THE GOSPEL in the Ashes

A Divine Message from the Rubble of 9/11 and the Church of the Redeemer

By Fr. Samer Youssef

On October 24, 2024, my wife and I visited the 9/11 Memorial for the first time. After praying for the victims of 9/11, we hoped to see St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, destroyed in the attacks. A young man pointed us toward the 9/11 Museum and, upon learning I was an Orthodox priest, urged us to go inside to see a Gospel preserved from the rubble.

Despite being short on time, we went in—and were taken directly to the encased Gospel. To my astonishment, the legible passage under the glass was from Matthew 5:38–39: “An eye for an eye … but I say unto you, turn the other cheek.” These were the exact verses we had found in the burned Gospel at our own Church of the Redeemer, Los Altos Hills, CA, which was destroyed by arson on April 7, 2002, just months after 9/11.

The same passage, uncovered at Ground Zero by firefighter Steven Kuefner, had appeared in both places of destruction—our church and the Twin Towers—reminding us that Christ’s message of love and forgiveness rises from the ashes.

After the arson, all our efforts shifted from growth to rebuilding. It was a painful time, but those verses became our foundation. I even included them in my opening prayer to the U.S. House of Representatives in July 2002, calling on our leaders to overcome evil with good.

Now, 23 years later, that divine message remains our guide: “Love your enemies … pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). Though hatred tried to silence us, Christ’s words gave us strength to continue. The Gospel, preserved in both tragedy and trial, challenges us to respond not with vengeance but with love—and to be a light in a broken world.