ON "60 MINUTES" EASTER SUNDAY: NEARLY 20 YEARS AFTER IT WAS DESTROYED AT GROUND ZERO, A SMALL CHURCH IS FINALLY BEING REBUILT THROUGH FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Rises Again

After nearly 80 years, St. Nicholas was gone. Sitting in the shadows of the World Trade Center, the small Greek Orthodox church became the only house of worship destroyed on 9/11. What took minutes to fall has taken years to rebuild, with challenges faced along the way testing the faith and perseverance of its parish. Scott Pelley reports on the efforts of the faithful in the U.S. and around the world to remake a church and national shrine, on the next edition of 60 MINUTES, Sunday, April 12 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

The new St. Nicholas is scheduled to open its doors on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 in 2021. For years, the church stood its ground in the heart of downtown Manhattan even as developers pressured the congregation to sell. Jimmy Maniatis served as the president of the church for 34 years. His daughter, Regina Katopodis, told us that at one point they were offered $15 million dollars, yet her father refused. "There was absolutely no hesitation about it. My father spoke for all... There was not to be any compromise."

The congregation's resilience was even stronger after 9/11. The parish knew they had to rebuild. There was a lawsuit, disagreements over the site and a budget that exploded from its original estimate of $20 million to $85 million dollars. It took years to get the project, near the 9/11 Memorial, off the ground; in 2016 a dome rose on the site. In 2017 money dried up and construction came to a halt. Funds meant for St. Nicholas had been diverted and mismanaged by the Archdiocese. The money was eventually restored to the church fund, but two years later, the Archbishop resigned and an independent board was installed to raise an additional $45 million to finish the project.

Perhaps even more valuable than the real estate was the iconography that graced the old church's walls. Paintings depicting the lives of Jesus, Mary and the saints are the heart of the Greek Orthodox Church. Pelley traveled with 60 MINUTES to Mount Athos, Greece's "Holy Mountain," where monks in centuries-old monasteries still practice the ancient tradition of iconography. The new church will find renewed life through the icons created by Father Lukas, one of Mt. Athos' master iconographers. 60 MINUTES watched Father Lukas at work in his studio where he is crafting these modern masterpieces using traditional techniques that incorporate egg yolks into pigments.

Father Lukas believes the work is the most important of his life. "I personally want this church, through the iconography, to open up a new horizon for people," he tells Pelley. "That they will be helped to feel that 'communion' ...and come away with hope. If this happens, the icons will have fulfilled their purpose."

With the new St. Nicholas scheduled to open its doors next year, Regina Katopodis maintains her father's determination, "There's been a lot of disappointment, a lot of rhetoric. But we still keep our eye on the prize," she says. In 100 years, she says, St. Nicholas church will remind us "that the good of mankind can conquer evil no matter what."

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