wfn.org | ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS ATTENDS GROUND ZERO CEREMONY

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                    GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:
May 30, 2002
Contact: Nikki Stephanopoulos

                        ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS ATTENDS
                         SOMBER GROUND ZERO CEREMONY

New  York,  NY  ?  His  Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek
Orthodox  Church in America, was present today at a brief and somber Ground
Zero ceremony marking the end of cleanup and recovery efforts, eight months
and  19  days  after the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were brought
down  by  hijacked  airliners.  The  ceremony  began  with the ringing of a
fire-bell  at  10:29  a.m.?the  same  time  the  north  tower  collapsed on
September  11th.   The  landmark  St.  Nicholas  Greek  Orthodox Church was
destroyed in the tragedy.

     As thousands stood in silence, an honor guard made up of police,
firefighters and other representatives of other agencies, walked slowly up
a ramp from the site carrying a stretcher bearing an American flag,
representing the victims killed on September 11th whose remains have not
been found or identified. The ceremony concluded with buglers playing
"Taps" and a flyover of NYPD helicopters.
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