch.org/-/archbishop-elpidophoros-benediction-for-the-port-authority-memorial-dedication%C2%A0at-saint-nicholas-national-shrine-liberty-park-september-8-2026%C2%A0in-new-york-new-york%C2%A0

St. Nicholas Church once stood beneath the legendary Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center. It was a place of spiritual refuge; an island of serenity in the midst of NYC’s bustling Financial District; a place of tranquility where people of different faiths would go to light candles and pray to get away from the disorder and commotion of the Big City, if only for a little while.

That all changed a quarter century ago, when a humble Greek Orthodox church became the only house of worship that was destroyed on 9/11, buried underneath 500,000 tons of rubble after the now-fabled towers collapsed right on top of it, decimating the rest of the original WTC in the process and reducing it to Ground Zero.

The little church never had a chance. It was obliterated that very morning. Over the next ten years, its reconstruction languished in the midst of considerable opposition from the NY/NJ Port Authority, which owned the parcel of land upon which the church originally stood, and others who tried to prevent it.

But the Greek American community and the goodwill of others persevered, and the church was finally rebuilt and reopened to the public on December 6th of 2022 (the feastday of Saint Nicholas, arguably the world’s most beloved saint), resurrected from the ashes of Ground Zero as a national shrine with an ecumenical center more than 21 years after the tragic events of 9/11.

It is now back to being an active Greek Orthodox house of worship that welcomes visitors as a place where all people can peacefully and respectfully meditate and pray...

https://911groundzero.com/blog/how-to-visit-the-saint-nicholas-greek-orthodox-church-in-nyc

NOTE: Mr. Lambrou, head chanter and a lifelong member of our parish, is a graduate of high distinction from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, and served as managing editor of The National Herald, the English-language weekly edition of Εθνικός Κήρυξ (the country’s oldest and largest Greek American newspaper), from 2004 to 2009, having previously served as managing editor of the NYC-based semi-monthly Hellenic Times in 1999-2004. He is also a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and an award-winning journalist with the Associated Press.

9/8: NATIVITY OF OURDEAR LADY THEOTOKOShttps://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=198&PCode=14PEM&D=M&date=09/08/20...
09/08/2026

9/8: NATIVITY OF OUR
DEAR LADY THEOTOKOS

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=198&PCode=14PEM&D=M&date=09/08/2026

Each year on September 8th, the Church commemorates the Nativity of our Dear Lady Theotokos & Ever-Virgin Mary (Γενέσιον της Θεοτόκου και Αειπαρθένου Μαρίας), the Mother of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is the first of the Church’s 12 Major Feasts for the Ecclesiastical Year,* which commences annually on September 1st.

* The Church’s 12 Major Feasts all celebrate central events in the lives of Christ and the Theotokos (Θεοτόκος; God-Bearer; i.e., the Virgin Mary). Eight are dedicated to the Lord, and four to the All-Holy Mother of God (a.k.a., the Panagia; Παναγία).

The 12-Feast Cycle consists of both transitional and fixed (movable and immovable) dates. Setting the dates for transitional feasts depends on the date calculated yearly for Pascha (Πάσχα; Orthodox Easter). According to the Ecclesiastical Calendar, the 12 Major Feasts are as follows (in chronological order):

The Nativity of the Theotokos (9/8); the Elevation & Exaltation of the Holy Life-Giving Cross (9/14); the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (11/21); the Nativity of Christ (i.e., Christmas Day, 12/25); Holy Theophany of the Lord (a.k.a., Epiphany Day, 1/6); the Presentation of Christ at the Temple (2/2); the Annunciation (3/25); Palm Sunday, Ascension and Pentecost (all transitional, so their dates change from year to year, landing variously in April, May or June); the Transfiguration of our Lord (8/6); and the Dormition of the Theotokos (8/15).

Pascha (a.k.a., Easter Sunday), which celebrates the Lord’s Resurrection, actually stands apart from this list because it is singularly distinguished as the Feast of Feasts. The Highest of All High Holy Days, Pascha is thus in a class all Its Own.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For more information about the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos please click on the below link...

https://www.goarch.org/en/nativity-theotokos

https://www.orthodoxroad.com/the-protevangelium-of-james

APOLYTIKION (4th Tone)

Η γέννησίς σου Θεοτόκε, χαράν εμήνυσε πάση τή οικουμένη, εκ σού γάρ ανέτειλεν ο ήλιος τής δικαιοσύνης, Χριστός ο Θεός ημών, καί λύσας τήν κατάραν, έδωκε τήν ευλογίαν, καί καταργήσας τόν θάνατον, εδωρήσατο ημίν ζωήν τήν αιώνιον.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX5CY-lkWKM

Thy birth, O Theotokos, brought Joy to the whole world, for from thee dawned the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God. Freeing us from the curse, He gave us His blessing. Abolishing death, He granted us eternal life.

TODAY’s READINGS

Matins: Luke 1.39-56...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/lectionary?type=MG&code=370&event=198

Epistle: Philippians 2.5-11...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/lectionary?type=E&code=142&event=198

Gospel: Luke 10.38-42, 11.27-28...

https://www.goarch.org/chapel/lectionary?type=G&code=373&event=198

NOTE: This article was originally posted on 9/8/2025. Any individual, group or organization (non-profit or otherwise) that wishes to share a post already on, and originally from, this page, please clearly indicate that it was originally posted on St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in Ithaca, NY’s page in the following manner: “This article was originally posted on St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church of Ithaca, NY Facebook.”

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SOURCES: The information posted on St. Catherine GOC of Ithaca, NY’s FB page concerning Church History, Greek Orthodox Theology and Biographies of Orthodox Christian Saints is drawn from multiple sources online, and synthesized from general information, which is meticulously cross-referenced, compiled and presented (i.e., written) in a streamlined manner by the administrator/editor, and is updated on a regular basis to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible. All the information posted here can be verified with standard general searches on the Internet, or by contacting St. Catherine GOC of Ithaca, NY directly.

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