Days after a fire gutted the interior of the landmarked Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava in Flatiron, authorities are still searching for the source of the four-alarm blaze.
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The building is said to be in no immediate danger of collapse, but there are concerns about loose debris falling from the damaged structure, which is over 160 years old and has always been registered as a national historic site. Father Djokan Majstorovic explained however that everyone was safe and nobody was hurt. Church officials and the FDNY both said there were no reports of major injuries.
Many people in the Christian Orthodox community believe the blazes at St. Sava and in Russian Federation and Australia may have been set in retaliation for Pope Francis’ recent decision to postpone the canonization of Croatian Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, an infamous Nazi supporter. “And it’s a shame”, tourist Herman Tulp told NBC.
The Wall Street Journal notes that a fire department spokesman said there is “nothing so far to indicate that it is suspicious”.
The church was designed by architect Richard M. Upjohn and was built in the early 1850s.
NEW YORK (AP) – Fire department officials say the cause of a blaze that destroyed a historic New York City church is under investigation but it could have been candles. “You don’t get a fire like that in 10 minutes”, he said.
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The New York Post on Monday reported about Orthodox believers’ fears that “a coordinated attack on their religion” had taken place, quoting Serbia’s former ambassador to France and historian, Dusan Batakovic, as liking the fires with the Stepinac case. Three churches burned in one day, on Easter, the greatest Christian holiday, too much of a coincidence to be called just an accident but police have said there’s no evidence that they are linked.
