Buried by falling rubble from the World Trade Center towers after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all that remained of the tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church were some candles, two icons and a bell clapper.

These salvaged artifacts are being kept at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America while the church’s 70 member families worship at a cathedral in Brooklyn, praying for the day they can return to a new sanctuary in lower Manhattan.

“Everything has been incredibly slow and incredibly frustrating, but until the spring of 2009, everything at Ground Zero was going slowly, not just us,” said John Couloucoundis, the president of the St. Nicholas parish council. “It was a slow faucet, but at least the faucet was dripping. But then, last year, they just turned it off.”

Construction has begun on the 9/11 memorial and several of the major buildings planned for the 16-acre site, with estimated completion dates between 2011 and 2014. Little St. Nicholas, however, remains in limbo.

Negotiations with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for a land swap and public funding reached an impasse more than a year ago…

“St. Nicholas has nothing to do with this mosque controversy. We believe in religious freedom, and whether the mosque should or shouldn’t be there, that’s a whole different dialogue,” said the Rev. Mark Arey, archdiocese spokesman.

“But it’s a rising tide that lifts all boats. People say the mosque has been greenlighted, but why not this church?”

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